The term “ready golf” has been adopted by many as a catch-all phrase for a number of actions that separately and collectively can improve pace of play. There is no official definition of the term, but examples of “ready golf” in action are:
Hitting a shot when safe to do so if a player farther away faces a challenging shot and is taking time to assess their options
Shorter hitters playing first from the tee or fairway if longer hitters have to wait
Hitting a tee shot if the person with the honour is delayed in being ready to play
Hitting a shot before helping someone to look for a lost ball
Putting out even if it means standing close to someone else’s line
Hitting a shot if a person who has just played from a greenside bunker is still farthest from the hole but is delayed due to raking the bunker
When a player’s ball has gone over the back of a green, any player closer to the hole but chipping from the front of the green should play while the other player is having to walk to their ball and assess their shot
Marking scores upon immediate arrival at the next tee, except that the first player to tee off marks their card immediately after teeing off.