Golf is unique amongst sports in that it is a sport that is both perfect to play with groups of friends and yet at the same time individual and personal.
Because it is played in turns, it is essential to have high-quality pitch markers that retain your ball position when you are not playing without interfering with the play of others.
Whilst the rules can be somewhat loose in casual play or stroke play, the turn order in match play really matters.
Playing out of turn can allow an opponent to cancel the stroke, which can and has lost golfers matches in match play, although the rules are often somewhat looser in stroke play as long as “ready golf” can be played safely without distracting or interfering with the game of other players.
The person who plays first from the tee is said to have the “honour”, and there are quite a few methods for determining who first has the honour.
In competition play, the honour is determined by the organiser by whichever means they choose, but a common method is to give the person with the lowest handicap the honour first.
However, flipping a coin, rock-paper-scissors or throwing a tee into the air and giving whoever it points closest to the honour.
Usually, whatever method you use to determine who goes first will also decide who plays second, third, fourth and so on. This might be the next lowest handicap, whoever the tee points to next or any other method you choose.
Once everyone has teed off, whoever is furthest from the tee plays the next shot, which can mean someone dealing with an unfortunate lie may play multiple shots in a row.
After everyone has completed the hole, whoever had the lowest gross score (ie. before handicaps) at that hole will have the honour, the second lowest plays second and so on. In the event of a tie, the tying players keep the same order they had at the start of the last hole.
Because of the rise of ready golf and a desire to improve the pace of play, the order can get muddled sometimes, which is fine as long as everyone is safe and responsible.