Letting Through
Letting through is when a slower group of golfers allows a faster group behind them to pass and move ahead on the course. The slower group steps aside, the faster group plays the hole first, and normal order resumes.
What is letting through?
Letting through is a piece of golf etiquette that keeps traffic moving on a busy course. When one group is playing slower than the group behind, the slower group can stand aside and wave the faster players forward, letting them pass and carry on ahead. Once the faster group has cleared the hole, the group that stepped aside picks up where it left off.
It helps to picture the course as a two-lane road. Faster traffic wants to get by, and the polite thing for a slower driver to do is pull over and wave them past rather than hold up the line for miles. On the golf course, letting through is that pull-over. It is almost always the slower group’s call to make, offered as a courtesy, and it costs them only a few minutes.
The same event has two names depending on who is talking. The group being waved forward is “playing through.” The group doing the waving is “letting through.” Both describe one pass on the course, seen from opposite sides.
How letting through works on the course
The pass usually happens at a natural pause, most often on a par 3 or at a tee box. On a par 3, the slower group can wave the group behind up to the green, let them hit and hole out, then send them to the next tee first. Brent Kelley, writing for LiveAbout, describes the other common version: the faster group reaches the tee while the slower group is still teeing off, and the slower group simply lets them tee off and go ahead.
The signal itself is nothing formal. A clear wave toward the hole, sometimes with a called-out “come on through,” is all it takes. The group being waved forward acknowledges it, moves up, and plays.
One condition has to be met first. There needs to be open space ahead, ideally a hole or more standing empty, for the faster group to move into. If every hole is backed up tee to green, letting through achieves nothing, because the group that passes just ends up waiting a few yards further on. On a jammed course, the pass is pointless.
Safety sits underneath all of it. The slower group waits until the players ahead are well clear before waving anyone up, since letting through on a par 3 can put two groups within striking distance at once.
Letting through vs. playing through
Most confusion around the term comes from mixing it up with “playing through.” They refer to the same moment on the course, told from different points of view.
| Letting through | Playing through | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does it | The slower group in front | The faster group behind |
| The action | Steps aside and waves the other group past | Accepts the wave and plays ahead |
| The etiquette | Offer it once there is open space ahead; take ego out of it | Move quickly, keep it simple, get out of the way |
| Common phrasing | “We let them through,” “waved them up” | “May we play through?” |
A slower group lets a faster group through. The faster group plays through. One pass, two labels. Related phrases like “wave up” and “wave through” describe the same courtesy, usually the physical signal that starts it.
Why letting through matters
Pace of play is the reason the courtesy exists. USGA research reported in 2025 found that the average round had climbed to 4 hours and 30 minutes, a new high, and that golfers name pace of play as the single biggest thing dragging down their enjoyment of the game. A group waiting on every shot feels every one of those minutes.
What causes slow rounds is less obvious than it looks. Lucius Riccio, author of Golf’s Pace of Play Bible, analyzed 40,460 rounds and found the average took 4 hours and 17 minutes, while the first group out each day averaged 3 hours and 46 minutes. Course length and difficulty barely mattered.
The one variable that tracked with pace was how busy the course was. Letting a faster group through is one of the few tools a golfer has to ease that congestion in the moment.
Related Golf Terms
- Monday qualifier — An open event early in the week that fills a tour field’s final spots.
- Honors — The right of the previous hole’s lowest scorer to tee off first.
- Driving range token — A token or card used to dispense a bucket of practice balls.
- 54-hole lead — A player’s position atop the leaderboard entering the final round.
- Silence on the tee — The custom of staying quiet and still while a player tees off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is letting a group through mandatory?
Not by the Rules of Golf, which govern how the game is played rather than course courtesy. It is a strong etiquette expectation: if a group is holding up open holes behind them, stepping aside is considered the right thing to do.
Can a group decline to let others through?
Yes. If a group is keeping pace with the players ahead and there is no open hole to send anyone into, there is no obligation to let a faster group pass. Letting through only helps when there is genuine space ahead.
Is it too late to let a group through near the end of a round?
Later in the round, the benefit shrinks. Golf.com’s Etiquetteist suggests the 16th tee as a reasonable cutoff, though waving a group up as late as the 18th does no harm if they catch up.
Do you have to let a single player through?
A single golfer plays faster than a group and traditionally gets priority, so letting a single through is common courtesy when there is room ahead. It is an etiquette custom, not a rule.
Where is the best place to let a group through?
A par 3 is ideal, because the group behind can play up to the green and clear the hole while the slower group waits only a moment. Waving a group up while standing on the green is discouraged, since the passing group ends up in the way on the next tee.
Sources
- USGA. “Recognizing and Improving Pace-of-Play Pain Points.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2025/04/recognize-improve-pace-of-play-pain-points.html - Golf Digest. “The Real Cause of Slow Play Isn’t What You Think.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-real-cause-of-slow-play-is - Golf.com. “The Etiquetteist: When (and where) should you let a group play through?” Accessed August 2026.
https://golf.com/instruction/the-etiquetteist-when-and-where-should-you-let-a-group-play-through/ - Golf Digest. “A Definitive Guide to Playing Through.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/definitive-guide-playing-through-golf-etiquette - LiveAbout. “‘Play Through’ (or ‘Playing Through’) in Golf.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.liveabout.com/definition-of-play-through-or-playing-through-in-golf-1560955 - USGA. “Rules of Golf: Pace of Play (Rule 5.6).” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/-rules-notebook-team-competitions/pace-of-play.html
