You don't indicate what camera you are using. Hyperfocal distance on a cropped sensor at F11, 35mm, will be a little over 18 ft, and about 12 ft on a full frame.

Your range of "acceptable" focus will be 9 ft and 6 ft to infinity, respectively.

If clear, sharp results are desired, stay below F11 since most cameras will begin to display diffraction-limited loss of sharpness at smaller openings.

With wide angle lenses, the zone of acceptable sharpness will be split roughly 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind the subject. With longer lenses the zone approaches 50/50.

As as been suggested, turn off AF Activation (in Nikon), which will not force the camera to focus each time the shutter is pressed, or simply turn off autofocus on the lens.