Every year, Mr. Blackwell announces a national “worst-dressed” list. In that spirit, here are some faux pas any golfer should avoid.

• Snapping a twig before taking a swing at a ball in a hazard will earn golfers a penalty. Snapping a golf club over a knee like a twig will earn golfers notoriety of the worst kind.

If you’ve been playing golf for any amount of time, you know what it’s like to feel frustration. You go out, shoot a 90 or a 95 for the first time, or you hit the ball 250 yards up the middle, and suddenly any round or any shot that fails to compare equally to those achievements become a disappointment.

Those golfers with the best of temperaments are able to control the surge of anger and frustration with little more than an extra squeeze of a grip or a swig of a soda. A little more anger might show itself the next time the golfer steps on the gas pedal of the power cart, making the passenger feel like a 4-year-old’s rag doll.

Nobody likes a sore loser, but even fewer people like a violent sore loser. Keep control of your emotions, keep your clubs in your hand and, most important, keep them in one piece. You may need them on the next shot.

• The lazier that people in the United States get, the lazier the act of walking becomes. Nobody likes to try and putt on greens that are riddled with streaks of torn-up grass because the golfers in the group ahead of them walked more like Mr. Magoo. When you dance around the flagstick, trying to coax a hanging putt into the hole, pick up your feet. Even after you replace the flagstick, you are still walking across the next golfer’s line. Be careful.

• Golf is a game for everyone – the old, the young, the quickly paced and the slower-than-molasses, but all of those golfers need to respect and appreciate others. If you are in a group on the green of a par-3 and see a group of golfers on the tee behind you as you walk to your ball, it is polite golf etiquette to allow them to play through. Likewise, it is not proper to play through without being asked. Getting hit in the back of the head doesn’t feel very good. If golfers do catch up to the group ahead, they may ask to play through.

In short: Don’t act out, walk properly, and say please and thank you. Everyone learned this in kindergarten, and there is no reason to forget it once you get out on the golf course.

Justin Pelletier is a staff writer. He can be reached at [email protected]