Rules
To play the game of golf, you need to know the rules. Since
the rulebook is rather lenghty, I am only going to cover the major rules
and the ones I come into contact with regularly. If you would like to
know the entire rulebook, I suggest you buy a copy and read it for yourself
or that you go to www.usga.org and read the rules
there.
To understand the rules, you first need to know the meaning of some words that will be used in the rules.
Words
may-optional
should-recommendation
shall/must-instuction (and penalty if not carried out)
a ball-you may substitute another ball
the ball-you may not substitute another ball
Rules
Rule 13
13-1. General
The ball shall be played as it lies, except as otherwise provided in the Rules.
13-2. Inproving lie, area of intended stance or swing, or line of play
Except as provided in the Rules, a player shall not improve or allow to be
improved: the position or lie of his ball, the area of his intended stance
or swing, this line of play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond
the hole, or the area in which he is to drop or place a ball by any of the following
actions: moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed (including
immovable obstructions and objects defining out of bounds), creating or eliminating
irregularities of surface, removing or pressing down sand, loose soil, replaced divots
or other cut turf placed in positions, or removing dew, frost or water except as
follows: as may occur in fairly taking his stance, in making a stroke or the
backward movement of his club for a stroke, on the teeing ground in creating or
eliminating irregularities of a surface, or on the putting green in removing sand
and loose soil as provided in Rule 16-1a or in repairing damage as provided in
Rule 16-1c. The club may be grounded only lightly and shall not be pressed on the ground.
Exception: ball in hazard.
13-3. Building stance
A player is entitled to place his feet firmly in taking his stance, but he shall
not build a stance.
13-4. Ball in hazard
Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball which is in a hazard
(whether a bunker or a water hazard) or which, having been lifted from a hazard, may be
dropped or place in the hazard, the player shall not: test the conditon of the hazard
or any similar hazard, touch the ground in the hazard or water in the water hazard
with a club or otherwise, or touch or move a loose impediment lying in or touching
the hazard. Exceptions:
- Provided nothing is done which constitutes testing the condition of the hazard
or improves the lie of the ball, there is no penalty if the player touches the ground in
any hazard or water in a water hazard as a result of or to prevent falling, in removing an
obstruction, in measuring or in retrieving, lifting, placing or replacing a ball under
any Rule or places his clubs in a hazard.
- The player after playing the stroke, or his caddie, at any time without the authority
of the player, my smooth sand or soil in the hazard, provided that, if the ball is still in
the hazard, nothing is done which improves the lie of the ball or assists the player in his
subsequent play of the hole.
Note: at any time, including at address or in the backward movement for the stroke, the player
may touch with a club or otherwise any obstruction, any construction declared by the Committee
to be an integral part of the course or any grass, bush, tree or other growing thing.
Penalty for breach of Rule 13: Match play- loss of hole; Stroke play- two strokes.
Rule 23
23-1. Relief
Except when both the loose impediment and the ball lie in or touch the same hazard, any loose
impediment may be removed without penalty. When a ball is in motion, a loose impediment which
might influence the movement of the ball shall not be removed. Penalty for breach of rule:
Match play- loss of hole; Stroke play- two strokes.
Rule 26
26-1. Ball in water hazard
It is a question of fact whether a ball lost after having been struck toward a water hazard is
lost inside or outside the hazard. In order to treat the ball as lost in the hazard, there
must be reasonable evidence that the ball lodged in it. In the abscence of such evidence, the
ball must be treated as a lost ball and Rule 27 applies. If a ball is in or is lost in a water
hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:
Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played
drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed
the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped,
with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped.
As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water
hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard withing two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than
(i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on
the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.
The ball may be cleaned when lifted under this rule.
26-2. Ball played within water hazard
- Ball comes to rest in the hazard
If a ball played from within a water hazard comes to rest in the same hazard after the stroke, the
player may:
- proceed under Rule 26-2
- under penalty of one stroke, play a ball as nearly as possible at the spost from which the last
stroke from outside the hazard was played.
If the player proceeds under Rule 26-1a, he may elect not to play the dropped ball. If he so
elects, he may:
- Proceed under rule 26-1b, adding the additional penalty of one stroke perscribed by that Rule
- Proceed under Rule 26-1c, if applicable, adding the additional penalty of one stroke perscribed by
that Rule
- Add an additional penalty of one stroke and play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which
the last stroke from outside the hazard was played.
- Ball lost or unplayable outside hazard or out of bounds
If a ball played from within a water hazard is lost or declared unplayable outside the hazard or is out
of bounds, the player, after taking a penalty of one stroke under Rule 27-1 or 28a, may:
- play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot in the hazard from which the original ball was
last played
- proceed under Rule 26-1b, or if applicable Rule 26-1c, adding the additional penalty of one stroke
perscribed by the Rule and using as the reference point the point where the original ball last crossed
the margin of the hazard before it came to rest in the hazard
- add an additional penalty of one stroke and play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which
the last stroke from outside the hazard was played.
Note 1: when proceeding under Rule 26-2b, the player is not required to drop a ball under Rule 27-1 or
28a. If he does drop a ball, he is not required to play it. He may alternatively proceed under Clause
(ii) or (iii). Note 2: if a ball played from within a water hazard is declared unplayable outside the
hazard, nothing in Rule 26-2b precludes the player from proceeding under Rule 28b or c.
Rule 27
27-1. Ball lost or out of bounds
If a ball is lost or is out of bounds, the player shall play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly
as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played. Exceptions:
If there is reasonable evidence that the original ball is lost in a water hazard, the player shall
proceed in accordance with Rule 26-1.
If there is reasonable evidence that the original ball is lost in an immovable obstruction or an
abnormal ground condition the player may proceed under the applicable Rule.
Penalty for breach of Rule 27-1: Match play- loss of hole; Stroke play- two strokes.
27-2. Provisional ball
- Procedure
If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play
another ball provisionally in accordance with Rule 27-1. The player shall inform his opponent in match
play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play that he intends to play a provisional ball, and
he shall play it before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball. If he fails to
do so and plays another ball, such ball is not a provisional ball and becomes the ball in play under
penalty of stroke and distance; the original ball is deemed to be lost.
- When provisional ball becomes ball in play
The player may play a provisional ball until he reaches the place where the original ball is likely to be.
If he plays a stroke with the provisional ball from the place where the original ball is likely to be or
from a point nearer the hole than that origianl place, the original ball is deemed to be lost and the
provisional ball becomes the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance. If the orginal ball is
lost outside a water hazard or is out of bounds, the provisional ball becomes the ball in play, under
penalty of stroke and distance. If there is reasonable evidence that the original ball is lost in a water
hazard, the player shall proceed in accordance with Rule 26-1.
Exception: If there is reasonable evidence that the original ball is lost in an immovable obstruction or
an abnormal ground condition the player may proceed under the applicable Rule.
- When provisional ball to be abandoned
If the original ball is neither lost nor out of bounds, the player shall abandon the provisional ball and
continue play with the original ball. If he fails to do so, any further strokes played with the provisional
ball shall constitute playing a wrong ball and the provisions of Rule 15 shall apply. Note: strokes taken
and penalty strokes incurred solely in playing a provisional ball subsequently abandoned under Rule 27-2c shall
be disregarded.
Rule 28
The player may delcare his ball unplayable at any place on the course except when the ball is in a water
hazard. The player is the sole judge as to wheter his ball is unplayable. If the player deems his ball to
be unplayable, he shall, under penalty of one stroke:
Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played;
Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole;
Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the
spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped.
If the unplayable ball is in a bunker, the player may proceed under previous options. If he elects to proceed
under last two options, a ball must be dropped in the bunker. The ball may be cleaned when lifted under this Rule.
Penalty for breach of rule: Match play- loss of hole; Stroke play- two strokes.
