Your first round.

Before you arrive.

Get there thirty minutes before tee time. Check in at the clubhouse, pay the course's green fee (separate from your Double Pars membership), grab a coffee, hit a few putts on the practice green. Coyote Hills and Anaheim Hills both have ranges if you want to warm up; Brea Creek skips the range — show up, walk on.

What to wear: a collared shirt and shorts or pants that aren't jeans. We're at public courses, not country clubs, but most have a soft dress code. Spikes optional; sneakers are fine.

What to bring: your clubs — or check "no clubs" on your application and we'll meet you with a set, on us for the founding 50. A card for the green fee. Walking shoes you'd trust for four miles at Anaheim Hills. A hat and sunscreen for the OC sun. Water — clubhouses have refills.

How the round works.

Most rounds are scramble. Shortest version: everyone tees off, pick the best ball, everyone plays from there. Repeat until it's in. One score for the group.

Why scramble: nobody's bad shots count if someone else hits a good one. You're never the reason the group is behind. And the shot that gets picked — yours might be it — that's the one you'll remember for a year.

If you're three instead of four, we play best-ball (each plays their own, lowest counts per hole). We'll text you what we're playing before tee time.

Walking or cart depends on the course. Anaheim Hills walks. Coyote Hills requires a cart, included. Brea Creek walks.

Eighteen holes takes about four hours. Peel off after nine if you need to — we built the exit in.

The first tee.

Everyone's nervous on the first tee. Tour pros who get paid for this are still nervous. The shake means you care, not that you're failing.

The truth nobody tells new golfers: your three partners are not watching you. They're checking their own grip, picking a club, trying to remember if their elbow's in or out. The "everyone's eyes on me" feeling is real and almost entirely invented.

Worst case: your tee shot doesn't get picked. That's the only downside of scramble on the first tee. No score to defend, nothing to lose. One swing, and we move.

The five things that actually matter.

Most golf etiquette is invented by golfers to feel important. Five things actually matter:

1. Be ready when it's your turn.

   Pick your club while others are hitting. Walk briskly between shots. The biggest pace-of-play killer isn't bad swings, it's slow players. Move with intent.

2. Silence during swings.

   When someone's over the ball, don't talk, don't move. After the swing, the conversation resumes mid-sentence.

3. Fix your ball marks.

   When your approach lands on the green, it leaves a small crater. Push the edges of the dent toward the center with a tee or repair tool — don't pry up, that kills roots. Tap flat with your putter. Thirty seconds, better green for everyone.

4. Rake bunkers.

   If you hit out of sand, drag the rake behind you on your way out.

5. Yell "Fore!"

   If your ball is heading at someone, yell it loud. Embarrassing? Maybe. Hitting someone? Worse.

You will hit bad shots.

Probably a lot of them. Every Double Pars member does. The shanks, the duffs, the whiffs — they happen.

In scramble, a bad shot is functionally invisible. Your partners hit good ones; we pick a good one; we play from there. There's no permanent record, no score that worsens.

What your partners are thinking when you shank one: nothing. They're focused on what they are about to hit. The story you're telling yourself about being watched is just a story.

After the round.

When eighteen is done, you handshake your three. Most rounds end at the clubhouse bar — first drink's on us for the founding 50. It's where the actual connection happens. The round is the setup; the bar is the punchline.

You're not obligated. Got somewhere to be, you wave and go. Stay if you want to stay.

A few days after, we'll send you a short note — how was it, would you play with them again. We read every reply.