“My ball came to rest on a cart path – It’s an immovable obstruction as I could see on the card. So I knew I could take a free drop.

My ball was up against the far curb and there were scrub and bushes on that side. So, I went to measure a club length from a point on the near side, into the semi rough.

My playing partner came over and said, ‘Hey, it’s nearest point of relief, not nicest point of relief.’

I hadn’t heard that before, but I followed his guidance, and he told me I had to drop into the bushes. I reluctantly did so but it meant I had to chip out sideways – that seemed unfair.

I wondered whether he was right and what he had meant by nicest versus nearest?”

Let’s answer that.

When claiming relief from an abnormal course condition, say temporary water or ground under repair, or perhaps from an immovable obstruction like a path, as above, people often misinterpret what to do next.

This is covered by Rule 16. You must establish the nearest point of complete relief, where the condition or obstruction no longer interferes with the stroke the player would make (that means the lie of the ball, the stance and the area of the swing are not affected.)

You have a one club length relief area from that reference point.

In the definitions of the Rules. Nearest point of complete relief is the estimated spot where the ball would lie, nearest to the ball’s original spot (not nearer the hole) in the required area of the course and where there is no interference from the condition relief is being taken from.

In the instance above, the nearest point where the lie, stance or swing was not affected by the path was in the scrubby bushes. Often the nearest point of complete relief may be in an unpleasant spot – in thick rough or on a slope for instance.

That’s just bad luck. It could be that the nearest point of relief puts you in an unplayable ball situation. That would be very bad luck and, if it were the case, you might be better off playing the ball as it lies.

If you took relief and found yourself with an unplayable ball you would have to proceed under the relevant Rule 19.

What a lot of people tend to do is look for the nicest point of complete relief rather than the nearest point of complete relief - a "nice" convenient alternative. That’s what our reader did before being corrected by their playing partner.

If our reader had gone ahead and played from the nicer spot, they would have played from the wrong place and under Rule 14.7 received the general penalty.

If they had been playing stroke play, they would then have had to consider how to proceed.

They would have had to decide whether they’d gained a significant advantage by playing from the wrong place.

If they had, they would have needed to correct their mistake and played from the correct place before teeing off on the next hole. If they hadn’t done that, they would have been disqualified.

So remember – If you’re taking a free drop from an abnormal course condition like a cart path (or taking free relief from another situation under the Rules), be sure to identify your nearest not nicest point of complete relief.

You must measure one club length from there, even if it leaves you in an awkward spot. If you choose nicest point of relief, you face a penalty and possibly disqualification!

Rules Quiz

If it’s in, you’re going to have a shot to the green. Nothing is lost and you can carry on your merry way. If it’s drifted out, you’re facing a long walk back to play again, under penalty of one shot, from where the last stroke was made. Or, if you’ve done the right thing, you’ll move to play your provisional ball.

When you reach your ball, it’s close. It’s right on the white out of bounds line. Are you in luck, or not?

Let’s start by giving an outline of out of bounds in The Rules.

OOB is defined as – All areas outside the boundary edge of the course as defined by the committee.

That boundary edge may be defined in a number of ways – white stakes, lines on the ground, fences, walls, railings, roads etc.

However it is defined, if your ball has strayed beyond the limits of the course under Rule 18.2 you must play another ball from where you last played under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 14.6), whether from the tee or fairway or any other spot. So, if it was your tee-shot that had gone OOB, you would now be playing three off the tee.

A ball is in bounds if it lies on or touches the ground or anything else (such as any natural or artificial object) inside the boundary edge. If it’s in the air above the boundary edge, suspended in a bush for instance, if any part of the ball overhangs the course, it’s in!

Where out of bounds is defined by white stakes or a fence, the out of bounds line runs between the nearest inside points at ground level of the stakes or fence posts.

When a line on the ground is used, the line itself is out of bounds. However, a ball is deemed in bounds even if a small part of it lies on the course side of the boundary line.

If your ball sits totally on the white out of bounds line, with no part of it on the course side, it is out of bounds. You’re out of luck.

If then you find your ball bang smack on the white line. You’re out.

Rules quiz

The situation in this headline is something that you might not think possible to happen. But it has done. In fact, I’ve witnessed it happen and I very much doubt it’s the only time in golf’s history it has occurred.

Playing in Spain a few years ago, on the Stadium Course at PGA Catalunya, now called Camiral, my playing partner teed off on the par-3 5^th and hit what looked a good shot destined to cling on to the left side of the green.

As the ball was coming towards the end of its flight, a bird took off from the lake on that left side. It flew straight into the path of my pal’s ball and was struck.

I’m not sure what type of bird it was but it was clearly a hardy sort as it didn’t seem remotely perturbed. It carried on, only a little ruffled. My friend’s ball however did not get off so lightly. It was deflected, possibly caught by a wing stroke, and headed left – straight into the lake. We saw the agonising splash.

It was bad luck as it looked like he’d be putting for birdie. “Surely I get to play that again!” He pleaded, after we’d all had a bit of a laugh at the unusual incident.

You might think so. But no. Unfortunately for him that’s not what the Rules of golf say.

Rule 11 covers what happens when the ball in motion accidentally hits person, animal or object.

OK, his ball had accidentally hit an animal… tick…

Now, reading on, Rule 11.1b(1) tells you what to do if you’ve hit an animal with a shot from anywhere except the putting green.

It says that you must play the ball as it lies. In some cases, the bird strike might have sent my pal’s ball closer to the hole and that would have been a good break. In this instance, the break was not good and his ball ended in a penalty area.

Bad luck indeed, and the only course of action was to follow the Rules for a ball that has ended in a penalty area, covered in Rule 17.

This was a red penalty area, so my friend had four options. Number 1, he could try to play it. That wasn’t really on though. He would have needed scuba gear to get to it.

He had then, three options left, all under penalty of one stroke. Firstly, he could play again from the tee under stroke and distance – playing three from where he hit the original shot.

Secondly, he could take back on the line relief, keeping the spot the ball crossed into the penalty area in a straight line between the hole and where the ball was to be dropped. That was going to take him off into the woods, so not that appealing.

He decided to take Option 3. A lateral two-club length drop from a reference point where the ball crossed into the penalty area, dropping no nearer the hole than the reference point.

If it had been a yellow penalty area, he would have only had the stroke and distance and back on the line penalty relief options. The lateral drop is for red penalty areas only.

If, in some extremely strange circumstance, a player hit a putt from the putting green that struck a bird and was deviated into a pond, they would be able to play again from the spot the stroke was made with no penalty.

In fact, they would have to play again from the same spot, or they would face the general penalty.

Other than shots played from the putting green, if a ball you’ve hit strikes a bird, you must play it from where it ends up. If it finishes in a pond, that’s simply bad luck and you must accept your punishment. The golfing gods are against you!

Rules Quiz

Personally, I think they should be left centrally in bunkers. If they are left outside on the edge, they can prevent balls from going in the sand that should have done.

If they are left just inside bunkers, they can prevent balls rolling into a playable position in the bunker – that is infuriating. You might have had a shot but because the rake has stopped it just under the lip, you don’t.

Let me know in the comments box below where you think rakes should be left...

What do you do though if your ball comes to rest against a rake? Can you move it or do you just have to make the best of the situation?

Well to start with, what is a rake under the definitions of the Rules? It’s a movable obstruction. A movable obstruction is an obstruction that can be moved with reasonable effort and without damaging the obstruction or the course. It is an artificial object and is not an integral part of the course.

OK, so what can we do about a movable obstruction? Well, this is covered by Rule 15.2a.

It says that, without penalty, you can remove a movable obstruction anywhere on the course and you can do it in any way. So, whether your ball is up against the rake in the general area (on the side of a bunker) or up against a rake inside the bunker, you can move that rake without incurring a penalty.

The next, obvious question though is, what happens if the ball moves when you remove the rake?

That’s all too likely as the rake may well have been placed on a slope either leading into the bunker or within the bunker, on a sloped edge.

That’s covered in Rule 15.2a as well. It continues that – if the ball moves when you are moving a movable obstruction then, with no penalty, you must replace the ball on its original spot. If you don’t know exactly where that is – you must estimate it.

There’s no requirement to do so under the Rules, but it’s not a bad idea to mark the spot of your ball before you remove the rake. Then, if it does move, you know where to replace it.

OK, that’s fine, but you might now face another problem. If the ball moved when you removed the rake, it’s likely to move similarly when you try to place it on its original spot – the likelihood is, the ball was resting against the rake on a slope.

What to do is covered by Rule 14.2e – If the ball doesn’t stay on the original spot when you replace it, you must try a second time. It’s worth noting, you must place it and not press the ball into the ground to try to make it stay.

If it doesn’t stay in the on its original spot for a second time, you must place it on the nearest spot where the ball will stay at rest, no nearer the hole than the original spot.

If your original spot was in the general area (on the side of the bunker say) the nearest spot must still be in the general area. Likewise, if the original spot was in the bunker, the nearest spot must be in the same bunker.

Occasionally, you might get a good or better result from following this correct procedure… Sometimes you won’t. That’s golf!

Rules Quiz

You prey to the golfing gods that it might just have stopped and stayed in play but you can’t be sure.

What to do in that situation of uncertainty is to play a provisional ball. You must make it clear to your playing partners that you are doing so. If you can’t tell them immediately because they are not in earshot, you must tell them as soon as you are able to.

Your provisional ball will become the ball in play if your original ball is lost or out of bounds or if you play it from a spot that is nearer the hole than where the original ball was thought to be.

What do you do though if you hit a provisional ball and it heads into the same area the original did and you fear that it too could be lost or out of bounds?

Rule 18.3 tells you all you need to know about provisional balls and Rule 18.3a says that if a provisional ball may be out of bounds or lost outside a penalty area, you may play another provisional ball.

That second provisional ball would have the same relationship to the first provisional as the first provisional has to the original ball.

If you feared a drive was lost, then feared the provisional was lost, that second provisional, if it is then required, is effectively five off the tee.

What if you think the second provisional is also lost or out of bounds? Well, you can just keep on going. There is technically no limit to how many provisional balls you can hit.

If you genuinely believe that every ball you have hit could be either lost or OOB, then you can keep declaring provisional and hitting again.

But you would have to be a little careful. If you stood up on the tee and hit 15 shots declaring provisional each time, you would have to genuinely believe they could be in trouble, otherwise you could be in danger of breaching Rule 5.6 – Unreasonably delaying play.

If your playing partners felt that one or more of your so called “Provisionals” were actually ok and on the course, you could be unreasonably delaying play and would face a one stroke penalty.

Is there a limit to how many provisionals you can hit? Technically no. But you would probably be constrained by how many balls you have in your bag. And, if you’re potentially playing 27 off the tee having hit 13 provisional balls, it might be time to call it a day.

Rules Quiz

What he did next provides the answer to the question posed by the headline. He was allowed to swap the shaft and carry on using the repaired driver.

Why was he able to do that? Well in The Rules of Golf, Rule 4 explains it. Rule 4 deals with the player’s equipment and Rule 4.1a(2) covers use, repair or replacement of club damaged during a round.

It says that if a conforming club is damaged during a round, or while play is stopped – for instance during a weather delay – the player may repair it or replace it with another club, except in cases of abuse.

So – If your driver snaps during a round by accident or through general wear and tear, like Bryson’s did, you can either repair it – put a new shaft into the head for instance – or replace it.

But you still need to be a little careful. When replacing or repairing a club, you must not unreasonably delay play, or you would breach Rule 5.6a and receive a penalty stroke.

Basically, if your driver snaps and you are at the far end of the course, you can’t walk all the way back to your car to get a replacement club or shaft. You might have to phone in to get someone to help you out and bring it to you.

You can repair or replace a snapped driver if it’s happened by accident, but you can’t if you snapped it in frustration. If you put it over your knee or smacked it against the ground, a tee marker or other object, you would not be able to repair or replace it if it snapped.

There are a couple of examples of that from the pro Tours. At this year’s Open, Sergio Garcia (no stranger to the odd fit of pique), smashed his driver into the ground after a bad drive on the 2^nd hole of the final round. It snapped in two and he was forced to play the remainder of the round driverless.

Rory McIlroy snapped his driver in anger during the 2024 BMW Championship and was not allowed to replace it.

What can you do if your driver snaps? Well, if it’s happened by accident you can repair or replace. If you did it on purpose, you’re out of luck!

Rules Quiz

First of all, there’s no penalty and the player whose ball was in motion should be played from where it has come to rest.

For the player whose ball has been moved, they should follow Rule 9.6 – Ball lifted or moved by an outside influence.

If it is known or virtually certain that your ball at rest has been moved by an outside influence (a ball in motion for instance,) again, there is no penalty, and you must replace the ball where it originally sat. If that spot is not known, it must be estimated.

But what about if your ball knocked another player’s ball into the hole?

As long as your shot has been played from off the putting surface, the Rules above apply – You will play the ball as it lies and the person whose ball has been knocked into the cup must replace their ball on its original spot.

If you didn’t play your ball from where it had come to rest after knocking another golfer’s ball into the hole, you would receive a general penalty for playing from a wrong place – Rule 14.7.

If the player whose ball had been knocked into the cup didn’t replace their ball, they would also receive the general penalty.

If your ball (played from off the green) struck another ball at rest and went into the cup, it would be deemed to have been holed as per Louis Oosthuizen’s ace on the 16^th hole in the 2016 Masters. His tee shot struck JB Holmes’ ball and was deflected into the hole. The South African’s hole in one stood and Holmes had to replace his ball.

On the putting green

Things are a little different if you have played from the putting green and knocked a ball into the cup.

In strokeplay, if your ball is on the green and it strikes another ball on the putting green (whether it knocks it into the cup or not,) you receive the general penalty of two shots. The player whose ball was struck should replace their ball on its original spot.

There’s no penalty in match play for striking a ball on the putting green with a shot from the putting green but the struck ball should be replaced.

Local Rules cover features that are specific to the course or a particular competition. You will generally see them on the back of a scorecard, or on a competitors’ rules sheet, but they will likely also be published elsewhere, on club notice boards or perhaps the club website.

Local Rules define boundaries of the course and penalty areas. There might be Local Rules on abnormal ground conditions, immovable obstructions and integral objects. In competitions there might be Local Rules covering advice and equipment.

Local Rules are a modification of a Rule or an additional Rule that a committee can choose to adopt.

If a committee does choose to adopt a Local Rule, they can follow a Model Local Rule in doing so.

Section 8 of Committee Procedures in the Rules of Golf covers Model Local Rules. This section give committees guidelines and templates of how to put Local Rules into place.

Model Local Rules can be adopted in their entirety, or they can be used as an example of how to write a particular Local Rule.

But, if a committee does change the wording of a Model Local Rule, it must be sure the changes are consistent with the stated purpose of the Local Rule.

If a Local Rule is put in place that is not consistent with the guidelines in Section 8, rounds played with that Local Rule in place will not be considered to have been played according to the Rules of Golf.

Committees can’t use Local Rules to change The Rules of Golf just because they want a Rule to be different.

They also can’t apply penalties differently to the ways stated in the Rules of Golf.

Unless it’s otherwise stated, the penalty for breaching a Local Rule is the General Penalty.

Some Local Rules may be permanent, such as the definition of a road running through a course as an immovable obstruction.

Other Local Rules may be introduced because of a temporary situation. Perhaps most common of these would be Model Local Rule E3 – Preferred Lies.

When a course is wet for example, the committee might allow players to lift and place a ball in a relief area, which could be six inches, a score card or club length from the spot where the ball was originally sitting.

It’s recommended that the preferred lies Local Rule is only put in place in areas cut to fairway length or shorter. Otherwise, players could get unfair relief from unplayable spots (in a bush for instance.)

Temporary Local Rules should be removed when the situation no longer requires them.

To summarise, Model Local Rules provide a template or guideline for committees to establish Local Rules that can either be put in place permanently or temporarily.

Rules Quiz

Sometimes though there can be disagreements about which Rule is applicable. There could also be debate about whether a particular Rule does apply.

What do you do if such a disagreement arises on the golf course? What course of action should you take if you don’t agree that a ruling you have been given is correct.

With referee

If you are very good at golf, there might be a referee to consult, whether you are playing match play or stroke play.

In those instances, the referee is where you will take your guidance. If a referee gives a ruling in a match or in stroke play their ruling is final.

Rule 20.2a says a player must follow the referee’s ruling on the facts or how the Rules apply.

The player has no right to appeal a referee’s ruling to the committee, but the referee can request a second opinion or refer a ruling to the committee.

You could suggest that they do either of those things, but the referee is not obliged to do so.

In some tournaments, the committee might decide to always allow a player a second opinion, but that option is not a given.

If a referee did refer a ruling to a committee and it was found to have been a wrong ruling, it will be corrected under Rule 20.2d(1) if it is still possible to do so. If it’s too late to do so, the wrong ruling will stand.

Without referee

For most of us, we’ll be playing golf competitions without referees on hand. What do we do if there’s a disagreement on the Rules? Rule 20.1 applies here.

In match play, if you disagree with your opponent about a ruling, you have the right to make a request for a ruling from a referee or committee before the result of the match is final.

If it’s not possible to ask a referee or the committee in reasonable time at the time of the incident or situation, you can inform your opponent that you’ll be making a request for a ruling when either referee or committee are available.

If you’re on the course and you’re unhappy with a ruling, and you have all the facts, that request must be made before either of you tee off on another hole.

If you’re on the last hole, you need to ask the committee before the result of the match is final.

If you play another hole, or the match becomes final, the result of the hole stands even if the Rules were applied incorrectly.

In match play, you can’t play two balls if you’re unsure how to proceed under the Rules. But you can do so in stroke play.

If there’s a disagreement on the Rules in stroke play and you are unhappy with a ruling suggestion from a playing partner, you can play out the hole with two balls.

You must announce to your playing partner which ball you feel is being played correctly according to the Rules. The score with that ball will apply if it is found to have been played according to the Rules.

The committee will decide whether the chosen ball has been played within the Rules. If so, the score for the hole with that ball will count. If the Rules did not allow, then the score with the second ball will count, as long as it was played within the Rules.

Basically then. In match play, if you have a disagreement on the Rules, you need to find out from the committee before you start another hole what the ruling should be. If you’re on the final hole, you must find out before the result of the match is final.

In stroke play, when you disagree on Rules, you should play two balls and seek guidance from the committee.

If you hit a ball off the golf course, beyond the out of bounds line, you’ll have to play again and add an extra shot to your score.

If you hit one into a penalty area you will be facing extra shots unless you are able to get in there and hit it.

A lost ball will mean you need to play again from the spot you originally hit and add on a penalty shot.

These are ways in which, you’ll need to play again under some form of penalty. But are there instances in golf where your stroke is simply cancelled, and you have to play it again?

The answer to that question is yes.

In match play the order of play is key to the contest. If your opponent plays a particularly bad, or good shot then that may well have an impact on your shot selection.

For that reason, you play in turn in match play and the Rules allow a player to ask an opponent to play again if they play out of turn. Basically, you can “cancel” an opponent’s shot if they have played when they were closer to the hole or it wasn’t their turn.

Rule 6.4a(2) says - "If the player plays when it was the opponent's turn to play, there is no penalty but the opponent may cancel the stroke.” The player must cancel the stroke promptly and once cancelled, they cannot retract the cancellation.

You don’t have to ask the opponent to play again, it’s just an option to effectively cancel their shot if they’ve played when it wasn’t their turn.

You might well choose to ignore it if your opponent has hit one into a pond for instance. But, if they’ve stuck it in close when it obviously wasn’t their go, you might choose to cancel their stroke.

When Annika Sorenstam played out of turn in the 2000 Solheim Cup and holed a chip shot, her American opponents Kelly Robbins and Pat Hurst decided to “cancel” her stroke and make her play again. It was within the Rules, even if many people considered it a touch unsporting!

Power Lines

Another instance in which a stroke can be effectively cancelled is covered by Model Local Rule (MLR) E-11. It deals with a ball hitting overhead power lines

If a permanent overhead power line interferes with the reasonable play of a hole, a committee can require that if a ball hits the power line (and towers, support wires or poles supporting the power line), the stroke does not count and the player must play the stroke again.

If E-11 is in place and a player’s ball hits the power lines or supporting structure, they must “cancel” their shot and play again. It is not optional.

Either the local rule is in place and you must play again, or the local rule is not in place and you must play the ball as it lies.

The question again then, can a stroke be cancelled in golf? Yes, in match play when a player plays out of turn or, more generally, if MLR E-11 is in place and a ball strikes overhead power lines.

Rules Quiz

As you walk over the brow though you see the fairway runs out and down into a red penalty area… a pond! Short of the pond and the line demarcating the red penalty is some heavy rough and an area of reeds.

You can’t see your ball but you’re hoping it might have stopped short of the pond in the rough or reeds. You begin to search but it’s thick stuff and there’s no sign of it. You stand on a couple of balls, but neither are yours.

After nearly three minutes of searching without luck, you suggest to your playing partner that you’ve probably gone into the penalty area. They respond that you might well have done.

What should I do next?

This is where the golf Rules term “Known or Virtually Certain” comes into play. It is the standard for deciding what has happened to a player’s ball and it will determine what you should do next…

Known is a definite, nothing vague about it. If the player or another person saw for sure what happened to a ball it is known.

But virtually certain is tricky. It’s defined in the Rules as, being at least 95% likely that what is thought to have happened, has happened.

Right so in this scenario, do you know that your ball has gone into the penalty area? No – You would need to have seen it or have others witness it cross the line into the penalty area for it to be “known.”

OK then, are you virtually (95% or more) certain your ball has gone into the red penalty area?

If the fairway had sloped straight into the pond with short grass all the way, you would be able to say you were virtually certain it had ended in the water. There would have been nothing to stop it.

In that case, you would proceed under Rule 17 and take one of the relief options available from a red penalty area. Those are: stroke and distance relief from where the previous shot was played, back on the line relief keeping the point where you believe the ball crossed into the penalty area in a straight line with the hole, or two-club-length lateral relief from the spot you believe the ball crossed the line (no closer to the hole).

But in the scenario you’re facing, the run into the penalty area was not clear. Thick rough and reeds were blocking the way.

Can you be 95% sure that, because you haven’t found your ball, that it’s not buried in the grass short of the penalty area? Probably not.

If you were 95% sure the ball was in the penalty area, why would you have spent that time searching for it outside the penalty area.

In this instance, because you can’t be 95% sure the ball is in the penalty area, you must treat your ball as lost if you can’t find it after three minute. Your only option is to go back to where you played the previous shot and take stroke and distance relief.

The temptation would be to say, “yeah – it must be in the penalty area.” Your playing partner might even agree that it probably is.

But “virtually certain” requires a higher standard than just probably or possibly. If you can’t be 95% sure the ball is in the penalty area, you must treat it as lost.

Although most of the Rules are fairly straightforward, there are some that are a little more obscure and you could well be caught out by them. Here we look at some golf Rules you might be breaking without knowing it.

Teeing off Early

You are probably aware you can be penalised for missing your tee time in competitive golf. But did you know, you can face a penalty or even disqualification for teeing off before your allotted time in a competition?

If you don’t have permission from the committee, you will face a general penalty – two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play if you tee off up to five minutes before your time.

If you were to tee off more than five minutes before your designated time, you would be disqualified. See Rule 5.3 for more information.

Leaving Tracker Dots on Club face

If you’re testing clubs or being custom fit, it’s likely you will have seen the pro placing tracker dots or fiducials on the face of the club to give an indication of performance.

You might think these are so minimal as to make no difference if you were to leave them on. You might be right, but you can’t leave them on the face according to the Rules.

The Rules say that those stickers could change the club’s playing characteristics, making it non-conforming and that would be in contravention of Rule 4.1a. If you make a stroke with a club that has fiducials left on, you’ll be disqualified.

If you go for a club fitting, be sure to take those stickers off!

Nearest Point of Complete Relief

If you’re taking a free drop for an abnormal course condition under Rule 16, you must find your nearest point of complete relief from the condition – the closest spot, no nearer the hole where the condition no longer impacts on your lie, stance or swing. You have one club length in which to drop from there.

The temptation might be to find the nicest point of complete relief. If you’re on a cart path and the nearest point of relief is in a bush on one side – that is where you have to go to. You can’t simply pick the side where your lie will be best.

It’s one of the most commonly abused Rules – you must take nearest point of relief and not nicest!

Holding on to your card for too long

Rule 3.3b(2) says that a player must certify the scores on a scorecard and promptly return it to the committee.

You can’t finish your round, go for a three-course lunch with port and cigars, wait for four hours and then hand your scorecard in before leaving.

If you don’t return your score promptly (basically as soon as you are able to do so) you have breached Rule 3.3b and you are disqualified.

Get your card into the machine or to the scorer as quickly as you can!

It isn’t always two club lengths!

You’ll often see people making the mistake of measuring two club lengths whenever they get a drop. That isn’t right.

If you’re taking a penalty drop for an unplayable ball you would have the option to drop two club lengths away from the ball’s original location.

But, if you’re taking relief from an abnormal course condition, a puddle for example, you only have a one-club length relief area from the nearest point of complete relief.

If you see someone take two club lengths, let them know and they will be able to correct their mistake before playing from a wrong place!

You receive a one stroke penalty for a minor infringement like accidentally causing your ball to move or taking an incorrect drop.

You receive the general penalty of two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play for a more serious breach like playing the ball from the wrong place or giving advice to a fellow competitor.

In those instances of Rules infringements, your score will be affected but you will still be part of the competition. In the most serious cases of Rule breaking though you can be disqualified from the competition.

For serious misconduct for instance – that’s in the very first Rule in the book. If a committee feels a player has acted against the spirit of the game… if they are known to have cheated for instance… they can disqualify that player.

That’s an obvious one, but there are some more obscure ways you can be disqualified. Here are some of them:

Teeing off Early

If you arrive to the tee more than five minutes late for a competition tee time, you are disqualified – unless the committee decides exceptional circumstances have caused the delay.

That seems fair enough. If you turn up late, you’re out. But more unusual and perhaps less known is that you are also disqualified if you tee off more than five minutes early.

If you and a playing partner arrive to the course for your medal round earlier than expected, and you decide to set out straight away without securing the approval of the committee, you are disqualified!

Practicing on course

You can’t make a practice stroke on the course during your round except putting or chipping near or on the green of the hole you’ve just finished, or around the next tee.

If you make a practice stroke on the course during the round other than that, you’ll receive the general penalty.

Rule 5.2 says you can’t practice on the course before a stroke play round either.

If you had a putt on the 18^th green before you headed to the 1^st tee, you’d receive a two shot general penalty. If you hit a second practice putt on that green you’d be disqualified.

Adjusting a club

Many drivers and fairway clubs now come with adjustable features to help you create the shot shape you want. Before you head out for a round, you can tinker with the settings to find the right one for your requirements.

But, if you made an adjustment during a competitive round and then played a shot with the adjusted club – you’d be disqualified under Rule 4.1a(3).

Playing from the wrong place

If you play from the wrong place you will get a general penalty. Then though, you must decide whether you need to correct the mistake and, in some instances, if you don’t, you’ll be disqualified.

You must decide whether you’ve gained a significant advantage by playing from the wrong place.

If you’ve taken a drop and the ball has rolled just outside the relief area but the lie is just as it would have been within the relief area, you won’t have gained a significant advantage so you could play out the hole with the ball played from the wrong place.

But if you’ve taken a drop and the ball has rolled just outside the relief area from thick rough and onto the fairway, you will have gained a significant advantage so you will have to correct the mistake, re-drop correctly and play out from the right place.

In that second instance, if you don’t correct the mistake, you will be disqualified under Rule 14.7b.

Four ball scoring

In four ball stroke play, each score on the scorecard must be identified as the score of the individual player. It’s not enough to just fill in one column with the best score of the team in general.

If you don’t indicate which player’s score is counting on each hole – you will be disqualified.

The R&A and USGA are constantly monitoring and working on solutions to make the Rules as equitable and understandable at possible, and they do a fabulous job of insuring we all have clear and fair guidelines for what to do in any situation we might encounter on the golf course.

But everyone has their own views on the Rules and will be able to think of at least one or two that treats them unfairly on a regular basis.

I was debating this the other day when a clubhouse discussion started up. A friend asked the group, “If you were in charge of the Rules, what would you change?” This is what I came up with…

Stroke and distance for Out of Bounds

This is one I’ve talked a good deal about. I just don’t think it’s fair.

If you stand up to tee off on a par-4, swing at 200mph, miss the ball completely and hurl yourself off your feet, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off and have another go, playing two.

However, if you make a smooth swing and perfect connection with the ball but it gets the cruellest of bounces and ends up trickling just off the edge of the course and out of bounds, you have to re-tee and play three from the same spot.

That seems too harsh to me. I think you should be playing two.

If I were in charge, I would say ‘no penalty for going out of bounds.’ But that’s probably just coming from someone who goes out of bounds rather too frequently!

Although… I do think it could make golf more exciting as people would go for their shots a little more often… Just a thought.

The drop

We now drop the ball from knee height, whether it’s free or penalty relief we’re taking. That’s a bit more forgiving than the shoulder-high drop which was rather unpredictable. But why do you have to drop it all?

If you’ve incurred a penalty, why do you need to be further penalised by then potentially dropping it into a divot hole or other similarly unfortunate lie?

If you’re in a position where free relief is available, why can’t you find yourself a nice lie?

I would say it would simplify the Rules and make play quicker if you could always place the ball after you have lifted it to take either free or penalty relief.

Flooded Bunker Rule

It’s another situation in the Rules that I think is unfair. When your ball ends in a bunker that is totally flooded, with no type of relief available, and the committee has not deemed bunkers to be out of play, the only thing you can do is take a penalty drop.

You could try and play it, but if it’s totally submerged that would be somewhat foolish…

No, I would have it that if the bunker is totally flooded, you should receive a free drop outside of it. You haven’t hit into a penalty area and should deserve to have some sort of shot option.

Fairway Divot holes

This must be one of the most unfair Rules in the game. A ball struck beautifully down the heart of the fairway comes to rest on the centre line, but it’s bang slap in the middle of a two-inch deep divot hole.

You basically must accept a penalty by hacking out of it.

That’s not right. I would include divot holes on all closely mown areas as an abnormal ground condition from which you should be entitled to free relief under Rule 16.

Penalties For Slow Play

There’s a Rule to cover unreasonably delaying play (5.6), but there are no actual Rules on pace of play, merely guidelines. As a fast player, I would love to see penalties.

They would have to be changeable on a course-by-course basis. I reckon the option would be for a Model Local Rule that would allow committees to penalise golfers who fell behind the group in front and a certain amount behind the set pace of play requirements.

It would be hellishly difficult to police at club level so not practical really.

I just think it would be fascinating to see how much pace of play was improved if players actually faced penalty shots for dawdling. Quite a bit I reckon.

For instance, if your ball stops right against the base of a tree you can’t move your ball away, nor can you cut the tree down to get it out of your way!

If your ball is in deep rough, you can’t trample around in the grass surrounding your ball to improve your lie. Rule 8.1a(1) says you must not take action to improve the conditions affecting the stroke by moving bending or breaking a growing or attached natural object.

It is generally the case in golf that you must play the ball as it lies, without altering the conditions affecting your shot. But there are circumstances when you are entitled to move the ball, to take a free drop without penalty. Here are some of them:

Abnormal Course Conditions

In the definitions of the Rules, an abnormal course condition is an Animal Hole, Ground Under Repair, an Immovable Obstruction or Temporary Water.

You will receive a free drop from an abnormal course condition anywhere on the course except a Penalty Area.

An animal hole is any hole dug in the ground by an animal (other than by animals defined as loose impediments, like worms or insects.)

The term animal hole includes loose material dug out of the hole and surrounding it, any tracks or trails leading to the hole and any ground disturbed around the hole by the animal’s digging.

For example, if you find yourself in a rabbit hole, you can take a free drop. You find the nearest point of relief, where the rabbit hole does not affect your lie, stance or swing (no nearer the hole than where your ball was lying) and then you have one club length from there in which to drop without penalty - no nearer the hole.

If any part of the course has been defined by the committee as ground under repair you can take a free drop away from it.

Holes made by the committee or greens staff (other than aeration holes) are ground under repair, as are grass cuttings or other materials piled for later removal.

An animal habitat that could be damaged by your stance or swing is also classed as ground under repair.

You get a free drop from any of those circumstances.

Something artificial on the course which cannot be moved, that is not an integral object or a boundary object, is classed as an immovable obstruction, from which you get a free drop. Fixed benches, cart paths, bins and the like are immovable obstructions.

If your ball ends up in a puddle, it’s classed as temporary water. You will receive a drop away from the puddle – one club length from the nearest point of relief… that point is where the temporary water no longer affects lie, stance or swing.

Embedded Ball

If you find your ball embedded in the General Area – to be embedded it must be in its own pitch mark and part of the ball must be below the level of the ground – you will get to move it.

You will be able to take a knee-high free drop in an area within one club length of the spot directly behind where the ball was originally embedded.

You don’t get a free drop for an embedded ball in a bunker or in a penalty area.

Dangerous Animals

You can take a free drop away from a “dangerous animal condition.” Say your ball is next to a hornet’s nest, you can drop within one club length of the nearest point to where the ball was originally lying where the dangerous situation no longer exists.

In most circumstances on the golf course, you must play your ball as it lies but when you find your ball affected by an abnormal course condition or immovable obstruction, a dangerous animal condition or embedded ball, you will be entitled to a free drop.

Depending on your game, you can maximise your performance by finding the optimum setting.

Other clubs, putters in particular come with removable and replaceable weights to alter the weight and feel of the club. In different conditions, on differing surfaces, altering the weighting can help you find the best set-up to get the very most out of your game.

Before a round of golf, during a practice round or at the range, you can try the different settings to see what effects they have on performance.

But if conditions change during a round, or you find yourself struggling with a particular fault in your game, can you adjust your club to try to rectify the problem or to get the most out of it?

Well, if you’re not playing in competition or a counting round, you can do what you like. As long as you’re not holding the course up in doing so, you can adjust away until your heart’s content. It might annoy your playing partners but there’s nothing to stop you.

If, however, you are playing a round to the Rules of Golf, you cannot adjust a club during a round.

Rule 4.1a(3) says that “A player must not make a stroke with a club when they have deliberately changed that club’s playing characteristics during the round." You are also not allowed to make changes to a club mid-round if play is suspended for any reason.

So, you are not allowed to use the adjustability feature on your driver or any other club after a few holes because you realise you’re hitting too much of a fade, as an example.

You’re also not allowed to make your putter heavier if you realise after the first couple of greens that the surfaces are a little slow.

The only time you can move your adjustable club is if it moves out of position. Then you can move it back to its original position before making a stroke.

But, the simple answer to the question – can you adjust a golf club during a round? No – you can’t do so without breaking Rule 4.1a in the Rules of Golf.

If you do adjust a club and then make a stroke with it, you will be disqualified.

Perhaps a player has a couple of sets of irons that deliver a different feel depending on turf conditions, the same might be said for utility clubs and wedges.

Most golfers have at least a couple of putters lurking in the back of their garage that are given an outing when a favoured flatstick starts underperforming.

There is of course, nothing to stop golfers from selecting different clubs to use every time they go out, if they make the switch before they start playing a round.

You are not required to stick by one set of clubs for your entire golfing career!

But what if you’re having a particularly bad day on the fairways and you think a club, or multiple clubs you have taken out that round are to blame? Can you make a change? Are golfers allowed to switch clubs after nine holes?

First of all – Is it a counting round? If you aren’t playing a competition or for your handicap, then the answer is yes. You can do what you want. If the car park or locker room is right there at the turn, you can go and ditch your bag and play the back nine with a fully different set.

You shouldn’t do this if it’s going to hold up the course, but if you’re just having a knock about and want to test out different bats on the back nine, and it’s feasible from a timing perspective to make a change, go for it.

But if you are playing a counting round or competition, things are a little different. Can you switch clubs then? The answer is, generally, no.

Rule 4.1 deals with the clubs you take out for a round. You are allowed a maximum of 14 of them and those are the ones you have for the duration.

Except – If you accidentally damage a club on the way round. If, for instance, you hit a tree when making a swing and the club bends or snaps. Rule 4.1a(2) says you can repair or replace it.

When you do this though, you must not unduly delay play. So, you couldn’t break a wedge on the 3^rd then walk a mile back to the clubhouse to get a replacement. That would be unduly delaying play.

You can’t replace a damaged club if you have damaged it in anger. If you have snapped a putter over your knee in frustration, you can’t go get another one after nine holes.

You also can never borrow a club from someone else playing in the competition. So you can’t swap your set with your playing partner if you fancy a change. You can’t switch clubs with a playing partner after nine holes.

If you start a round with fewer than 14 clubs, you can add clubs up to a total of 14 during the round (again if play is not unduly delayed. And, again, you can’t borrow one from someone in the competition.)

And it’s important to note that if you lose a club during a round, you can’t replace it.

The answer to the question then, are golfers allowed to switch clubs after nine holes? The Rules say that, in competition, the only time you can switch one or more of your 14 clubs midway through the round is if you have accidentally damaged it, or them.

Otherwise – if you have 14 to begin with - you’re stuck with what you started with for the duration of your round.

But each of the near 40,000 golf courses across the world is different. Different designs and layouts over different terrains with different turfs and grasses. Courses vary in length and width. Greens can be sprawling or tiny.

The smallest greens on planet golf are almost always found on par-3 holes. Generally, on the shortest par-3 holes. Perhaps the most famous of the lot is the “Postage Stamp” 8^th hole at Royal Troon (as pictured above.) It’s just 123 yards long but the target is extremely narrow protected by slopes and perilous bunkers, including the infamous “coffin.”

30 yards long and between 9 and 14 yards across, at some 2,600 square feet, it might not appear that minute on paper. But stand up on the tee, playing into the teeth of a 30mph gale, the target looks very small indeed.

There are smaller greens by area than the Postage Stamp. Depending on the length of the hole and the prevailing conditions, small targets might be a hole’s main protection.

But is there a limit to how small a green can be? Are there Rules to say a putting surface must be of a certain size?

The answer to that is no. There are guidelines but no actual Rule to say that a green must be a minimum size.

In this instance, common sense must prevail. A hole with a green with dimensions of one yard by one yard would be ridiculous. It would look crazy, it would be unplayable and nobody would enjoy it.

A green should be of a fair size to present a suitable challenge for the length of the hole. It should be wide and deep enough that there are reasonable pin positions available.

Again, there is no absolute Rule on how far a pin should be placed from the edge of the putting surface although, again, there are guidelines.

In the Committee Procedures section of the Rules of Golf, the following is advised in 5F(2):

“Setting holes where there is enough putting green surface between the hole and the front and sides of the putting green to accommodate the approach on that particular hole. For example, placing the hole immediately behind a bunker when a long approach is required by the majority of the field is usually not recommended.”

So, the rule of thumb is there should be space to realistically land a ball between the hole and the edge of the putting surface.

Greens should be large enough for that to be the case. If a green is too narrow or too shallow, it may not be feasible to have a pin position that allows the player to keep the ball on the surface and have a putt, even if they play the correct shot.

So, is there a limit to how small a golf green can be? Technically, no. But practically, if a green is too small for good shots to stay on the short stuff, then the hole could be unfair, even unplayable. Committees and greens teams should and will look to keep the test fair and reasonable. Small greens can present a fun test, but too small and the test becomes too severe.

Many clubs offer halfway facilities, some more opulent than others. In those more comfortable halfway houses, a Gleneagles (see pic above) perhaps, you could be tempted to hang around, particularly if they’re serving some nice food and drink. Or maybe if the weather has taken a turn for the worse.

But how long are you allowed to stay in a halfway hut. Is there a limit to how long you can stop?

Well, first thing’s first: Are you playing a counting round? If not, you can stay in the halfway hut as long as you like. You would probably have to leave when they were closing up for the day, unless you knew one of the members of staff and they were prepared to leave you a key.

But no, if you’re just out for a knockabout with pals, there is no limit to how long you can stop in a halfway hut.

Many clubs will give guidelines though, for pace of play purposes. It might be recommended that you move on when the following group enters the halfway hut. Other clubs might recommend not spending more than 10 minutes eating your sausage sandwich…

It would depend on how busy the course is. If it’s full up, then having a set policy for moving on from the halfway hut is sensible and it should be adhered to, or the 10^th tee will become a battle ground!

What about if you are playing in a competition though? Can you stop at the halfway hut, and for how long? What do The Rules say?

You’ve got to look at Rule 5.6 here. It says you must not “unreasonably delay play, either when playing a hole or between two holes.”

Hmm, that would suggest that you can’t hang about in a halfway hut then… What if you’re really hungry? Don’t worry. There’s a clarification to that Rule which will come to your help.

Clarification 5.6a/1 gives examples of actions that are considered reasonable delays to play and these include:

“Briefly stopping by the clubhouse or halfway house to get food or drink.”

It’s relatively vague that and the concept of “briefly” will vary quite significantly between different groups. But “briefly” should be taken to mean, enough time to have a quick something before the next group hove into view…

You must be slightly careful on this because, also within the clarification, an example of an unreasonable delay to play is “stopping by the clubhouse or halfway house to get food or drink for more than a few minutes if the Committee has not allowed it.”

So, if the Committee, has said “no stopping for more than a brief break in this event” and you sit down for pie, beans and chips, you’re going to be in breach of Rule 5.6 and receive a penalty shot.

Generally speaking then, common sense should be used when stopping at a halfway hut. A few minutes to get a bite to eat and a quick drink is fine, but sitting down to a slap-up lunch isn’t really on if it’s going to hold up play.

Often though, the Rules can seem a little harsh and sometimes it’s even difficult to believe the situations you find yourself in with the Rules working against you. Here are five of the most controversial Rules in golf.

No Relief From Divot Holes in Fairway

You’ve struck one beautifully, right out of the middle and it’s flown straight as an arrow down the centre cut. You’re going to be in "position A" for attacking the flag. Good work.

But, when you get down there, you find your ball has come to rest in a two-inch deep divot hole. It’s basically unplayable. Surely you must get relief from there. Surely, it’s an abnormal course condition…

Nope. There is no relief from a divot hole. Even if it’s in the fairway, you must play it as it lies. It’s not an abnormal course condition; it’s simply part of the course. Bad luck.

Stroke and distance penalty for Out of Bounds

It’s one of your author’s least favourite Rules. Rule 18.2 says that when a ball is Out of Bounds, you must take stroke and distance relief. That means if your tee shot has gone OOB then you must re-tee and play three from there.

In the opinion of many, it’s too harsh a penalty. If you missed the ball completely on the tee, you would only be playing two. But if you strike it well and narrowly go beyond the white stakes, you are playing three. Harsh.

No Relief For Embedded Ball in another plug mark

At this year’s US Open, Shane Lowry was frustrated when he wasn’t granted relief for an embedded ball. The reason – The ball was below the level of the ground, but it was in somebody else’s plug mark.

The ball had jumped and rolled and fallen into a plug mark made by another player.

Rule 16.3(2) says that a ball is embedded only if it’s in its own pitch mark made as a result of the player’s previous stroke.

It’s a really tough one that, if you find the fairway but roll into a plug mark made by another golfer, there’s no relief.

No Relief From Totally Flooded Bunker

If you find yourself in temporary water in a bunker, you are entitled to free relief, so long as you take a drop in the bunker.

But, if the entire bunker is flooded, and there’s no way to play the shot or to take any sort of drop within the bunker, your only option is to take penalty relief outside the bunker.

That’s a tough and controversial Rule. In this writer's opinion, bunkers should not be penalty areas, you should have an opportunity to extricate yourself from the sand without penalty and if it's not possible to do so, you should get a free drop.

Penalty For Teeing Off Early

It’s fine that you should be penalised for arriving late on the tee and Rule 5.3 does this. If you arrive at the tee after your time but are no later than five minutes then you receive the General Penalty (two shots in stroke play, loss of hole in match play).

If you are over five minutes late – you are disqualified. That’s quite harsh but that’s another matter.

The one that is really controversial is that you will also receive a General Penalty under 5.3 if you tee off 30 seconds early. And if you tee off more than five minutes early, you're disqualified.

That’s a controversial one for sure. What harm does it do if the tee is free and you elect to get away a couple of minutes early?

If you do want to do that, be sure to get permission from the committee (probably the professional or starter) before you do, or you’ll fall foul of 5.3.

In more recent times, most golfers now use a specially designed tee peg to place their ball on. The first patent for a golf tee (a rubber plate that sat on the ground with prongs to hold the ball) dates from 1889. The first tee that went into the ground was patented in 1892 by a chap from Surrey called Percy Ellis.

Today, some people prefer a wooden tee, others favour bamboo or plastic, some favour the castle tee that makes sure the ball is a specific height above the ground.

Using a properly designed, conforming golf tee is surely the most appropriate way to peg up your ball but what’s the scenario if you don’t have any? Could you use some mud, sand or perhaps sawdust to create a tee for your golf ball?

For a start, you’re not allowed to tee up your ball anywhere but within the teeing area for a hole. You can’t create a little mound of earth on the fairway and balance your ball on it. That would be breaking Rule 8.1 – You would be improving the conditions affecting the stroke by altering the surface of the ground.

If you are teeing off, Rule 6.2b(2) says that the ball may be either played from the ground or from a tee placed within the teeing ground.

You don’t have to tee your ball up when it’s in the teeing ground. You can also, under 6.2b(3) – alter the surface of the ground in the teeing area, such as by making an indentation with a club or foot.

So, yes, you can create a little mud tee that raises the ball off the ground in the teeing area.

Rule 6.2b(2) also says that if you’re playing the ball from the ground (which is fine), that includes sand or other natural materials put in place to put the ball on.

You can then, tee your ball on sand, mud or sawdust if you happened to have some. All of those are natural materials and would be permitted for use by Rule 6.2b(2).

There are some regulations if you are using a proper tee. Equipment Rule 6.2 on tees says a tee must not: be longer than 4 inches (101.6 mm), be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate line of play, unduly influence the movement of the ball or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke or in his play.

So you do have to be a little careful. If you stick with good old sand or mud, you’ll be fine!

It happened to Brad Fabel in the 1998 Players Championship when a seagull had a couple of goes at picking up his ball from the famous island, par-3 17^th green before flying off and dropping it in the water.

What should you do if that happens? Well, we’ll come to it, but let’s first have a general look at how The Rules deal with animal intervention on the golf course.

When it comes to getting relief from situations on the golf course involving animals, there are a few to consider.

First, one of the four defined conditions of abnormal course condition, from which there is free relief under Rule 16.1, is – animal hole.

An animal hole is defined as any hole dug in the ground by an animal, except holes dug by animals that are also defined as loose impediments, worms or insects for example. Insect holes or worm casts are treated as loose impediments.

You’ll also get relief from any worn-down track leading into an animal hole and from any earth kicked out or raised by the animal that dug the hole.

But it’s important to note, you don’t get a free drop from animal footprints that are not leading into the hole.

Next, dangerous animal conditions. Rule 16.2 deals with when relief is allowed from these. A dangerous animal condition exists when the ball is in a position where a dangerous animal (things like bees, snakes and bears) could cause physical harm to the player if they were to play the ball as it lies.

In those circumstances a player can take free relief under Rule 16.1. If the player’s ball is in a penalty area, they are still entitled to free relief from a dangerous animal condition, but only if they drop within the penalty area. Otherwise, they must take penalty relief as per Rule 17.1d.

If it is known or virtually certain that an animal (in this case a bird) has stolen your ball from the golf course and carried it back to its lair (or nest), you can proceed under Rule 9.6 – the ball has been lifted by an outside influence.

You must replace the ball on its original spot which, if not known must be estimated under Rule 14.2. If your ball can’t be retrieved, you can replace a substitute ball under Rule 14.2a.

If you know or are virtually certain that a bird has moved (but not stolen) your ball, you must move it back to its original or estimated original spot. If the animal has damaged your ball, you can replace it under Rule 4.2c.

There we have it - if a bird steals your ball, and you see it happening, you can place another ball where you estimate the original one to have been (with no penalty.)

If a bird moves your ball, you must place it back where you estimate it to have been originally. It’s an unlikely and potentially amusing scenario, but not one that will cost you shots!

Joking aside though. What do you do when you accidentally stand on a golf ball? Well, it depends on whose ball it is and in what circumstances you have trodden on it.

When Searching

Let’s start with accidentally standing on a golf ball when searching for it. It’s the most common way you’re likely to stand on a golf ball. Say your ball has headed into thick rough and you’ve started wandering around trying to locate it. You stand on something, look down and find it is indeed your ball.

In those circumstances there would be no penalty. Under Rule 7.4, there’s no penalty if the ball is accidentally moved by the player or anyone else when trying to find and identify it.

What you must do next is replace the ball on its original spot, under Rule 14.2. If you don’t quite know exactly what the original spot would have been, you must estimate it. If you’ve compressed your ball into the ground, you should try to recreate the situation it would have been in originally.

If you accidentally stand on a playing partner or opponent’s ball when searching for it, again there is no penalty and the ball should be replaced on its original spot.

Important to note – If you “the player” cause your ball to move before the search has begun, so say you stand on it in an area you didn’t expect it to be and you’re not yet looking, you get one penalty stroke. You’d have to be honest on that one.

Basically though, there is only no penalty for standing on a ball when you are actually searching for it. What about if you're not...?

When The ball is at rest

You’re waiting for the green to clear with your ball in the fairway and have shifted your position slightly to check the yardage. As you move back towards your bag, with eyes still on the players ahead, you lose your bearings and accidentally stand on your ball. What happens now?

Well, unfortunately in this instance you’re going to receive a penalty shot. Rule 9.4 covers – Ball Lifted or Moved by Player. It applies when it is known, or virtually certain the player’s actions caused the ball to move.

If you’ve trodden on your golf ball accidentally, there’s no chance that it won’t have moved. You might try and argue it hasn’t using Rule 9.2 – Deciding Whether Ball Moved… But, let’s face it, if you stand on a golf ball it’s going to move one way or another.

If the player causes the ball to move, the player gets one penalty stroke, and the ball must be replaced on its original spot using Rule 14.2.

There’s an exception though. If you were to stand on your ball on the putting green, there would be no penalty. Rule 13.1d(1) says there is no penalty for accidentally causing the ball to move on the putting green. The ball must simply be replaced using Rule 14.2

In stroke play, if you accidentally stand on a playing partner’s ball anywhere on the golf course, there is no penalty, and the ball must be replaced using Rule 14.2.

But, in match play, if you stand on your opponent’s ball (anywhere except on the putting green) you will receive a one-shot penalty and your opponent’s ball must be replaced.

So, what happens if you accidentally stand on a golf ball? If you’re searching for it, there’s no penalty. If it’s yours and you’re not searching for it – one shot penalty. If it’s not yours and you’re not searching for it in stroke play – no penalty. If it’s your opponent’s in match play and you’re not searching for it (and it’s not on the green) – one shot penalty. In all instances, the ball that has been trodden on must be replaced on its original spot.

That’s permitted within the Rules. In the definitions of the Rules, it says that a stroke has not been made if a player decides to stop during the downswing and is able to do so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball.

If you do that successfully, a stroke has not been made. But us amateur golfers don’t have the physical prowess and mental quickness of Tiger Woods. What happens if we are unable to stop ourselves before the ball but manage to deliberately miss the ball by swinging either to one side or above it.

Well, if you’ve done so deliberately then again, you haven’t made a stroke according to the definitions. Those definitions go on to say that a stroke has not been made by the player if they are unable to stop but deliberately miss the ball.

A player’s score for the hole is the number of strokes they take on that hole – all strokes made and any penalty strokes added together. If you deliberately miss the ball, you haven’t made a stroke so that “swing” wouldn’t count for your score.

An accidental miss

It’s a little different if you swing and miss accidentally. A stroke is defined as – “The forward movement of the club made to strike the ball.”

If you swing at the club with every intention of hitting it (i.e. you don’t pull out of the shot or deliberately avoid it) and you to miss it, it does count a stroke.

If you stand on the tee with a driver, take a wild swipe at it and miss the ball completely with your first effort, you are then going to be playing your second shot from the same spot.

Players have to show a degree of integrity when it comes to making a stroke at the ball then and be honest as to whether they have missed it on purpose or by accident.

If you’ve missed it on purpose because, perhaps you’ve noticed someone walking into your eye line or someone has warned you of a danger during your swing, then you are not deemed to have made a stroke. But if you’ve had a go at hitting it, you have and that’s a shot added to your score.

Be honest – Did you try to hit it? If so – Yes, it counts as a stroke if you fail to make contact with the ball.

The pole itself can be no wider than two inches from its top to a point three inches above the surface of the putting green. From that point, to a point three inches below the putting surface it must be no wider than 0.75 inches.

The pole must be circular in cross section, and it must not have properties that act as a shock absorber if the ball makes contact with it.

There are also requirements for the flag or other ornament at the top of the pole – At Merion, among other venues, baskets are used instead of flags at the top of the pole.

Equipment Rule 8 details that it’s not permissible to have attachments to the flag or ornament that provide extra guidance on wind speed or direction.

Attachments to the flagstick are permitted to indicate hole location, provided they are more than three inches above the putting surface and of reasonable size. Also permitted are reflectors of a reasonable size for use with distance measuring devices – something to help a laser find the flagstick as a target.

But there is nothing in Equipment Rule 8 about the maximum height of the flagstick. Common sense is be the governing factor on how high a flagstick should be.

On a windy links course, a flagstick that was too high would be blown sideways or maybe even out of the cup. On flat holes where you can see the flag from distance, a height of about 7 feet would be appropriate.

On uphill holes where a shorter flagstick would be less visible, it might be that the committee would choose a longer flagstick to give players a sight of the target.

But anything above a certain height would be unwieldy and impractical. A flag over a certain height would be liable to damage the hole in windy conditions. The flagstick wouldn’t stay in the cup and it would be very difficult for players to remove and manage it.

Really, the maximum height of a flagstick in golf is decided by practicality and physics. You will certainly see taller flagsticks on some uphill holes but, beyond a certain height, they wouldn’t be functional.

Is there a height limit for the flagstick in golf? Technically no, but anything over a certain height simply wouldn’t work.

But your playing partner is still swithering over what to do – they can’t make up their mind. You know you can’t tell them what you’ve just played, as that is definitely against the Rules, but can you surreptitiously show them as you walk back to your bag? Can you raise your clubhead to reveal the number on it and give them a clue?

The answer is no. You can’t show a playing partner what club you’ve just hit, even if you don’t say anything. That would be breaking Rule 10.2a and if you did so you would receive a General Penalty of two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.

Rule 10.2a says that you must not give advice to anyone in the competition who is playing on the course.

According to Definitions in The Rules, advice is any verbal comment or action that is intended to influence a player in choosing a club, making a stroke or deciding how to play during a hole or round.

Advice is not public information. I.e. information that is available to anyone, like, the location of things on the course (the hole, a penalty area, a bunker for instance), the distance from one point to another, or The Rules.

So, if you show someone what club you used, that would be viewed as advice under the Rules because you’re influencing a player in choosing a club.

Interestingly – It’s not breaking Rule 10.2a to have a look at a playing partner’s bag to see what club they’ve used. But it would be breaking the Rule if you were to touch their bag, to move a towel for instance to see what club was missing.

It’s worth remembering that one. Have a glance at someone’s bag and there’s no penalty. But have a rummage to see what club has been used, it’s a General Penalty.

The answer then to the question, can you show another golfer what club you’ve hit? – You can choose to, of course, but if you do so while playing in competition or for handicap, you would be breaking Rule 10.2 and you would receive a General Penalty – That’s two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

Elite players may choose to tee the ball low if they’re trying to play a punchy shot to stay under the wind, or get some run. But could they go one step further and simply drop the ball on the ground when they’re between the markers?

The answer is yes. If you’re playing from the teeing area, you may either play the ball from a tee or from the ground. That’s Rule 6.2b(2).

The teeing area is two club lengths back from the front outside of the tee marker. If you drop your ball in that area, you can play it as it lies. Or you can put it on a tee, which for most of us would be the sensible thing to do.

You can alter the surface of the ground in the teeing area before you put your ball down. Dame Laura Davies is famous for hitting her driver into the tee to raise the ground slightly before smacking a low, piercing shot away from the raised section of ground created.

You can also put a pile of sand on the tee, as players from bygone generations would have done, and place your ball on that. In fact, any other natural material can be placed on the ground and the ball “teed” up on it.

In the teeing area, unlike in the general area, you can bend or break grass and weeds that are attached to the ground. You can also remove or press down soil, and remove dew, frost and water.

An important Rule to note that could help you out is Rule 6.2b(6). When a ball in play is in the teeing area. Say, for instance, you’ve topped your ball off the tee and it’s just moved a couple of inches, you have the option to tee the ball up again. You can also play it as it lies or move it somewhere else in the teeing area and play it from the ground.

In short – the answer to the question “Is it mandatory to tee up your ball when you’re between the markers?” Is… No.

On the pro tours and in the elite amateur game, tournament officials will set a pace of play policy that determines how long players are given, or expected to take, to complete holes and each individual shot. This will be policed by tournament referees. Generally speaking, players who repeatedly fail to meet the targets are in line to face penalties. Those penalties will escalate and could mean penalty shots and, in the most extreme cases, disqualification for the worst offenders.

But what about at club level where there aren’t referees out to check on pace of play in the Saturday Medal? Can regular club golfers be penalised for slow play? What do the Rules say?

Rule 5.6 deals with prompt pace of play, as well as unreasonable delay to play.

Prompt pace of play

The Rules expect golf to be played at a prompt pace. Rule 5.6b says that each player should recognise that their pace of play is likely to affect how long it takes all other players in both the group and on the golf course.

To achieve an acceptable pace of play, all golfers are expected under the Rules to be prompt in preparing for and making strokes, moving from one location to another between those strokes and when moving to the next teeing area after completing a hole.

Players are expected to take no more than 40 seconds to play a stroke from when they are able to do so, free of distraction. And groups are encouraged to play out of turn and adopt “Ready Golf” under the Rules, particularly in stroke play, when it is safe to do so.

However, under these Rules, there is no penalty as these are expectations of each player and are not enforced using a shot penalty system.

So no penalties for slow play?

Well, not necessarily. Committees at clubs and courses are encouraged to have a pace of play policy that sets a maximum time to complete a round, a hole or a series of holes. The committee can set penalties for not following this policy but it would be up to them to police that policy and that can be challenging at a club level.

Basically then, there are no direct penalties for not keeping up with play, unless the committee has a pace of play policy in place and applies penalties itself.

You might not receive a penalty for slow play then, but you might for delaying play…

Unreasonable Delay of Play

Rule 5.6a says a player must not unreasonably delay play when playing a hole or between holes.

So, if you were to practice your putting on a green for five minutes after missing a three-footer, while a group behind was waiting on the fairway, that would be an unreasonable delay of play. If you were to stand in the fairway making a lengthy phone call when the green was clear and people were on the tee, that would also be an unreasonable delay of play.

If you breached this Rule once, you would receive a one-shot penalty. If you breached it again, it would be a general penalty of two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play. A third breach of this Rule would mean disqualification.

Unless the committee enforces penalties against a defined pace of play policy, a club amateur will not receive penalty shots for simply playing slowly. But if they delay play unreasonably, penalties could be forthcoming.

Here's a look at five Rules that I think can cause the most confusion.

Ball Not Found In Penalty Area

You hit what you think is a belter straight over a marker post on a hole with a blind tee shot. But, when you come over the brow of the hill, you see a pond beyond the fairway surrounded by thick grass. “Shouldn’t have hit driver!” you think.

After a search, there’s no sign of your ball. It must be in the penalty area… But is it? You can’t find it but are you 95% certain (that is the threshold) that it’s gone into the penalty area? Could it be lost in the long grass short of the penalty area?

If you can say you are 95% certain it’s gone into the penalty area, you can take relief from a penalty area under Rule 17.1d or 17.2.

But, if you are not 95% certain, then you must take stroke and distance relief under Rule 18.2 (lost ball).

I think too many people just say, “yeah, it’s probably in the penalty area.” When, in fact, they’re not too sure if it is. If you were sure, would you have spent time looking for it outside the penalty area?

Relief from immovable obstruction in penalty area when ball is not in penalty area

Your ball has stopped just short of a stream and is not in the penalty area, but your swing, stance or lie is hampered by a bridge crossing that penalty area. You are entitled to relief from an immovable obstruction under Rule 16.1.

I’ve seen people get it wrong, thinking they don’t get relief because the bridge is within the penalty area.

If your ball is in the penalty area, then you don’t get free relief but if your ball is outside the penalty area you do. Rule 16.1(2) describes how relief is allowed anywhere on the course except when ball is in penalty area.

That could save you a shot!

Repairing pitch marks on your line in the fringe

You can repair a pitch mark on the green at any time. If your ball is on the fringe and you want to putt it but there’s a pitch mark on your line on the green. Not a problem, go ahead and repair it.

But, if your ball is on the fringe, you want to putt it but there’s a pitch mark on your line just ahead of you, also on the fringe. You are not allowed to repair it.

If you did repair it, you would be breaching Rule 8.1 – improving conditions affecting the stroke. You would receive a General Penalty.

That one can be very confusing and it’s a Rule that’s easily broken because if you have putter in hand around the green, the natural inclination is to repair pitch marks. But, if you’re just off the surface, be careful.

Before you make your stroke, don’t repair a pitch mark on your line in the fringe, if your ball is also in the fringe. It would be polite to do it after you have made your stroke mind you!

Teeing off Early

It’s a glorious day and you’ve arrived for the Saturday Medal in good time. Your tee off time is 10.30 but you’re ready at 9.45. Looking at the forecast, poor weather is due to roll in around 1pm so you decide to play early.

No harm in that is there? Well, there is really because you’ve decided to gain an unfair advantage on the rest of the field, on those who are correctly choosing to play at their allotted tee times.

In fact, under Rule 5.3a, by teeing off more than five minutes early, you are disqualified.

Unless the committee gives you express permission to do so, you can’t tee off early in competition. I think that’s one of the most misunderstood Rules in the game, definitely one of the most frequently broken. Most people are aware they can’t tee off late, but how many know they shouldn’t tee off early?

Unmarked ball moved by natural forces on putting green

If you have marked, lifted and replaced your ball on the putting surface and the wind then causes it to move, Rule 13.1d(2) says it should be replaced on its original spot. That was one of the Rules that was changed in 2019.

But, if you haven’t marked, lifted and replaced your ball and the wind causes the ball to move on the putting green you must play it from its new spot. If you have marked the ball but not touched the ball before the wind causes it to move, you also must still play it from its new spot.

That’s one I think people get wrong. They think that after the Rule changes, any ball that moves on a putting green should be replaced. No. Only if it has been marked, lifted and replaced!

Here we take a look at five Rules that are easily broken, and that are very difficult for players and committees to police.

Three-minute search

Without using a timing device, it’s very difficult to be sure on the three-minute search. In amateur golf, at a club level anyway, barely anybody would start a watch timer as they commenced searching for a ball.

By the time you might realise a ball is missing and is going to require some hard searching to locate, you may already have spent 30 seconds casually looking. How long is left if you start timing at that point? If you’re not timing, what does three minutes feel like?

At club level, the three-minute search is undoubtedly one of the most difficult Rules to police.

Improving conditions affecting the stroke in the undergrowth

This is covered by Rule 8.1 and, at a simple level, it is rather easy to police. Basically, if you’re in the bushes or trees, you can’t intentionally break, move or bend any growing or natural objects to give yourself a clearer swing at the ball.

So, you can’t aggressively back yourself into a tree to make a stance, snapping branches as you clear yourself a spot that wasn’t previously there.

But you could move branches around during the search for the ball without penalty, then you could move a loose stick if it’s not attached.

In amateur, club level golf, it’s very difficult to see where the line has been crossed.

Did the player make a practice swing that knocked a branch off? Had that branch they moved actually been loose, or was it loosely attached.

It's an often broken Rule because players sometimes take all sorts of liberties to find a way to extricate themselves from trouble. Clambering into a spot where there was no way to play a shot and giving themselves a way to do it by some wilful snapping and crushing of undergrowth. That’s not on.

If you improve conditions that affect your stroke in that way, it’s the General Penalty (two shots in stroke play and a loss of hole in match play.

Touching sand in a bunker on the backswing

Under Rule 12.2b, you’re not allowed to touch the sand in a bunker when you make the backswing for your stroke. If you do, it’s a General Penalty.

We’ve all seen players do that and often the infraction is obvious to both the player and the playing partner/s.

But what if you see a player grazing the sand on the way back and they clearly don’t notice it’s happened? They have broken 12.2b and even if you’re sure they have, can you prove it? Probably not, as the stroke will have shifted sand covering the evidence (if there was any).

If the player says they didn’t touch the sand, and you say they did then it comes down to a player’s word against their partner’s. It’s a tough one for a committee to police. They should give the player the benefit of the doubt but it’s one that relies heavily on integrity.

Where did it cross into the penalty area?

If a player hits into a red penalty area they can take a lateral drop under penalty of one shot from the point where the ball crossed the line of the penalty area.

But, if that spot is some distance from where the player struck the shot, it can be quite difficult to agree upon it's location. A player may believe it to be further up than his or her playing partners, leaving a far easier shot.

Much like with the touching the sand, it can then be one player’s word against another’s. They are the only ones who can come to a decision as they will be the only ones who watched the shot. Difficult to police and another Rule in which a high degree of honesty is required.

The knee height drop

Since dropping from knee height was introduced in 2019, most of us will have seen some loose interpretations of this procedure.

Knee height means the height of a player’s knee when in a standing position. But what if they bend forward slightly while dropping, reducing the height they’re dropping from. Or, they drop from mid shin height? Well, they should get a one-shot penalty. How often has that one been applied in your club golf?

Also, you can take a drop from knee height when not in a standing position so you can crouch down to drop, as long as the ball is dropped from knee height. It’s another tough one to police.

Nicest point of relief

A playing partner shouts over, “I’m just taking a drop from this cart path.” “OK, no problem,” you reply. It’s an immovable obstruction so there’s free relief.

You’re not there on the scene in time to see where the ball had come to rest on the cart path and before you know, your playing partner has taken the drop in a highly favourable spot on the edge of the fairway and spanked one away.

But perhaps the ball was sitting closer to the other side of the path where thick rough was lurking. Their nearest point of complete relief could have been over there in the cabbage.

“No, my ball was definitely closer to the nice side,” they assert.

OK… Was it though? It’s another case of having to take their word for it… Even if you don’t think it’s quite right. In amateur golf, players are often guilty of looking towards the nicest rather than nearest point of complete relief.

The general penalty in match play is loss of hole rather than two strokes in stroke play.

In match play, you can concede the next stroke, a hole or the entire match to your opponent. You can do that at any time. Normally it's when you concede a stroke on the green, a "gimme" putt. Once a concession is offered, it cannot be withdrawn, nor can it be declined.

An interesting one in match play is that you can, if you wish and for whatever reason, disregard a Rules breach by your opponent. But you can't agree with your opponent to deliberately fail to apply the Rules or a penalty you are aware of. If you do that, you're both disqualified.

In stroke play, "ready golf" is now encouraged and players can play out of turn if it is prudent and safe to do so. Ready golf doesn't apply to match play. The reason for that is that playing in turn is of tactical importance in match play.

That said, there is no penalty for playing out of turn in match play, but your opponent is quite at liberty to ask for the stroke to be cancelled and replayed should he or she so wish. This will depend on how good or bad the shot was!

If you play from outside the teeing area in stroke play, or if you play from the wrong tee markers, you have to play again from the correct markers with a two stroke penalty.

But in match play, there is no penalty. Your opponent can choose to cancel the stroke and ask you to play again from inside the correct teeing area. Or, they may allow the shot to stand if you've hit one straight into a bush!

In stroke play, if you play a shot from on the putting green and your ball hits another ball at rest on that putting green, you get a two-shot penalty. But, in match play, there is no penalty. You must play the ball as it lies and the ball that was moved must be replaced on its original spot.

Repairing pitch marks on the fringe

You can repair pitch marks on the green at any time, even if your ball isn’t on the green. If you’re on the fringe and there’s a pitch mark on your line on the green, go ahead and fix it. But, if you’re on the fringe and have a pitch mark on your line that is also on the fringe, you can’t repair it. If you do, you’ll face the General Penalty of two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play for breaking Rule 8.1a – Improving the conditions affecting your stroke. I’ve fallen foul of that one in the past.

Playing the wrong ball

It doesn’t happen so often now as we are all far better at marking our balls in a way that makes them easy to identify. But, in the old days, particularly when I was a junior, nobody (or very few people) at club level marked their balls. It was inevitable that more than one person on the course was playing an unmarked Titleist 2 Balata. On at least a few occasions, I have found a ball where I thought mine should be and played it, only to discover up at the green that it wasn’t mine. That means a General Penalty (two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play) for playing a wrong ball under Rule 6.3c. You have to go back and complete the hole with the correct ball. If you tee off at the next hole without correcting the mistake, you’re disqualified. Thankfully, I’ve never done that.

Out of bounds

This is one that I’ve struggled with because I just don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think you should face a penalty shot for hitting a ball out of bounds. Here’s my reasoning – If you stand on a tee, make a wild swing and completely miss the ball there is no penalty and you simply try again, hitting your second shot. If you make a great swing and hit a strong shot that drifts on the breeze, takes an unkind bounce and just creeps out of bounds, you then have to play three from the tee. That’s not fair in my opinion.

Not Signing the scorecard

A couple of times, maybe more than a couple, I’ve totally forgotten to sign my card. It’s a mistake that you absolutely shouldn’t make but it’s all too easy to do. Rule 3.3b requires you to certify your hole scores – it doesn’t need to be a complete signature, just a certification – and then return the card to the committee. If you return it without a certification you are disqualified. I’m ashamed to say, I’ve done that. At least once when I had a good score too!

Totally flooded bunker

To finish, another Rule I don’t think is fair. If your ball ends in a bunker that is totally flooded where no type of relief is available, you have no option but to take a penalty drop. You haven’t gone in a penalty area, your ball is still on the course but all you can do is reluctantly accept a penalty. That, I think, might be the most unfair Rule in the game.

But since 2019, things have changed. The answer now to the question, “Is a ball holed if it’s wedged against a flagstick?” is… wait for it… Maybe. What? Yes, the Rules of Golf can be complicated.

This scenario is covered by Rule 13.2c. For the ball to be classed as holed, some part of the ball must be below the surface of the putting green. It reads,

“If a player’s ball comes to rest against the flagstick left in the hole:

If any part of the ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green, the ball is treated as holed even if the entire ball is not below the surface.”

So, if your ball is even partially below the surface of the putting green then it’s holed.

But, if no part of the ball is below the surface and it’s wedged totally above ground then it’s not holed. 13.2c continues to say:

“If no part of the ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green:

The ball is not holed and must be played as it lies.

If the flagstick is removed and the ball moves (whether it falls into the hole or moves away from the hole), there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced on the lip of the hole.”

So, if no part of the ball is below the surface then, even if wedged against the flagstick, it’s not holed. You must tap it in for an extra shot. If you don’t replace it in the correct spot and play from there, you incur the General Penalty of two shots.

If no part of the ball was below the surface, the ball fell in when you moved the flagstick, and you failed to hole out as required as above before starting the next hole, you would be disqualified.

So, you must be careful. If the ball is wedged against the flagstick and it is even partially below the surface of the putting green in the hole, it is holed. If it’s wedged against the flagstick above the hole and no part is below the putting surface, it isn’t holed. Bad luck!

He paced up to the flag and then had his caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay tend the flag as he played a wedge shot into the green. He wanted it to have two chances to go in, he thought it could possibly spin back into the cup and would have more chance of going in if the flag was out. It was quite a time-consuming performance but a possible victory was on the line. And Phil proved it wasn’t a crazy idea when he played his wedge shot to within a couple of feet of the hole. It didn’t go in though, and he just missed out.

As that story shows then, yes, you can have the flagstick attended or remove the flagstick before any stroke whether that stroke is being played on the putting surface or from some other place.

The question is, unless you were in the situation of Phil Mickelson, and you were Phil Mickelson, then why would you want to?

The flagstick is a useful guide to aim at. It’s more difficult to play an accurate shot towards the hole if you remove the indicator of where that hole is positioned.

There may be circumstances when a collection area on a green could gather the ball towards the hole and you might feel it more likely that you would hole out if the pin weren’t there. If you knew where you wanted to land the ball then perhaps you would consider having the flagstick removed.

One thing you would have to be conscious of though is Rule 5.6a which covers Unreasonable Delay of Play. If you were looking at a par-3 hole and felt you’d rather have the pin out, you might be in breach of this Rule if it takes you five minutes to walk down and back to the green before playing your shot. If you were removing the flag on each hole and doing that, you’d definitely be delaying play unreasonably. The penalty for the first breach of that Rule is one-stroke, the second breach is the General Penalty of two shots and on the third breach you’d be disqualified.

So, can you remove the flagstick on any shot? Yes. But you can’t be overly slow about it and really, why would you want to?

That being said, this week's quiz threw me a little. The importance of constant revision and reflection on your own knowledge of the laws is paramount, as clearly evidenced by my less than perfect score when taking the quiz myself, so checking back in for a little golf rules MOT every now and then is never a bad move.

Even the top tour professionals have to keep their rules knowledge up to date, with some recent confusion over a specific incident concerning former US Open Champion Wyndham Clark at the Arnold Palmer Invitational leading to widespread debate across social media.

In this quiz, we cover questions on divots, ball-markers, putting and a very unique scenario involving a towel and a tree. If you want to learn more about the topics outlined in this quiz, head over to our dedicated golf rules page to spruce up your knowledge just in time for the new golf season...

Golf Rules Quiz

Want To Test Your Rules Knowledge Further? Try One Of Our Other Quizzes...

• Rules Quiz: How Would You Deal With These 4 Scenarios?
• Rules Quiz: Relief From Bridges, Leaves and Rangefinders
• Rules Quiz: Damaged Balls, Staked Trees And Out of Bounds

A ball is not considered to be in a bunker if it lies on soil or grass inside the edge of the bunker without touching any sand. Therefore, if the ball is plugged in the earth face of a bunker, it is not considered to be in the bunker. You would be entitled to proceed under rule 16.3b if you wished to do so and take free relief outside the bunker.

If you want to take relief for an unplayable ball in a bunker, you have the same three options as in general area – stroke-and-distance relief, back-on-the-line relief and lateral relief, all for penalty of one stroke. Upon dropping back-on-the-line or in taking lateral relief, the ball must stay in the bunker.

Rule 19.3b gives you one more relief option for an unplayable ball in a bunker, under penalty of two shots you can take back-on-the-line relief outside of the bunker.

Prior to making a stroke in a bunker, you can touch the sand without penalty in the following circumstances: Digging in with your feet to prepare for a practice swing or the stroke, smoothing an area of the bunker to care for the course, leaning on a club to prevent a fall, placing equipment in the bunker or measuring, marking and replacing for a Rule.

You mustn’t improve conditions affecting the stroke by touching the sand. If you do that, it’s a general penalty. And you can’t test the condition of the sand to gain information on the stroke.

You can’t touch the sand with a club right in front or behind the ball, in making a practice swing or with the backswing of your stroke. If you do, it’s the general penalty.

You may remove loose impediments but if you cause the ball to move, it must be replaced, and you receive a one-stroke penalty.

If the ball moves when you’re removing a movable obstruction, like a rake, there is no penalty, and the ball must be replaced.

Ground Under Repair

If the committee has defined any part of the course as ground under repair, you will be entitled to a free drop from it if your ball finds it. Even if the committee hasn’t defined it, there are certain things that are classed as ground under repair, from which you will get free relief. These are – Holes made by the committee or maintenance staff such as a one made when removing a tree stump or laying pipelines, any grass cuttings or other organic material piled for later removal and any animal habitat that could be damaged by your stroke or stance, a bird’s nest for example. You have one club length in which to drop from the nearest point of complete relief (where it no longer interferes with your lie, swing or stance) from the ground under repair, no closer to the hole.

Temporary Water

If it’s been raining and a lot of water has accumulated on the course, you are going to get relief from it, as long as your ball isn’t in a penalty area. If you’re in a puddle anywhere else on the course or if water rises above the ground where you are standing, you will get a free drop away from it.

Temporary water could also be overflow from an irrigation system or from a body of water. You have one club length in which to drop from the nearest point of complete relief from the temporary water, no closer to the hole.

Immovable Obstructions

Something artificial on the course that is not an integral object or a boundary object which cannot be moved. Examples of immovable obstructions are, cart paths, benches, bins, water fountains. You get a free drop from an immovable obstruction. You have one club length in which to drop from the nearest point of complete relief from the immovable obstruction, no closer to the hole.

Embedded Ball

If your ball is embedded anywhere in the General Area, you get a one club length free drop from the spot right behind where the ball is embedded. The ball must be in its own pitch mark and part of the ball must be below the level of the ground for it to be embedded. If your ball is embedded in a bunker or a penalty area, there is no free relief.

Animal Trouble

If a “dangerous animal condition” exists, you will be entitled to a free drop. If your ball is surrounded by venomous snakes, you get a free drop within a club length of the nearest point where the dangerous situation no longer exists.

Ones That Cost You a stroke

If you decide that your ball is simply in an unplayable situation, you are not going to get a free drop. You will have to add a shot and either, play again from where the original shot was taken, take back on the line relief keeping the spot of the ball in a direct line with the flag as you go back, or a lateral, two-club length drop from the point of the unplayable ball.

You’re not entitled to a free drop when you’re taking relief from a penalty area. If you’re dropping out from a stream, then you’re going to have to add a shot on.

If you lose a ball out of bounds and have to drop and play another, you’re going to have to add a penalty shot on.

Sometimes a drop is free and sometimes it will cost you. Best checking The Rule book to see which is the case.

He pulled his tee shot on a long par-4 and we thought it might have gone into the gorse bushes lining the hole. He played a provisional but when we got down there, we found his ball just into the bushes. It was unplayable.

As we’d found his original ball, the provisional was out of the picture. His options under Rule 19 were – To go back to the tee and take stroke and distance relief, to take back on the line relief or to take two-club length lateral relief.

He didn’t fancy the first option as it was quite a hike. Back on the line relief was no good as the bushes were too deep and the rough further behind them was hideous. He elected to take the lateral drop under penalty of one shot.

He measured two club lengths to establish his relief area. It was some pretty sketchy rough, but he found a flattish looking spot and dropped correctly from knee height. The ball landed and bounced on that flattish spot as the grass was quite mossy and springy. It bounced sideways right into the middle of a plant that looked like a cabbage and disappeared.

After a bit of searching, he found it deep down at the root of this strange looking plant. He was about to pick it out to attempt the drop again when I stopped him.

It was one of those where I was not keen to break the news to him, but I had to as I wanted to win the hole! “Erm, the ball is still in your relief area isn’t it?” I said. “Yes, but it’s unplayable,” he replied. “Yup, it is I said.”

Unfortunately, the ball was unplayable, but it was in play! There’s no guarantee that the ball will be playable after taking unplayable ball relief – that’s clarification 19.2/1. Once the ball is dropped in the relief area, it’s a new situation. If it’s unplayable again, you have to take unplayable relief again for an additional penalty shot.

So, he had to measure his two club lengths again from the cabbage plant and, fortunately, second time round he found a far more forgiving area for dropping. After quite a bit of mumbling about “bloody Rules” and “terrible luck,” he played on but had to add two shots to his score rather than just the one. Ironically, I did win the hole but only by one shot! The Rules are the rules. … I should add that he eventually won the match so he was able to see the funny side.

Anyway, that’s the practicality dealt with. This really is a Rules question on whether you are allowed to play with a broken club under The Rules of Golf. Well, the answer to the question is, maybe.

Rule 4.1a deals with clubs allowed in making a stroke and the key thing is that in making a stroke, a player must use a club that conforms to the requirements in the Equipment Rules. Those requirements are far too long to outline here, but there are requirements with regards the shaft, the head, the grip, the face, the length, the straightness… All sorts of things have to meet the requirements for the club to be conforming.

The important thing here is that to be conforming the club most meet those Rules requirements when either new or if the playing characteristics have been changed in any way. One of the ways those playing characteristics might have been changed is, if the club is broken. If you’ve broken any part of your club and it still adheres to the requirements in the Equipment Rules, you can use it.

If you break your club in competition, whether it’s accidental or through abuse, you can continue to use it for the remainder of that round, even if it has become non-conforming. But you can’t use it again after the round if it has become non-conforming, even in a playoff if you’re in a stroke play competition.

If the playing characteristics of a club have changed through normal wear, it is still conforming. So, if you have a scratch on the base of your driver or a small chunk out of the sole of your sand wedge, it is deemed to be still a conforming club.

But you must be quite careful. If for instance you accidentally bent the shaft or your putter more than five inches above the head. It would have become non-conforming, even if you were still comfortable using it. If you were to play a shot in your next competitive round using that putter, you would have broken Rule 4.1 and you would be disqualified. Remember you could still use it for the remainder of the round in which it became bent.

It is the players responsibility to ensure that his or her clubs conform to the Equipment Rules. Those equipment rules say that if the player has any doubt as to the conformity of a club, they need to ask The R&A or USGA. That’s quite a task. But thankfully for us lowly amateurs, queries may also be directed to the local committee in charge of a competition or the local Rules Committee. So, if you break your club but still want to use it, it’s worth checking with your committee before you use it again in competition.

Basically, the answer to the question of can you play with a broken club is, yes, but only if it still conforms to the requirements in the Equipment Rules.

As with that article, we’re not really addressing whether you should wear headphones on the course during a competition, but rather whether or not you can from a Rules perspective. For many, a round of golf is a social occasion with chit-chat and banter all part of the experience. If one of the group sends out a clear message that they’re not interested in conversation or social interaction for the next four hours by sticking on a pair of headphones, many golfers would understandably be a bit miffed and possibly resolve to make that their last ever game with the can-wearer.

But what about the legality of it from a Rules perspective? Well, it all depends on what the purpose of the headphones is and what you’re playing through them. Rule 4.3a(4) says simply this:

Allowed
Listening to audio or watching video on matters unrelated to the competition being played (such as a news report or background music). But in doing so, consideration should be shown to others (see Rule 1.2).
Not Allowed
Listening to music or other audio to eliminate distractions or to help with swing tempo.

In our speaker story mentioned earlier, we then cross-referenced with Rule 1.2, which addresses standards of player conduct, part of which is “not distracting the play of another player”. Clearly, if headphones rather than speakers are involved, this would be extremely unlikely via all but the tinniest of headphones with the volume set to 11… and even then!

Ultimately then, this one comes down to integrity and the player being honest about what they're playing, although in an age of highly effective noise-cancelling headphones, eliminating distractions must become a more serious possibility than in the case of playing music through a speaker. In my view, it could be quite hard to argue that wearing such headphones isn’t to eliminate distractions as surely that is the sole purpose of noise cancellation?

Beyond that, could someone be playing a particular song, having discovered that its tempo or timbre helps them with their golf swing’s tempo? I guess the only way to know for sure would be to ask them, but then we’re into the realms of one man’s or woman’s word against another’s, and surely few golfers would really want to get involved in such a to-and-fro? If you’re looking for a further steer, I’m afraid the Clarifications to the Rules have nothing further to say about Rule 4.3a(4), so the Rule itself is all you’ve got to go on.

Certainly for me, it’s something I’ve never encountered in 44 years of playing the game, so unless your experience is otherwise, surely it’s something not worth getting too worked up about? And those who really dislike the notion will be pleased to know that committees may choose to prohibit or restrict the use of audio and video devices via Model Local Rule G-8, as follows:

Model Local Rule G-8
Rule 4.3a(4) is modified in this way: During a round, a player must not listen to or watch content of any nature on a personal audio or video device.

Penalty for breach of Local Rule – see Rule 4.3.

Rule 4.3 says that it’s the general penalty for a first breach and disqualification for a second. The more likely ‘penalty’, though, is surely self-inflicted isolation and a dwindling list of fellow golfers keen to head out with the headphone-wearing perpetrator.

The first, is when the ball is on the putting green and has already been lifted and replaced. Rule 13.1d(2) says that if natural forces cause the ball to move on a putting green after it has been lifted and replaced then the ball must be replaced on the spot it moved from, which if not known should be estimated.

However, it should be noted that if the ball on the putting green had not been lifted and replaced before natural forces caused it to move, the ball must be played from its new spot. So, if your ball is sitting on the green and, before you reach it, the wind blows it into a bunker – bad luck, you are now playing from the bunker!

The second exception in Rule 9.3 is if the ball has been dropped, placed or replaced anywhere on the course and natural forces then cause it to move to another part of the course, say it goes OB or into a bunker, then the ball must be replaced on its original spot.

What happens when the wind causes your ball to move after you’ve started your stroke? Generally speaking, Rule 10.1d says you must not make a stroke at a moving ball but there are a few exceptions and one of them, covered by Rule 9.1b, could come into play if your ball starts moving during your stroke.

If you are able to stop mid swing or deliberately miss the ball, there will be no penalty if you have not caused the ball to move.

But, if you continue to make a stroke at the ball there is no penalty, but you must play the ball from where it comes to rest after making the stroke, and that stroke counts, even if you miss the ball.

Rule 15.3a says that if a player reasonably believes that a ball on the putting green might help anyone’s play (such as by serving as a possible backstop near the hole), the player may: Mark the spot of the ball and lift it if it is their own ball, or if the ball belongs to another player, require the other player to mark the spot and lift the ball.

If you know a ball is going to act as a potential backstop then you should have it marked. And, if your playing partner knows their ball is a potential backstop, they should mark it.

If you’re playing match play then you can agree with your opponent to leave a ball in place on the putting surface as the benefit that may come will only affect your match.

But, in stroke play you cannot make an agreement with a playing partner to leave a ball in place to act as a backstop. If you do make a such an agreement and a stroke is played with the helping ball in place (whether there’s a collision or not) both players who made the agreement receive the General Penalty of two shots.

It doesn’t matter if the players who made the agreement aren’t aware it’s against the Rules to make such an agreement. They still receive the General Penalty.

If nobody says anything, there is no agreement and no breach of the Rules. But The R&A offers guidelines on how to prevent “backstopping” in their committee procedures ,with a view to protecting the whole field in a stroke play competition. The guidelines say, “if there is a reasonable possibility that a player’s ball close to the hole could help another player who is about to play from off the green, both players should ensure that the player whose ball is close to the hole marks and lifts that ball before the other player plays.”

The situation arose in the playoff for this year’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. On the first extra hole, Billy Horschel was about to play from a greenside bunker towards the pin and the water, with Thriston Lawrence’s ball acting as a potential backstop. Chief referee Mark Litton stepped in, stopping Horschel from playing until Lawrence had marked.

Basically then, in stroke play you should not deliberately use another player’s golf ball as a backstop, nor should you leave your ball in a place where it could be a help to your playing partners.

That’s just what happened in a four-ball match I was competing in over the weekend. I could barely keep it on the planet and was relying heavily, almost solely, on my playing partner for the first six holes. He was keeping things together and holding the game at all-square.

On the 7^th though, he teed off and hit an exceptional block – 50 yards right into the trees. I then teed off and, by some miracle found the fairway. Our opponents did something similar, one of them sliced, the other found the semi rough. My partner and the opponent who headed right went into the trees and both found their balls. They both chipped back to the fairway and then both played good third shots onto the green. Our other opponent then hit his approach shot into a penalty area short of the putting surface. I went back to the day’s dodgy swing and duffed one totally. So bad it was short of the water. I then played onto green for three. Our opponent dropped and fluffed it back into the pond and gave up.

On the green, our remaining opponent holed a raking putt for a four. Much to our annoyance. But he was immediately matched by my partner who holed a snake of his own for a halving four. I could do no better than four, so I then picked up.

So it was a half then… But was it? Standing at the next tee, my partner took his ball out of his pocket, ready to tee it up. He looked at it and said, “Wait, that’s not my Titleist 3. Mine has a green line on it.” Our opponent then looked at his ball and realised he had played the Titleist 3 with the green line. They had found each other’s balls in the trees, and both played the wrong one.

Our opponents were adamant that it was a half. As nobody completed the hole according to The Rules. In their opinion, the hole was effectively void, and we remained all square. My partner thought otherwise. He thought that, as I had been the last player standing (with a putt for a four), then we won the hole… I wasn’t sure. So, who was right?

It turns out that my playing partner was right and a quick check of The R&A Rules app confirmed it. Rules Clarification 23.2a/1 tells you how to decide the result of a hole in a four-ball match when no ball is correctly holed out. It says –

“In four-ball match play, if no player completes a hole, the side whose player is last to pick up or be disqualified from the hole wins the hole.”

I was the last to pick up so we won the hole. We were one-up. Our opponents were not best pleased but those are the Rules!

It fairly rattled them, and we went on to win 3&2. It can be worth knowing the Rules well (as my playing partner did) as they can work to your advantage.

I’ve been playing golf for 40 years now and, making a rough estimate, I reckon I must have played something like 3,000 rounds during that time. One might think I would have encountered every possible Rules situation in the book. Well, a situation I was involved in a couple of weeks ago proved that not to be the case. Here’s what happened.

Playing on a wet, wintry course there was quite a bit of temporary water about, some sizeable puddles and a few streams that had formed across a couple of the more sloping fairways.

Teeing off on one hole, I hit my ball down the middle of the fairway but it rolled out into one of those impermanent streams. I saw it go in.

No problem I thought, I’ll get a free drop from there. I knew that even if I couldn’t retrieve the ball, I’d be able to drop another.

As I was walking up the fairway though, I caught a glimpse of something white heading across the fairway. The temporary stream was flowing so strongly that it was carrying my ball away. That wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if it hadn’t been moving so quickly. I watched on helplessly as I made my way towards it as my Titleist disappeared off the edge of the fairway, through the rough and away into the trees, on the edge of which was the out of bounds line.

My ball had been swept out of bounds. “Wait a minute,” I said to my playing partner. “What do I do now?” He looked confused and said – “Surely you drop a ball at the nearest point of relief beside where we saw it go into the temporary water.”

That would have seemed fair, but I wasn’t so sure. I knew from a previous ruling I had that a ball can move in temporary water and you then drop at the nearest point of relief to where it ends up.

I checked The R&A Rules app and was very disappointed to find Clarification 18.2a(2)/1. It reads,

“If a flow of water (either temporary water or water in a penalty area) carries a ball out of bounds, the player must take stroke-and-distance relief (Rule 18.2b). Water is a natural force, not an outside influence, therefore Rule 9.6 does not apply.”

I was scuppered. I hit it down the middle, but because of the temporary water, I was out of bounds. I had no option but to trudge back to the tee and play my third from there. I made sure to take a 2-iron the second time so as not to find the stream and face the same fate again.

That was a very unusual thing to happen, and a Rule I had never encountered before. I hope I don’t encounter it again for at least another 3,000 rounds!

But we’re also going to address here a club being broken aggressively, perhaps either by being slammed into the ground too hard in frustration, or occasionally even being broken very deliberately over a knee when this inherently testing game just all gets a bit too much. Hands up who’s been guilty of this? I’m no saint, but I'm pleased to say that I’ve always been able to pull myself back from the brink, yet fully understand the sentiments that can lead to such actions.

The distinction between passive and aggressive breakages is an important one to make, for there are some differences in what the Rules allow you to do in each scenario. It’s also worth mentioning that what the Rules allow you to do, and what you may actually be able to do practically or logistically, may well be two different things for the majority of us, certainly at club level. Allow me to explain, with the help of Rule 4.1a(2), where you will find all the information you need.

The first part of the Rule says that if a club is damaged during a round, it is considered ‘conforming’ for the remainder of the round and may still be used if it is still usable. This, of course, may not be an option if the club is now in two pieces, although I guess there may still be scenarios where using what is now a very short club could just come in handy. Should there be a play-off, that is when the concession to carry on using that club stops, as a play-off is considered a new round under the Rules.

That difference between passive and aggressive damage then lies in what other options are available to you, for Rule 4.1a(2) goes on to explain that you may also repair or replace a damaged club… but not if it was broken through abuse. So, if you broke it through a deliberate act, tough.

And even if you didn’t, of course, at club level, getting a club repaired in time to continue using it for the rest of the round is pretty unlikely, with Rule 4.1b(4) stating that you must not unreasonably delay play in either getting a club repaired or replaced. Even the latter is fairly unlikely at club level, but I guess if the 9^th hole comes back to the car park and you happen to have a spare driver or putter in the boot of the car, for example, there would be scope to replace a club then – as long as the damage wasn’t caused by abuse.

If you do replace a damaged club with another club, you must also take the damaged club out of play before making another stroke, using the procedure in Rule 4.1c(1), which says you do this by:

* Declaring this to the opponent in match play or the marker or another player in the group in stroke play
or
* Taking some other clear action (such as turning the club upside down in the bag, placing it on the floor of the golf cart or giving the club to another person).

The penalty for making a stroke with a club in breach of Rule 4.1a is disqualification – for example, repairing or replacing a club that you damaged in an angry outburst then hitting a shot with it.

Underground ball

Imagine this scenario. You’ve teed off and your ball heads dangerously close to the out of bounds (OB), it disappears from view. Upon searching, there’s no sign of the ball but there are various badger holes in the vicinity just out of bounds. You look down a hole (that is just OB) and can see your ball a few feet along – it’s in bounds but underground. Your ball has entered an animal hole out of bounds but has rolled back in bounds under the ground. What do you do?

Well, clarification 16.1b/1 will come to your aid! – It covers, the relief procedure when a ball lies in underground abnormal course condition and it states that if “a ball enters an animal hole through an entrance that is in a spot that is out of bounds. Part of the hole is in bounds and in the general area. The ball is found at rest in bounds, underground and in the general area. Relief is taken under Rule 16.1b for a ball in the general area. The spot where the ball lies in the animal hole is used to determine the nearest point of complete relief and the relief area must be in the general area.”

So – you get a free drop! Even if you can’t get your original ball back, you can drop a different ball.

Stay patient

It’s a rainy day and there’s a lot of temporary water on the course. Your ball has landed in a mini river heading across the fairway. It’s flowing so strongly that your ball is steadily moving. When you reach it, the nearest point of complete relief is in a line of bushes up the side of the hole. But, as your ball is on the move, it looks like, in about 30 seconds time, your nearest point of complete relief will be on the fairway. Are you breaking the rules by hanging around to see what happens?... The answer is No. Clarification 16.1/6 is in your favour – It says…

“When a ball is moving in temporary water, whether a player chooses to lift the moving ball or substitute another ball in taking relief under Rule 16.1, the player is allowed to let the ball move to a better spot before determining the nearest point of complete relief so long as they do not unreasonably delay play (Exception 3 to Rule 10.1d and Rule 5.6a).For example, a player's ball is moving in temporary water across the fairway. The player arrives at the ball when it is at Point A and realizes that when it gets to Point B, which is five yards away, their nearest point of complete relief will be in a much better spot than would be the case if relief is taken from Point A. So long as the player does not unreasonably delay play (Rule 5.6a), they are allowed to delay starting the relief procedure until the ball reaches Point B.”

Protect your assets

You’re playing some desert golf and find your ball next to a cactus. You can just about get a stance but will have to push your bottom up to the spiky plant in order to do so. This is going to be painful but you're not allowed to change the conditions affecting the stroke under Rule 8.1a, so there’s not much you can do... Or is there?

Well, in fact, clarification 10.2b(5)/2 might, literally, save your skin. It says – A player may wear protective clothing, and gives the example – “a player's ball comes to rest right next to a cactus, it would breach Rule 8.1a (Actions That Improve Conditions Affecting the Stroke) if they placed a towel on the cactus to improve their area of intended stance. However, a towel may be wrapped around the player's body to protect them from the cactus.”

There, the Rules are reasonable - You can cover your back(side).

Provisional Ball Might Count Even If Original Ball Found

Generally speaking, if your original ball is found within a three-minute search time then a provisional ball you have played is abandoned. But not always. If you have lifted your provisional ball from the hole before the original ball has been found, the score with the provisional ball becomes the score. This is the example given in clarification 18.3c(2)/3 -

“At a short hole, Player A's tee shot might be lost, so they play a provisional ball that is holed. Player A does not wish to look for the original ball, but Player B, Player A's opponent, goes to look for the original ball. If Player B finds Player A's original ball before Player A lifts the provisional ball from the hole, Player A must abandon the provisional ball and continue with the original ball. If Player A lifts the ball from the hole before Player B finds Player A's original ball, Player A's score for the hole is three.”

Basically then, if you want your provisional to count after holing out – get moving quickly to remove it from the hole before your opponent gets searching!

Watch For Your Integral Objects

An Integral Object is an artificial object defined by the Committee as part of the challenge of playing the course from which free relief is not allowed. But, don’t give up just yet. There may still be a chance to get a free drop.

If part of the integral object is movable, perhaps a gate or a door, it would meet the criteria of a movable obstruction and could be shifted to allow you to play a shot. That could be a bonus if you didn’t have a swing.

Sometimes, knowing the Rules can save you strokes!

Obviously you don't really need to know much at all when you first start hitting a ball so this is more about the Rules you'll most need to know when you do want to start trying to put a ‘proper’ score together, whether in competition or just for your own satisfaction as you seek to gauge your progress.

Before we get into it, I will say that reading the Definitions section at the back of the Rule book is a great place to start as it will help to familiarise you with some of the terms and language of the Rules of Golf. Beyond that, I’ve narrowed it down to ten. Please forgive me if I’ve missed any you deem absolutely essential or included any you consider non-essential! It is my considered opinion, not a definitive list.

We aren’t going to go into minute detail about each one (other than where unavoidable), but rather provide some headline information along with the relevant Rule number so you can read in more depth as and when you’re ready…

1. Consideration for others – Rule 1.2
The first Rule in the book talks about playing “in the spirit of the game", part of which is showing consideration to others by playing at a prompt pace, not endangering them and not distracting them. When you’re new to the game, you may well be slower than others, so you should always look to wave those behind through if you’re having a few issues and are holding them up.

2. It counts as a stroke even if you miss it – Definitions
The Definitions say that a stroke is “the forward movement of your club made to strike the ball”. This means that if you swing with the intent of striking the ball, it counts as a stroke whether you hit it 250 yards, barely make contact or miss it completely.

3. You can't do anything that improves how your ball is lying – Rule 8.1a
You won’t always hit the ball where you want to, so it’s important to know that you can’t do anything to improve the lie of your ball to make it easier for you to play your next stroke (other than carefully removing what are known as "loose impediments", taking care not to move your ball in the process). This means not treading down the grass behind your ball and not bending or breaking bits of growing bushes or trees to allow you to swing unimpeded.

4. You can’t share clubs – Rule 4.1b(2)
Once you’ve reached the stage of trying to put a score together, be aware that you can’t share clubs with another player in your group (or any other group). So don’t be tempted to tap in with another player’s putter because you’ve left yours miles away after chipping on to the green. Sharing is only permitted in the pairs formats of foursomes and fourball as long as the total number of clubs a pair carries doesn’t exceed 14.

5. Be careful with your club in a bunker – Rule 12.2b
When your ball is lying in a bunker you are not allowed to take practice swings in that bunker that strike the sand, ground your club in the sand in front of or behind your ball, or touch the sand with your club on your backswing. One exception is that you may lean on a club to rest, stay balanced or prevent a fall.

6. What does out of bounds (OOB) mean? – Rule 18.2 and Definitions
Out of bounds is anywhere beyond the boundaries of the golf course and you are not allowed to play your ball if it is lying out of bounds, though you may stand out of bounds to play a ball lying in bounds. Out of bounds can be signified by white posts, a white line on the ground, walls, hedges, fences, roads or similar. Check the scorecard or club website for more details about out of bounds where you are playing.

7. You're allowed three minutes to look for a ball – Rule 18.2a
If you hit your ball into long grass, bushes, trees or some other undesirable spot, you are allowed three minutes to try and find it from the moment you arrive in the area where you believe it to be. If you’re coming back to the game after more than six years away, this may come as a surprise as it used to be five minutes. But that was reduced in 2019.

8. What do you do if you lose a ball or think you might have lost it? – Rule 18.2b
If you can’t find your ball in three minutes, it is considered lost. In such circumstances you must play again under what the Rules call “stroke and distance”. This costs you a one-stroke penalty plus the distance you achieved with your original ball, as you must go back and play again from where you last played. So, if you lost your tee shot, you would go back to the teeing area, add a penalty stroke to your score and play again. The new ball would be your third shot on the hole.

To avoid a long walk back, if you think it might be hard to find your ball, you should play what is called a “provisional ball”. You must declare your intention to do so, then if you can’t find the original ball, you can move across to the provisional ball. The penalty is the same – stroke and distance ­– but you will avoid the time-consuming walk back

9. What do you do if you find your ball but it’s impossible or unwise to play it? – Rule 19
If you find your ball but it’s lying somewhere where you can’t play it, or you decide that playing it would be inadvisable, you may declare it unplayable, which gives you three options all for the penalty of one stroke: 1) Go back and play again from where you last played under stroke and distance (as described above); 2) Drop as far back as you like on a line keeping the original position of the ball directly between you and the flag; 3) Drop within two club-lengths of where the ball was lying, not nearer the hole.

The ball does not have to be physically unplayable for you to declare it unplayable – you as the player are the sole judge as to whether you wish to take penalty relief under Rule 19. And for information, drops are from knee height, and a ‘club-length’ is the longest club you are carrying for that round other than your putter (typically your driver).

10. You can’t ask for advice – Rule 10.2a
When you’re learning, people will be more than happy to offer you advice and tips out on the course (some, no doubt, more useful than others!). But once you start playing in competitions, you are not allowed to ask other players in the competition for advice, nor offer them any. The only people you can ask for advice are your caddie, which you’re unlikely to have in the early years, or your partner if you are playing in a pairs competition.

If your ball is in an unplayable position in the general area, or on the putting green, you have three options under Rule 19.2, all under penalty of one stroke.

1 – You can take stroke-and-distance relief. I.e. you may play the original ball or another ball from where the last shot was taken.

2 – You can take back-on-the-line relief. You may drop the original ball or another ball. You can go back as far as you like keeping the spot of the original ball between you and the hole. The ball is dropped on a spot on this line and it must come to rest within one club length of that spot. It must be no closer to the hole than where the ball was originally.

3 – You can take lateral relief. Two club lengths from the spot of the original ball, no closer to the hole. If the ball is suspended above the ground, the two club lengths is measured from a reference point on the ground directly below where the original ball is located.

For the second two options, you can drop in any area of the course, but the ball must stay in the same area of the course as the spot on which it was dropped.

To take relief for an unplayable ball, you must be able to identify it. If you believe your ball is stuck up a tree for instance, you must be able to identify it as yours to take back on the line or lateral relief.

If you want to take relief for an unplayable ball in a bunker, you have the same three options as in the general area, all for penalty of one stroke. And, upon dropping on the line or laterally, the ball must stay in the bunker.

However, Rule 19.3b gives you one more relief option for an unplayable lie in a bunker, under penalty of two shots you can take back-on-the-line relief outside of the bunker.

But, as is so often the case, the advance of technology makes it a question that could well need addressing these days, following the arrival of Bluetooth earbuds and, more pertinently to our headline question, the best portable golf Bluetooth speakers, some of which really dress themselves up in golf clothing by also offering yardage information and distances.

We’re not generally addressing here whether you should play music from a speaker during a golf competition from an etiquette perspective, but whether or not you can from a Rules perspective. We’ll all have our own views on the former, and mine remains in the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ camp. Among the many reasons I play golf, getting away from the noise of everyday life would sit pretty near the top of the list, so the last thing I want to hear on the golf course is someone else’s music.

But what about the legality of it from a Rules perspective? Well, essentially, they say no problem subject to a couple of things you can’t use music to assist you with. It’s probably easiest if I simply cut and paste the relevant Rule here relating to audio and video – Rule 4.3a(4) – which states:

Allowed
Listening to audio or watching video on matters unrelated to the competition being played (such as a news report or background music). But in doing so, consideration should be shown to others (see Rule 1.2).
Not Allowed
Listening to music or other audio to eliminate distractions or to help with swing tempo.

There’s then an additional element about video in the ‘not allowed’ section, but it’s not really relevant to our question here.

If we then cross-reference with Rule 1.2, which addresses standards of player conduct, what does this have to say on the matter? Well, the relevant wording for us in that Rule is about showing consideration to others “by not distracting the play of another player”.

This, of course, makes it a bit of a judgement call and takes us into that slightly uncomfortable realm of one person’s views or words against another’s. Under the Rules, there’s no penalty anyway unless the ‘offence’ is sufficient to be considered “serious misconduct”, in which case the player of the music could potentially be disqualified “for acting contrary to the spirit of the game”.

However, given that serious misconduct is “player behaviour that is so far removed from what is expected in golf that the most severe sanction of removing a player from the competition is justified”, such an outcome would seem fairly unlikely.

One would hope that golfers wouldn’t have music playing loudly if they knew it was annoying or distracting others out on the course, but we also know that people are different and there will undoubtedly me some more than happy to challenge what they see as golf’s outdated status quo.

You will have to make your own call on that, but in the meantime, some will be pleased to learn that Model Local Rule G-8 is available to committees, allowing them to prohibit or restrict the use of audio and video devices:

Model Local Rule G-8
Rule 4.3a(4) is modified in this way: During a round, a player must not listen to or watch content of any nature on a personal audio or video device.

Penalty for Breach of Local Rule – see Rule 4.3.

If we now head back to Rule 4.3, we will find that the penalty is the general penalty for a first breach and disqualification for a second breach.

This penalty would be the same if you were deemed to be “listening to music or other audio to eliminate distractions or to help with swing tempo”, so if you had found and perfected golf’s equivalent of The Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive for carrying out CPR and tried to use it in a competition, it would be two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play the first time, then the long walk back to the clubhouse for a repeat offence.

You and your caddie can search for it, your playing partners and opponents can search for it, spectators can search for it, someone walking their dog can help you look for it. But there are some things to bear in mind.

There are two Rules to be aware of here. Firstly Rule 7. Ball Search: Finding and Identifying Ball. Rule 7.1a deals with how to fairly search for a golf ball. It states that a player is responsible for finding their ball in play after each stroke. That doesn’t mean they have to find it on their own though. They can recruit anybody to help out – other players, spectators, people walking past even. During the search, reasonable actions may be taken to find and identify the ball such as moving grass, or branches for example. Movable obstructions and loose impediments can be moved to try to find it.

If during the search, conditions affecting the next shot to be played are improved, there’s no penalty if it was a fair search but if actions during the search have exceeded what is fair (branches have been broken off making it possible to make a stance or swing for example,) then the general penalty of two shots would be applied.

If the ball is accidentally moved during the search, there is no penalty, but the ball must be replaced on its original spot and the lie recreated.

When A Ball Is Lost

It’s also important to be conscious of Rule 18.2a(1) When Ball is Lost. It says that a ball is lost if not found within three minutes of when you or your caddy has begun to look for it.

That means, if you’re good enough to be playing in an event with spectators, they could start looking for the ball as you walked up to the vicinity of where it’s thought to, be but your three-minute search time doesn’t start until you join the search. That could help you out.

Also worth knowing is that, if you find a ball that might be yours just before the three-minute search time is up, you have a reasonable amount of time beyond three minutes to identify the ball.

If you don’t find a ball within three minutes then your ball is lost and you will have to take stroke and distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing another ball from where the original shot was played.

Identifying The Ball

A player’s ball at rest may be identified in any one of these ways:

By the player or anyone else seeing a ball come to rest in circumstances where it is known to be the player’s ball.

By seeing the player’s identifying mark on the ball, but this does not apply if an identical ball with an identical identifying mark is also found in the same area.

By finding a ball with the same brand, model, number and condition as the player’s ball in an area where the player’s ball is expected to be, but this does not apply if an identical ball is in the same area and there is no way to know which one is the player’s ball.

Hopefully that gives you some useful pointers about searching for your ball. But in answer to the main question of can anyone help you look for your golf ball? The answer is yes.