Players who do not shout ‘Fore!’ at the appropriate time in DP World Tour and Challenge Tour events will now face tougher sanctions, a spokesperson for the European Tour Group has confirmed.
In a meeting of the tournament committee on April 15th, it was agreed that due to “the serious nature of ‘ball strikes’ at tournaments,” players and caddies must maintain the traditional warning or etiquette when there is a danger of a golf ball hitting someone.
Should this not occur “when it was clear to the tournament director this should have been the case”, the player in question will be deemed to have breached the regulation and the “appropriate sanction” will be imposed. The DP World Tour says the exact punishment is “not pre-defined” and “may depend on the situation.”
Following the April meeting, Golf Lover UK (@golfloveruk on X) posted a screenshot of the DP World Tour’s statement – which appears in the Player Information Portal – on X earlier this week, which read: “Players are reminded that the use of the warning “fore!” remains the traditional and expected warning/etiquette when there is a danger of hitting someone (see Rules of Golf 1.2, Conduct Expected of all Players) and that DP World Tour Regulation (& Challenge Tour) F.I.2. (b) require all to “comply with normally accepted standards of golf etiquette.
“All players and caddies are therefore reminded that the use of such warnings is always expected where there is a risk of injury or danger of a ball hitting someone and is mandatory when a shot may land outside the rope line.
“Given the serious nature of “ball strikes” at tournaments, following the Tournament Committee meeting on 15th April, 2024, it has been agreed that if any player does not shout “FORE” when it was clear to the Tournament Director this should have been the case, the player will be deemed to have breached the Regulation and appropriate sanctions will be imposed.”
The first time the new rule will come into play is this week at the Soudal Open in Belgium – the beginning of the DP World Tour’s ‘European Swing’. It is the fourth of the five global swings this season, starting at Rinkven International and taking in five further tournaments – culminating in the BMW International Open.
Headlining the field in Antwerp this week is LIV golfer, Thomas Pieters, who is playing via the national spots category – a bracket for players from the host country who are not otherwise exempt via a different method.
Pieters is a six-time DP World Tour winner who also represented Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in 2016. He now plays for Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC and is coming off his best solo finish of the season at LIV Golf Singapore (5th).
