Let’s start by getting another Rule clear – You are not allowed to ground your club behind your ball before playing a stroke if your ball is in a bunker.

Rule 12.2b(1) deals with instances where touching the sand in a bunker results in a penalty. One of those instances is touching the sand with a club in the area right in front or right behind the ball.

That means if you ground your club in the sand behind the ball in a bunker, even if you touch the sand as you take the club away on your backswing, you have broken Rule 12.2b(1) and will receive the general penalty of two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.

You are not allowed to ground your club in a bunker, but what about on the lip of the bunker?

Let’s start with the definition of bunker in the Rules. In the definitions, a bunker is “a specially prepared area of sand, which is often a hollow from which turf or soil was removed."

The definitions go on to say which areas are not part of a bunker. The first of these is – “A lip, wall or face at the edge of a prepared area and consisting of soil, grass, stacked turf or artificial materials.”

So, if your ball is on the lip, it is not in the bunker. But, according to Rule 12.1, your ball is in the bunker if any part of it touches sand on the ground inside the edge of the bunker.

If then, your ball is only partially on the lip but half of it is actually within the bunker, your ball is deemed as being in the bunker. In that instance, you cannot ground the club behind the ball.

If your ball is completely on the lip – if no part of it is touching sand within the edge of the bunker – then it is in the general area and you would be able to ground the club behind the ball.

But what if the lip of the bunker is sandy from sand that has been shifted from the bunker by play or footfall? Does that prevent you from being allowed to ground the club?

To answer that, we need to go back to the definitions and the list of things that are not part of a bunker. In there you will find – “sand that spilled over or is outside the edge of a prepared area” is not part of a bunker.

If your ball is completely on the grassy lip of a bunker and it’s sandy with sand that has spilled over from the bunker – it is classed as being in the general area and you can ground your club.

So, can you ground your club on the grassy, sandy lip of a bunker? Yes – as long as no part of your ball is touching the sand within the edge of the bunker, you are in the general area and can ground the club.

Golf Rules Quiz

One of the more anxious feelings in golf is watching a tee shot sailing on the wind towards the out of bounds. Will it come down? Is there anything to stop it? It triggers a feeling of forlorn hope mixed with abject helplessness.

More often than not, nothing will stop the ball’s inexorable progress and there will be nothing for it but to reload. But, just occasionally, the golfing gods are generous and put a handy obstacle in the way.

You can’t believe your luck, a solid wall marking the boundary line comes to your aid. Your brand-new Titleist strikes the wall near the very top and ricochets back into perfect position on the fairway. Thank the lord!

But the ball has hit the stonework with such venom that you fear for its integrity. On reaching the ball, it’s sitting so you can’t see the side that made contact with the boundary. It could have a massive chunk out of it and you’re reluctant to hit without discovering if that’s the case.

What can you do according to the Rules? Can you check it for damage before you play your second?

The answer is a simple one – Yes, you can. It’s covered by Rule 4.2c. Rule 4 covers equipment, Rule 4.2 is specific to balls and Rule 4.2c is – “Ball becomes cut or cracked while playing hole.”

That Rule says that if you “reasonably believe” your ball may have become cut or cracked during the hole you are playing, you can lift it to check.

Given you’ve seen your ball smacking off a stone wall at high velocity, it’s fair to say you can have a very reasonable belief that it may have been damaged.

But, before you lift it – you must mark its position with a ball marker, a tee or similar. You could also hold a club on the ground right by the ball’s spot.

If you were to lift the ball without first marking its position, you would incur a one-stroke penalty. If you were to lift a ball without reasonable belief it was cut or cracked (even if you marked the spot), you would also receive a one-stroke penalty.

But you have reasonable belief and you have marked the spot so you can lift it and inspect it.

If you find it to have been cut or cracked, you can either choose to play it or substitute in a different ball. Either must be placed on the original spot before you then play.

If you lift your ball and find it has not been cut or cracked, if it is just scraped or discoloured, you must replace it on the original spot and play on.

If you were to substitute it for another ball when it wasn’t cut or cracked, you would incur a one-stroke penalty.

Fairly straightforward this one then. If you reasonably believe your ball may have been cut or cracked in striking a wall, you can fairly mark it, lift it and inspect it. If it has been cut or cracked you can use a different ball.

Golf Rules Quiz

Imagine the scenario – You’ve hit a tee shot that is headed perilously close to a fairway bunker. You watch on anxiously.

It bounces a couple of times, does a “wall of death” move around the edge and spins out over the top – safely beyond the trap.

You’re feeling your luck is clearly in as you walk down to play your second shot. The golfing gods are smiling on you.

But your good humour fades somewhat when you see the lie of your ball. The ball is not in the bunker; it’s beyond it as you thought. But the area around the trap has been reasonably recently renovated, the surrounds of the bunker have been re-turfed.

The weather over the last few weeks has been dry and the turf has struggled to bed in properly and knit together. Your ball has come to rest in a rather deep seem between two cuts of turf.

You look around desperately for signs of ground under repair (GUR), but there are none. Surely though you automatically get relief for this scenario…. Do you? What do the Rules say?

Not automatically. If the area has not been marked as ground under repair, there would be no relief under Rule 16.1 – Abnormal course conditions.

There are some situations on course that are deemed ground under repair, even if not marked by the committee – a hole made by committee or maintenance staff in setting up or maintaining the course (not aeration holes) for example. And grass cuttings or other material piled for later removal.

Seams of cut turf are not included though.

But don’t give up on relief just yet, there is a chance that the committee has a local rule in place. If the committee is using Model Local Rule F-7, you would get free relief from a seam of cut turf.

It says that if a player’s ball lies in or touches a seam of cut turf or a seam interferes with the player’s area of intended swing, they may take relief from the general area or the putting green as per Rules 16.1b or 16.1d.

The local rule does not give relief if the seam of cut turf only interferes with your stance.

If the local rule is in place, then you would be entitled to free relief – one club length from the nearest point (reference point) where the seam no longer interferes with your lie or intended swing, no closer to the hole.

If there is no local rule in place, there is no relief from a seam of cut turf and you must play the ball as it lies.

Golf Rules Quiz

Out of bounds (OOB) may be defined in a number of ways – white stakes, lines on the ground, fences, walls, railings. We give you the lowdown on out of bounds within the Rules of golf.

However it is defined, if your ball has strayed beyond the limits of the course, the first thing to remember is that there is no option within the Rules to drop a ball under penalty at the point where your ball crossed the OOB line, as you could with a penalty area.

If your ball is definitely out of bounds, 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.

If you are uncertain whether your ball has gone out of bounds, you can declare that you are playing a provisional ball (Rule 18.3).

And, to play a provisional you must clearly state this intention. You must announce before making the stroke that you are playing a ball as a provisional, or make a statement to indicate that is your intention. If you don’t, the second ball you hit will become the ball in play.

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!

There are exceptions when you may substitute another ball when it is known or virtually certain what has happened.

If you know your ball came to rest in bounds but it was moved out of bounds by an outside influence – say you saw a dog pick it up and run away with it before dropping it out of bounds. In that instance, you place that or another ball back on the spot where it was originally and play on without penalty.

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.

If white stakes are used at intervals, the out of bounds line is the direct line from the course side edge of one stake to the next.

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.

Golf Rules Quiz

There are some things in golf that seem a little unfair. Finding a divot hole in the middle of the fairway and having to play it as it lies feels harsh. Being forced to take a penalty drop from a fully flooded bunker is also a tough break.

But there are other scenarios when the Rules can come to your aid and potentially save you a shot, or maybe more. A key Rule to know with this in mind is Rule 16. It focuses on situations where you might get free relief from abnormal course conditions as well as from dangerous animal conditions and an embedded ball.

This is the Rule we must focus on to determine whether we get relief from an animal print in a bunker…

Firstly, let’s consider Rule 16.2… Relief from Dangerous Animal Condition. A dangerous condition is deemed to exist when a dangerous animal (a venomous snake, a bear or an alligator for instance) could cause serious physical injury to the player if they had to play the ball as it lies.

This Rule would not entitle you to free relief simply if your ball was in an animal print. But, if the print had been caused by a grizzly bear who was sitting beside your ball in the bunker, you would be entitled to free relief away from the danger…

It would make no difference how the ball was sitting in that case – it would be the dangerous animal condition you would get relief from, not the lie of the ball in an animal print.

What about relief from abnormal course conditions then, as per Rule 16.1? Does that Rule entitle you to relief from an animal print?

Let’s first answer, what are abnormal course conditions? The definitions in the Rules say they are – An animal hole, ground under repair, an immovable obstruction or temporary water.

OK, an animal hole! Perhaps that entitles us to relief then. What is an animal hole?

This is the definition – It’s any hole dug in the ground by an animal that is not also defined as a loose impediment (such as worms or insects).

Animal hole also includes loose material the animal has dug from the hole, a worn-down track leading to the hole or risen ground resulting from an animal pushing from below – a mole hill for example.

The definitions go on to say – An animal hole does not include animal prints that are not part of a worn-down track leading into an animal hole.

So, unless your ball is in an animal print that is part of a worn-down track heading to an animal hole, you are not entitled to a free drop.

You do not get free relief from an animal print anywhere on the golf course unless it is part of a clear, worn trail leading to an animal hole and your ball is not in a penalty area.

Golf Rules Quiz

One of the best swingers of the golf club ever, Sam Snead, was a great of the game. A seven-time major champion, he enjoyed a long and successful career, and he continued to perform at an extremely high level into his old age. In fact, at the age of 67 he matched and then beat his age by a stroke in the 1979 Quad Cities Open on the PGA Tour.

But “Slammin’ Sam” had problems on the greens. In the 1966 PGA Championship, when struggling with the yips he decided to take extreme action. He went to a croquet putting style, standing across the line of his putt and swinging the putter between his legs.

It proved a successful method, and he actually finished in a tie for sixth in the event. His yips were cured. But there was a problem. The powers that be didn’t like Snead’s new technique and in an amendment to the Rules in 1968, the method was banned.

It remains illegal to putt croquet-style. Rule 10.1c says that a player must not make a stroke from a stance with a foot deliberately placed on each side of the ball, nor with a foot touching the line of play or an extension of that line behind the ball.

If you play a ball in that manner (from anywhere on the course) you receive the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play. In stroke play, the stroke counts but you must add two strokes to your score.

Snead had to adapt again after the 1968 Rule change. He moved to a method where he putted “side saddle.” He pointed his feet towards the hole and putted with the ball to his side. That technique was legal and it has remained so.

The answer then to the question, “my opponent putted side saddle, is that allowed?” Is – yes. You can putt side saddle. You can play any shot side saddle, but you cannot play any shot with the ball between your feet in a croquet style.

You also must be careful when playing side saddle that your foot does not touch the line of play, or you would be breaking Rule 10.1c. There is an exception to that part of the Rule though.

There is no penalty if the stance is taken accidentally or to avoid another player’s line. So, if you’re tapping in from close range and you put a foot onto your line of play while making a wide stance to avoid a partner’s or opponent’s line, you will not be penalised.

Putting side saddle is permitted under the Rules, but putting croquet-style is not.

Rules Quiz

Here’s a scenario that a reader wrote to us about to query the correct course of action under The Rules of Golf.

Playing in a club competition, her playing partner hit a good shot into a par-3 hole that rolled just through the back of the green and onto the fringe.

On reaching her ball she could see there was sand on the fringe directly in her line between the ball (also on the fringe) and the cup.

Absentmindedly, she crouched down and swept the sand away with her hand.

Our reader wondered, was she allowed to do that? Should it have been a penalty? Our reader didn’t tell us whether she called a penalty upon her playing partner, she simply asked what the correct Ruling would be.

Well, the answer is that – Yes, it was a penalty to brush away that sand on the fringe.

In fact, the action of brushing away sand improved the condition affecting her stroke and she had broken Rule 8.1a and incurred the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play. In match play, brushing away that sand on the fringe would have meant she lost the hole.

Sand is not considered a loose impediment. A loose impediment is defined in the Rules as any unattached natural object. But, under the definitions, sand is specifically mentioned as something that is not classed a loose impediment.

Loose impediments can be removed anywhere on the course without a penalty. If our reader’s partner had removed a stone or a stick that was in her line on the fringe, there would have been no penalty.

But as sand is not a loose impediment, removing it is in breach of Rule 8.1a and it incurs a penalty.

There is an exception when removing sand is not a penalty. That is when there is sand on the putting green. Under Rule 13.1c, a player may remove sand and loose soil from the putting green with no penalty.

There is another exception when sand might be brushed away from the fringe without penalty:

If our reader’s partner had played her ball to the fringe and there had been no sand on her line when her ball came to rest. Say another playing partner had then found the bunker beside the green, played a shot out and splashed sand from the trap and onto our reader’s partner’s line – she would have been entitled to remove it.

That is because, under Rule 8.1d, she would have been entitled to restore conditions that had been worsened after her ball came to rest.

But, in this instance, the conditions were in place when her ball came to rest, so she was not allowed to brush away that sand. She should have incurred the general penalty.

Rules Quiz

There are various restrictions on touching the sand with a club in a bunker. Rule 12.2b lays out the circumstances in which you will incur a general penalty (two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play) if you touch the sand in a bunker with your club before making a stroke.

You can’t touch the sand with your club to test the condition of the sand. You can’t touch the sand right in front or right behind the ball with a club unless you are fairly searching for the ball or moving a loose impediment.

You can’t touch the sand with a club when making a practice swing or when making the backswing for your stroke.

But what about if your club touches the sand when you are measuring to take a drop? Is that a penalty? What do the Rules say?

Say for instance, you have found your ball in a puddle in a bunker as in the picture above and are taking relief for an abnormal course condition under Rule 16.1c.

You establish your nearest point of complete relief within the bunker and then have a relief area of one club length from that reference point (no nearer the hole).

When measuring that club length, you lay your club on top of the sand. Have you broken a Rule?

The answer is no.

Rule 12.2b(2) gives the circumstances in which touching the sand in a bunker does not result in a penalty.

One of those circumstances is “Measuring, marking, lifting, replacing or taking other actions under a Rule."

You are allowed to touch the sand with your club when you are measuring out a relief area and will not incur a penalty for doing so.

You can’t go beyond measuring and marking though. If, say, you were to measure one club length and drag the club repeatedly round in a semi-circle, smoothing the sand to create a super-smooth relief area, you would be breaking Rule 8.1a by improving the conditions affecting the stroke.

If you did that, you would receive the general penalty.

But if you simply touched the sand with your club when measuring your relief area, there would be no penalty.

You could also touch the sand with your club if you were just laying a club down having taken two clubs into the bunker with you.

You could also lean on a club in a bunker to keep your balance or steady yourself as you stepped down into it.

It’s important to be careful though and it’s worth checking Rule 12.2 fully to see when you can and can’t touch your club to the sand in a bunker.

Golf Rules Quiz

Putting is difficult. A combination of reading the perplexing undulations on the greens and maintaining a smooth and consistent stroke is a tough combination to consistently produce.

As such, we all look for ways to make putting a little easier. We might invest in a zero-torque mallet putter. We might draw a straight line on our ball, we might even go so far as to try the AimPoint method of aligning oneself on the greens.

All those things are legal, so long as you don’t take too long to do them. In top-level competition you might fall foul of pace of play policy if your pre-shot-putting routine is too lengthy.

But there are some things one cannot do on the putting green to make things easier. You can’t leave the flagstick lying on the ground behind the hole to act as a backstop. You can’t have a practice putt on another bit of the green before you play to get an idea of the pace. And…

You can’t put a marker down ahead of your ball to indicate the intended line of your putt and help you aim.

If your opponent places a coin down ahead of their ball to help with their aim and line, they are breaking the Rules.

In fact, they’re breaking Rule 10.2b. Section 3 of that Rule says that you must not set an object down to help with aiming.

A coin placed ahead of the ball is an object set down to help with aiming – You cannot avoid a penalty if you have done this – even if you remove it before making a stroke.

Your opponent had broken Rule 10.2b(3) and should have faced the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play, or in this case, in match play – it would be loss of hole.

There is nothing to stop you using a natural feature of the green to help you with your line. Say there is a darker patch of grass that is a good target for the first part of your putt, you can aim at that.

If a leaf has blown onto the green and it’s a good target, you can aim at that. But you can’t go and place a leaf on your target line. Rule 8.1a(2) states that you cannot move a loose impediment into a position to improve the line of play.

Basically, you cannot deliberately put something on your line, a coin, a marker or even a loose impediment, to help with your aim and line. Your opponent was in the wrong and should have been penalised.

Rules Quiz

You’ve played a solid drive up the middle of the 10^th fairway and have an enticing 150-yard approach into the green. You’re feeling confident.

You make a steady backswing but then get too eager in the transition, you come over the top and pull the shot. As such, the ball goes long and left, it kicks on further and comes to rest on the 12^th green, 20 yards beyond your target putting surface.

Upon reaching the ball you realise that you have a perfect lie on the 12^th green from which to play a spinning chip back to the 10^th.

You decide to play the ball as it lies and clip it nicely off the 12^th putting surface, executing your shot perfectly. You’re feeling rather proud of yourself as you walk back to the 10^th green to face a five-foot par putt.

But as you’re reaching for your putter, a playing partner asks the question – “shouldn’t you have taken a drop from there?” … You had thought you could just play it as lied. Was that correct? What do the Rules say?

Well it’s bad news. It wasn’t correct. Rule 13.1f says that relief “must” be taken from a wrong green.

If any part of your ball touches a wrong green (that is a green you are not aiming for on that hole) or if that wrong green interferes with your stance or intended swing then you must not play the ball as it lies.

What you must do if your ball lies on a wrong green or if that wrong green is in the way of your stance or swing is – find the nearest point of complete relief, where your ball, stance or swing are not interfered with by the wrong green.

Once you have established that reference point, you have a one club-length relief area to drop in, no closer to the hole than the reference point.

If you play a ball from a wrong green you have played from a wrong place and you will face the general penalty under Rule 14.7a.

You must then consider Rule 14.7b in terms of how to complete the hole after playing from a wrong place, if you are playing stroke play. Have you gained a significant advantage.

If you have not gained a significant advantage, say your drop would have been just off the edge of the wrong green on a closely mown surface, you would play out the hole with the ball played from the wrong place (with a general penalty.)

If you had gained a significant advantage, say your drop would have been in thick rough just off the greenside and you had played it from a perfect, tightly cut putting green, you would need to play out the hole with a ball played from the right place…

You would need to correct your mistake and drop a ball in the relief area created by your nearest point of relief from the wrong green.

If you didn’t correct your mistake before making a stroke at the next hole, you would be disqualified.

If you don’t know whether the breach was serious, you can play two balls and report the facts to the committee.

Some courses have double greens, the Old Course at St Andrews for instance. If you land on the wrong half of a double green, you are not on a wrong green and you should play the ball as it lies.

Golf Rules Quiz

You’ve pulled your tee shot into the rough, into an area renowned for getting a little soggy.

After a couple of minutes (under three) searching, you find it in the long grass, plugged halfway into the ground.

The ball is definitely below the level of the ground in its own pitch-mark so you think you know what to do.

You mark the position right behind the ball and then take a drop within one club length of that point. You play out back to the fairway.

As you’re walking on, you suddenly wonder – “was I allowed to do that?” … “Was it right to take relief for a ball embedded in the rough?” What do the Rules say?

Good news – the answer is yes. The Rules say you did the right thing...

Rule 16.3 says that a player may take relief for a ball embedded in the general area. The rough is within the general area so you were entitled to relief.

It wasn’t always the case. Until the Rule changes of 2019, a player was only entitled to free relief from an embedded ball in closely mown areas. You would not have gained free relief for a ball embedded in the rough. You do now though.

There are a couple of exceptions to be aware of mind you. If the ball was embedded in sand in the rough, you wouldn’t get relief. You are only entitled to free relief for a ball embedded in sand in part of the general area that is cut to fairway height or less.

And you wouldn’t get free relief for an embedded ball in the rough if playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable. Say, for instance, your ball landed in a bush, where you wouldn’t be able to make a stroke at it, you won’t get free relief if it’s embedded.

But in the case above, you could make a stroke at it as it was lying, and it was not embedded in sand. So, yes, you were allowed to take relief.

For a ball to be embedded, it must be sitting in its own pitch-mark, made as a result of the last stroke and part of the ball must be below the level of the ground.

The way to proceed with an embedded ball if it meets the criteria above is as follows –

You mark a spot directly behind where the ball is embedded and this becomes the reference point.

You then have a one club-length relief area that must be in the general area and must be no closer to the hole than the reference point.

You then drop that ball, or another ball, from knee height in that relief area. It must come to rest in the relief area. If it does so, it is then in play.

You do not get free relief for a ball embedded in a penalty area, nor for a ball embedded in a bunker.

If you’re not sure whether your ball is embedded you can mark its position and lift it to see if relief is allowed. But you are not allowed to clean it (except when the ball is on the putting green.)

If relief is allowed you can clean it and proceed as above. If relief is not allowed you must replace it in its original spot.

Golf Rules Quiz

You’re watching on as a playing partner in a stroke play event stands over a snaking 30-footer. You’re feeling highly fed up having just three-putted for the sixth time during the round.

Standing near the hole you become increasingly irritated as your partner’s putt gets ever closer to the cup. It’s clearly going in. Without thinking and, in a fit of pique, you stick out your foot and prevent the ball going in.

What were you doing? Are you five? Your playing partner looks on in disbelief… Could that really have happened?

Well, it has happened and aside from feelings of anger, frustration, shame and embarrassment being displayed by both parties, there’s uncertainty on how to proceed.

Are you, the guilty party, disqualified from the tournament? If not, what penalty do you face? And what about the player whose ball has been deflected? What do they do next? What do The Rules say?

Well, let’s start with the villain. What is to be done about you?

It’s good news at this point – you’re not going to be disqualified just yet. But that could come later and we’ll come on to that.

Rule 11.2b says that a player gets the general penalty if they deliberately deflect or stop any ball in motion whether it’s their own ball, an opponent’s ball or another player’s ball in a stroke play event such as this.

The general penalty in stroke play is two strokes, so you would be adding a couple to your score for that hole.

But – what you’ve done is seriously uncool and it’s highly likely your playing partner will report it to the committee. The committee might decide your actions constitute “serious misconduct.”

If that is the case, they can disqualify you under Rule 1.2a covering, "conduct expected of all players."

Serious misconduct is player behaviour that is so far removed from what is expected in golf that the most severe sanction of removing the player from the competition is justified.

Deliberately preventing another player’s ball going in the hole is behaviour that is a long way removed from what is expected in golf, but just how far would be for the committee to decide.

And what happens to your unfortunate playing partner who might well have holed a super putt had you not behaved so atrociously?

Well, you might think the Rules would give them the benefit of the doubt and say the putt should count… No. It’s a double whammy for the stricken party.

Rule 11.2c(2) says that a stroke played from the putting green that has been deliberately stopped or deflected must be played again from the original spot.

If your playing partner was angry with you before, they’re now apoplectic. They’ve no chance of recreating that amazing putt.

So, the answer to the question, “If I stopped someone’s hole-bound putt with my foot, am I disqualified?” - Not immediately. You face the general penalty to start with but if the committee decides your actions to be serious misconduct, you might well be disqualified a little later in the day.

Either way – you’re a disgrace!

Rules Quiz

It’s a spring day and the course is just starting to get back to its best. The grass is growing and the greens are looking healthy.

You’ve completed your preparations for the first medal round of the year and are at the first tee nice and promptly for your 9.30am tee time.

But your playing partner is nowhere to be seen… With just seconds to spare he runs on to the tee, shakes your hand and tees up a ball. He hits one before he even ties his laces.

‘Well, more fool him for not giving himself enough time,’ you think as you make your way down the opening hole.

Somehow though, he finds the putting surface in regulation. But he faces a lengthy first putt right across the green.

“I was in such a rush, I didn’t have a chance to try out the putting green,” he announces. “So I don’t know how this will roll.”

Without saying anything else he then crouches down and rubs his hand over the green. He’s clearly testing the surface to see how much grass there is and which way it’s growing.

You think it’s a questionable action, but should he be penalised?

That’s a slightly different question about whether the Rule is fair or not… maybe one for another article!

The Rules say that he is penalised for rubbing the green with his hand.

In fact, it’s Rule 13.1e – No deliberate testing of Greens.

During a round a player must not deliberately rub the surface of a green or wrong green, nor must they roll a ball across a green or wrong green.

By rubbing the green, your playing partner broke Rule 13.1e and would face the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play. Had you been playing match play, he would have lost the hole.

The only time you can rub the green during a round is between two holes. You can rub the surface of the green on the hole you have just completed.

You cannot rub the surface of a putting green on the course you are playing before you play from the first tee. If you do that you will breach Rule 5.2 – Practicing on the course before or between rounds. You would also receive the general penalty for rubbing a green before teeing off.

So, should your playing partner be penalised for rubbing a hand on the green to test the surface? Well, we are all entitled to our opinions on that, but the fact of the matter is – He will be penalised. A general penalty.

Rules Quiz

Imagine the scenario: You’re facing a testing shot to a tricky green with your ball sitting nicely in the fairway.

Standing right beside your ball, you want to check the distance one more time. You reach into your pocket for your yardage book and remove it.

In so doing, you dislodge your golf glove which was also in your pocket. It falls towards the ground.

You desperately try to catch it but are just too late, the glove falls onto your ball and causes the ball to move slightly off its spot.

Oh dear. What do you do next? What do The Rules say? Are you penalised?

Unfortunately, if you cause your ball to move you will normally receive one penalty stroke under Rule 9.4b.

That would be the case in this scenario.

Although it was totally accidental, you have caused your ball to move on the fairway. It would be the same penalty if you accidentally nudged the ball with your foot or with your club when you addressed it.

What you must do next is important. As you have caused your ball to move, you must replace it before you make your next stroke.

If you don’t replace it and make a stroke at the ball in its new position, your one-stroke penalty will be upgraded to a general penalty of two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play. That is because you have now played a ball from a wrong place, in breach of Rule 14.7a. And that penalty becomes applicable.

Under an exception to Rule 1.3c. There are not multiple penalties, only the general penalty applies.

Things would have been different if your ball had been on the putting surface, as in the picture above. If you accidentally cause the ball to move on a putting surface, there is no penalty. That’s Rule 13.1d(1).

So, if your glove fell onto your ball on the green and caused it to move off its spot, there would be no penalty, and you should replace the ball on its original spot.

But, you still need to be careful - If you don’t replace it on its original spot on the putting green and make a stroke at it, you would incur the general penalty for breaking Rule 14.7a.

If your glove drops on your ball and causes it to move anywhere on the course other than the putting green, it’s a one-stroke penalty and you must then replace the ball on its original spot.

If your glove drops on your ball and causes it to move on the putting surface then, there is no penalty but you must still replace the ball on its original spot.

Rules Quiz

You’re playing a blinder. You’re three ahead of your handicap through eight holes and feeling like this could be your “round of the year.”

On the 9^th, you miss the green badly and are struggling for the first time during the game. You reach for your most lofted wedge and then realise, to your dismay, you are carrying an extra club.

You’d been at the practice chipping green before the round deciding which wedges to take and you’ve forgotten to remove the extra club before teeing off.

What happens now? You’re on the 9^th hole with 15 clubs in your bag… Is your round ruined? Are you disqualified?

It’s good news with a bit of bad news thrown in. The good news is – you are not disqualified.

The Rules of Golf are quite clear when it comes to carrying golf clubs. Rule 4.1b says that a player must not start a round with more than 14 clubs, nor have more than 14 clubs during the round.

In the example above, you’ve realised on the course that you have more than 14 clubs during the round so you have broken Rule 4.1b.

The penalty for breaking Rule 4.1b depends on when you realise the breach has been made.

You will receive a general penalty (in stroke play) of two strokes per each hole on which the breach happened, up to a maximum of four shots, or (in match play) a deduction of one hole for each hole the breach occurred on, up to a maximum of two holes.

That means, if you realise on the 1^st hole that you are carrying an extra club, you receive either a two stroke or one hole penalty.

That’s what happened to Ian Woosnam in the 2001 Open. He realised on the 2^nd tee that he had an extra driver in his bag. He received a two-stroke penalty only, as he had not teed off on the 2^nd when he noticed the mistake.

If you realise having teed off on the 2^nd hole, or beyond, that you have 15 clubs, it’s the max – 4 shots or 2 holes penalty.

In your case (as per situation above on the 9^th hole) – it’s the maximum penalty.

When you realise you have an extra club, you must follow Rule 4.1c and take the club out of play. You can do this by telling your playing partner or opponent it is out of play, or by turning it upside down in the bag to make it clear it is not being used.

If you were to use that club taken out of play at any point during the rest of the round, you would then be disqualified.

If you realise before your round that you have a 15^th club in the bag, you can declare it out of play before you make a stroke on the 1^st hole with no penalty. If you declare it or turn it upside down to make it clear it’s not in play, you won’t face a penalty for simply carrying it.

Again though, if you were to then make a stroke with that club you had declared out of play, you would be disqualified.

Simple answer to the question though – You realise on the 9^th hole you have a 15^th club in your bag, are you disqualified? No. You will though incur either a four-shot penalty or a deduction of two holes.

Rules Quiz

You’ve hit what you thought was a good drive and are wandering up the fairway expecting to have a relatively straightforward approach to the green.

But there’s no sign of your ball. Surely it couldn’t have reached the bunker… you thought it was out of range. But you’ve hit it so well that it’s rolled out and toppled just into the sand.

Unfortunately, as it’s only just made the trap, it’s ended close to the back leaving an awkward shot.

You assess the situation and decide you should be able to get out forwards. As you’re so far back from the lip you might even have a chance to reach the green.

You take your stance, have a last look and go for it. What you hadn’t accounted for was the grassy face at the back of the bunker.

As you swing the club away, it clips the grass on the face. It doesn’t do enough to stop your motion, and you carry on, playing the shot reasonably effectively to the front edge of the green.

It’s a good result, but have you incurred a penalty by hitting the grass face of the bunker on your backswing? Is a good shot going to be negated by an infringement of The Rules?

Well, it’s good news – No, there is no penalty. Under Rule 12.2b, there are only restrictions in touching sand in the bunker on your backswing.

If you had made a backswing and your club had clipped a lump of sand in the bunker on the way back you would have broken Rule 12.2 and would incur the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

But if your club hits anything outside the bunker, including grass, on the backswing there is no penalty.

If you had stopped your swing because of hitting the grass face of the bunker, there would still be no penalty. You would be free to start your swing again and try to reassess the situation to make an action that didn’t strike the bunker face.

If you hit grass growing in the bunker on your backswing there would also be no penalty.

A bunker is defined as – A specially prepared area of sand, which is often a hollow from which turf or soil was removed.

The Rules are clear that the wall or face of the bunker – be it grass, soil or stacked turf, is not part of the bunker.

Any soil or growing material such as grass inside the bunker is not classed as the bunker.

When it comes to your backswing in a bunker, you will only receive a penalty if your clubhead touches sand in the bunker.

Rules Quiz

Golf Monthly received an email from a reader in which they explained the following scenario –

“I was playing in a singles’ match play competition and had a difficult, snaking putt across the green.

I lined up my putt and went to take it. I noticed my opponent standing right behind me and he actually crouched down to get a better look at my line.

I was so taken aback that I didn’t say anything, and I hit my putt. He was able to watch its line all the way down to the hole…. I should say I nearly made it.

He had a similar putt from a little closer and, thankfully, he also missed his. I didn’t want to create a scene so said nothing as we made our way to the next tee.

But I couldn’t help thinking that he must have broken some sort of Rule…. Had he? Was he allowed to crouch down behind the line of my putt?”

It's a good question and the answer, in this instance, is – Yes he was allowed to crouch down behind the line of your putt. It is not prohibited under the Rules to stand behind the line of another player.

It is certainly considered poor etiquette, and you could have asked him to move. He wouldn’t, however, have been obliged to comply.

Most people would tend to be a little more subtle when trying to see the line of a putt. They might surreptitiously walk behind the line after the putt has been struck to see how it rolls out.

But this person dispensed with politeness and chose to watch from the start… Not against the Rules, but certainly a little rude.

There are instances when one cannot stand behind the line of a putt.

In foursomes and fourball play, you cannot stand behind the line of your partner’s putt.

Rule 22.6 says that – a player must not stand on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball while their partner is making a stroke to gain information on the side’s next stroke.

If you, or your partner does so, your side receives the General Penalty – two strokes in stroke play, loss of hole in match play.

Rule 23.8 says the same thing for fourball play. If you stand (or crouch) behind your partner to gain information for your next stroke – It’s a general penalty.

If you are a caddie is another example. Rule 10.2b(4) says a caddie cannot stand in the “restricted area” behind the ball to assist with aiming.

Although there would be no penalty if the caddie was inadvertently standing behind the ball without any intention of providing assistance.

Unless you are a caddie giving guidance on aiming or a partner in foursomes or fourball looking to gain information for the next stroke, there is no penalty for crouching behind the line of another player’s putt.

Rules Quiz

After playing a shot onto the green from a bunker, you leave your wedge on the putting surface before going to take your putt. There’s nothing to stop you from doing that of course.

Where you've left it is clearly not going to interfere with your next shot so you think little of it.

But then your playing partner strikes a putt from the other side of the green and you can see it is too hard, it’s going to go racing past the hole and possibly hit and be stopped by your wedge.

You quickly move back to your wedge and lift it off the ground as your partner’s ball rolls towards it. Their ball misses it and rolls off the edge of the putting surface.

Have you breached the Rules? Should you have left the putter there in situ? If there is a penalty, who is facing it?

Well, it’s good news on this one. There’s no penalty. It’s covered by Rule 11.3 which deals with – Deliberately Removing Objects or Altering Conditions To Affect Ball In Motion.

This Rule does not prohibit a player from lifting or moving – “Equipment belonging to any player (other than a ball at rest anywhere except the putting green or a ball marker anywhere on the course.”

In the instance described above, you have lifted a club (that is equipment) when the ball is in motion and Rule 11.3 says you are not prohibited from doing that. Therefore – no penalty and your partner will play on from where their ball came to rest.

What would have happened if you hadn’t had time to move your wedge and your playing partner’s ball had hit it?

That’s covered by Rule 11.1. Ball in Motion Accidentally Hits Person or Outside Influence.

As a starting point, there’s no penalty to either player - good news again!

But what you do next would depend on whether your playing partner had played the shot that hit your wedge from on or off the putting green.

If they had played the shot from off the putting green, the player would play the ball as it lies. If it were resting against the wedge – the club could be removed – it’s a movable obstruction.

If your playing partner had played their shot from the putting green and it had struck your wedge, they would have to replay their stroke.

If the player does not replay the stroke in that instance they get the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play (and the stroke counts.) In match play, it would be loss of hole.

If the player replays the stroke from the wrong place, they get the general penalty for playing from a wrong place under Rule 14.7.

Basically – if a partner’s ball is headed for a club you’ve laid on the ground and you pick it up to avoid the ball hitting it – there’s no penalty and your partner plays the ball as it lies.

Rules Quiz

Having slightly drawn/pull-hooked a drive, you’re fearing the worst as you make your way down to where your ball was last seen.

It was travelling, at pace, towards trouble on the left side of the cart path running down the edge of the hole. You’re all too aware that beyond that cart path lies lies a few yards of impenetrable scrub and then out of bounds.

You have, of course and as you should, played a provisional ball which is safely on the fairway if required.

But for once, luck is on your side. Your ball has clearly taken a few friendly, forward bounces on the cart path and remained on it, sitting proudly a good bit further down the hole than you would normally expect to be.

The cart path is, as would almost always be the case, an immovable obstruction from which you are entitled to relief under Rule 16.

You can take a drop, with no penalty, within one club length of the nearest point of complete relief where the cart path no longer interferes with your lie, swing or stance.

Unfortunately, that nearest point is in waist-high bushes and there is nothing but waist-high bushes within one club length of that point.

Taking a drop there is of no use at all. So what can you do? Can you just play it as it lies?

The answer is, yes you can play it. You can choose to play a ball as it lies on any part of the golf course as long as the ball does not sit within an area marked as a “no play zone” by the committee.

If the ball is sitting cleanly on the path and you feel you can make a decent swipe at it, there’s nothing to prevent you from choosing to play it as it lies.

What happens though if the ball is not in a position where you feel you can play it? Perhaps the ball is right up against the kerb of the path and there’s no way to get a club to it.

In that instance and when relief from the immovable obstruction is not practical, you will be looking at an unplayable ball.

Unplayable ball relief is allowed anywhere on the course, other than in a penalty area.

If you take unplayable ball relief you have three options under penalty of one-stroke.

You can go back and play again from where the original shot was struck – stroke and distance relief. You can take back on the line relief – keeping the point of the ball in a line with the hole and the spot you are looking to drop, or you can take a lateral, two club length drop from the original spot of the ball, (no closer to the hole).

If you took the lateral drop in the circumstance described above, you may still find your lie, swing or stance impeded by the cart path. If that was the case, you would be entitled to free relief from an immovable obstruction.

It’s likely that after moving two club lengths laterally, the nearest point of complete relief would now be on the course side of the path and you could proceed that way.

Basically though, if you find your ball on the cart path you can either play it, take free relief from an immovable obstruction or take penalty relief for an unplayable ball.

Rules Quiz

You’ve played what looked like an absolute beauty of an approach into a difficult green. It was flying straight at the pin!

But you got the clubbing wrong and it’s come up 10 yards short in a greenside bunker.

Not to worry, there’s been some light rain and the bunkers are firm, the ball shouldn’t have plugged. Maybe you can still save par!

You reach your ball and it’s sitting nicely atop the sand, right in the centre of the bunker giving you a good opportunity to splash onto the green and secure the up-and-down.

On closer inspection though, there’s (what looks like) a stone just behind the ball, roughly where you would aim to strike the bunker to execute the shot correctly.

You’re confident on this one. You’re sure that Rule 15 on Loose Impediments comes into play – a stone is a loose impediment – “any unattached natural object” – You can remove a loose impediment anywhere on or off the course so long as you don’t cause your ball to move in so doing.

Fine, you can pick up that ‘stone’ without disturbing your ball. You reach down and take hold of it. But, as you lift it, you realise to your dismay that it’s not actually a stone. It’s a clump of wet sand that was, unhelpfully, disguising itself as a stone. It crumbles in your hand.

What is the Ruling? Have you just incurred a penalty?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is – Yes.

You have broken Rule 8.1. You have “Improved conditions affecting the stroke.” In Rule 8.1a the prohibited actions a player might take to improve conditions affecting a stroke are listed.

One of those is to “remove or press down sand or loose soil.”

In this instance you have removed sand from behind the ball and have made it easier for your next shot, clearing the path into the back of the ball.

For breaking Rule 8.1 – you would receive the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

If the ‘stone’ that turned out to be a clump of sand wasn’t near your ball and its removal did not affect the conditions of your next stroke. You would avoid a penalty.

You wouldn’t have broken Rule 8.1 as above.

You also didn’t deliberately touch the sand to learn information about the next stroke so wouldn’t have broken Rule 12.2b. You had been attempting to care for/tidy the course and that is allowed.

So, if you accidentally pick up and remove a clump of sand from a position that improves conditions for your next stroke, you would incur a general penalty. If you accidentally do so elsewhere in the bunker, thinking it’s a stone you would normally be given the benefit of the doubt that you weren’t testing the sand and were caring for the course.

Rules Quiz

The first thing to consider with this question – Is your ball on the green? If your ball is off the green and there are no preferred lies in place then you cannot lift and clean your ball without penalty.

If your ball was sitting on the fringe, no matter whether you marked it with the toe of your putter, a ball marker, a tee or similar, if you lifted it to clean it, you would have broken Rule 9.4b and would incur a one stroke penalty.

Let’s assume for the purposes of answering this question that your ball is on the green.

You’ve played a putt up to within a foot or two of the hole, and you’re looking to tap it in and get out of the way of your playing partners.

But, on reaching it, you notice the ball has collected a little sandy dirt on its journey across the putting surface.

You don’t have a ball marker to hand, so you pop the toe of your putter behind the ball and leave it there. You then pick the ball up, give it a quick clean and place it back down on its original spot before tapping in.

Have you broken any Rules?

The answer to that is – No. You have done nothing against the Rules of Golf.

To start with Rule 13.1b says that a ball on the putting green may be lifted and cleaned. So, in picking it up and cleaning it, you were within the Rules.

That Rule continues to say, though, that the spot of the ball must be marked before it’s lifted.

Now you have to look to Rule 14.1a. If a ball must be marked, then you can either place a ball marker behind or right next to the ball. Or, here is the key point, you can hold a club on the ground right behind or right next to the ball.

So, you are allowed to mark your ball with the toe of your putter.

Rule 13.1b goes on to say that after marking and lifting the ball, it must be replaced on its original spot.

Now Rule 14.2 is relevant. You must replace the ball on its original spot. You can’t put your putter to the back of the ball and then replace it to the side of the putter.

If you replace it in the wrong spot and make a stroke you will have played from the wrong place and will incur a general penalty of two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in matchplay.

You must also replace it correctly, setting it down by hand and letting it go. You cannot roll it into place with your foot or similar. If you don’t replace it correctly, you incur a one stroke penalty.

To summarise. If your ball is on the putting green, you are within the Rules if you mark using the toe of your putter, lift and clean your ball and place it back correctly on its original spot.

Rules Quiz

You’re looking at a testing putt with a little left to right break. You spy something on your intended line and think it would be about the right spot to aim at.

On closer inspection you realise it’s the edge of an old hole plug which has slightly raised from the rest of the surface. That raised edge could possibly deflect your ball.

What are your options under the Rules? Do you have to grin and bear it? Will you have to putt around it? Or are you allowed to repair that raised edge to smooth your route?

Well, the answer to that question and to the question in the headline can be found in Rule 13.1c – Improvements Allowed on Putting Green.

And the answer to the question – “My playing partner repaired an old hole plug on the line of their putt and tapped it down. Is that a penalty?” Is… No. It’s not a penalty… probably. We’ll come on to the caveats.

Basically though, in Rule 13.1c(2) it is described how a player may repair damage to the putting green without penalty by taking reasonable action to restore the putting green as nearly as possible to its original condition.

“Damage” is described as being, any damage caused by anyone (including the player) or an outside influence and examples of “damage” are given.

One of those examples is – “Old hole plugs.”

So, there is no penalty for repairing and tapping down an old hole plug on the line of a putt.

However – To repair “damage” a player may only use – hand, foot or other part of the body, a normal ball-mark repair tool, tee or similar item of normal equipment.

If your playing partner produced a trowel, or a golf hole punching device and set about excavating the entire section of green to rebuild it to his or her liking, it would be deemed they were taking actions that exceeded “reasonable” in order to restore the putting green to its original state.

In that instance, they would face the general penalty (two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play) for breaking Rule 8.1a (improving the conditions affecting the stroke.)

Also, if the repair process went on too long – say they laboriously worked at the edge of the old hole plug like an archaeologist at a dig and five minutes later were still picking away at it. That would be deemed “unreasonably delaying play,” breaking Rule 5.6a – Again they would incur the general penalty.

As long as your playing partner did not take unreasonable actions to repair the hole plug and did not take too long for the repair job, they would have faced no penalty for repairing it and tapping it down.

Rules quiz

You can imagine the scene: It’s suddenly started lashing down with rain and you’re getting a soaking. You want to get off a green as quickly as possible to find shelter.

Having played up to within tap-in distance, you hurry towards the hole to put it in. As you do so, your playing partner who is holding an umbrella moves to the edge of the hole and holds the brolly over your head as you knock your ball into the hole.

It would seem a sensible and friendly thing to do. But is it allowed under The Rules of Golf?

The simple answer is – no.

It’s covered by Rule 10 which is - Preparing for and making a stroke; advice and help; caddies.

Specifically, you need to look to 10.2b(5) – Physical help, eliminating distractions, and protection from the elements.

It says that a player must not make a stroke with their caddie or any other person (that would include a playing partner) giving them protection from sunlight, rain, wind or other elements.

If a playing partner were to hold an umbrella over you as you tapped in a putt, even if it was a very short putt, you would be in breach of this Rule and the penalty would be the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

You would, however, be able to hold an umbrella over your own head as you tapped in.

If you grabbed a brolly and ran up to the edge of the hole holding it over your own head, you could tap in one handed.

That’s because Rule 10.2b(5) also says the Rule does not prevent the player from taking their own actions to protect against the elements while making a stroke.

So, can a playing partner hold an umbrella over your head while you putt? No. Can you hold an umbrella over your own head while you putt? Yes.

It’s worth knowing that one. It might seem a generous act but if you accept such help from your playing partner, you’re going to be penalised.

Rules Quiz

Your ball has rolled into the edge of a red penalty area, past the red stakes, but it has stopped just before tumbling into the water. You can play it.

You take your stance and rehearse the shot you are going to attempt. But, in so doing you brush the ground with your club as you make your practice swing.

Are you in trouble? Have you broken a Rule and will you be facing a penalty?

Up until the Rule changes of 2019, you would indeed have been facing a penalty.

Before then, you couldn’t touch the ground in a penalty area (then known as a water hazard), neither could you remove loose impediments, nor could you take a practice swing that touched the ground.

But in 2019, the Rules were relaxed. Now there is no penalty for touching the ground either with your hand or with a club in a penalty area.

There’s no penalty for removing loose impediments and there’s no penalty if you touch the ground in a penalty area when you make a practice swing.

What you can’t do though, is cause the ball to move.

If you made a practice swing that touched the ground and in so doing caused the ball to move off its original spot, you would have broken Rule 9.4b and would incur a penalty stroke.

Then, if that happened, you would have to return the ball to its original spot before making a stroke at it.

If you didn’t return it to its original spot, you would be in breach of Rule 14.7 – Playing from a wrong place. That would cost you the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.

Although you can touch the ground in a penalty area with your practice swing, it’s worth remembering that you can’t touch the ground with your club in a practice swing if your ball lies in a bunker.

If that happens, you receive the general penalty.

So, the answer to the question – My club just touched the ground in a penalty area during my practice swing. What is the ruling? Is – there is no penalty so long as you didn’t cause the ball to move.

Rules Quiz

You’ve hit your ball into thick rough and it’s gone deep to the roots. You take out a wedge to have a dig around but you’re not hopeful of finding it.

Then, after two minutes 30 seconds, your club clips a ball as you’re swiping through the grass. It moves a few inches.

It turns out to be your ball… What do you do now? Are you going to face a penalty for moving your ball under The Rules?

In most circumstances on the golf course, if you cause a ball at rest to move by touching it with your golf club you win incur a penalty of one shot.

That’s covered by Rule 9.4 – Ball Lifted or Moved by Player.

If your ball lies anywhere on the golf course, except the putting green, and you cause it to move with your club, whether accidentally or deliberately, (perhaps as you are addressing it,) there is a penalty of one shot, and the ball must be replaced on its original spot.

If you’re on the putting green and you accidentally cause the ball to move with your club, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced on its original spot.

What about in searching for a ball though? Well, that’s also covered by Rule 9.4 and it’s one of the exceptions to Rule 9.4b.

You will not incur a one stroke penalty if you accidentally cause the ball to move while trying to find or identify it. It doesn’t matter if you cause it to move with your club in this instance.

There is no penalty for causing the ball to move while looking for it. You must replace the ball in its original spot.

You must also restore the conditions of the original lie. So, if you had cleared the grass in locating your ball, you must attempt to re-bury the ball in the position it originally sat.

There’s no penalty then for accidentally moving your ball with your club while searching for it. There would be, however, if you did it deliberately.

If you found your ball and identified it, then moved it with your club to improve your lie, you would incur a one-stroke penalty and would need to replace it.

If you played it from the new spot, you would have played from a wrong place and would be in line for a general penalty (two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play)…

Or, if you had gained a significant advantage by playing from the wrong place and then did not correct your mistake before teeing off at the next hole, you would be disqualified.

The answer to the question – I just moved my ball with my club while looking for it. Should I be penalised? Is – No. Not if you did so accidentally.

Rules Quiz

Here’s the scenario: You have a monster long putt from the other side of a sloping green and you elect to leave the pin in as a marker (as you are entitled to do under The Rules).

Your putt is tracking the whole way, and it looks dead set to be an amazing hole-out. Then, at the very last moment, the ball turns its nose up at the hole and comes to rest just an inch from the lip.

The ball has taken so long to travel across the green that you’ve followed it halfway during its journey. You reach the flag before any of your playing partners.

Without really thinking, you pull the flagstick out of the cup with one hand and, while still holding it above the ground, you tap it in with your putter using your other hand.

What happens in that scenario? Were you allowed to do that? Should you have been penalised?

Well, the simple answer to that question is, no!

It’s covered by Rule 13.2 and, more specifically by clarification 13.2b(1)/1 – It says that, a player may make a one-handed stroke while holding the flagstick with the other hand, provided they don’t use the flagstick to steady themselves.

So, in the instance above, you would have faced no penalty.

But if you had removed the flagstick, pressed it into the green and leaned on it as you tapped in, you would have broken Rule 4.3, an improper use of equipment, and would be penalised the general penalty – two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

It’s fine then to tap a putt in while holding the flagstick above the ground.

But you wouldn’t be allowed to move the flagstick into a more preferable position within the hole as you tapped in. The player in the picture may be about to remove it completely, which would be fine. But it looks like he might be bending it to create a buffer for the ball. If the latter were the case, he would be in trouble.

Rule 13.2a says you must not try to gain an advantage by deliberately moving the flagstick to a position other than centred in the hole. If you were to hold the flagstick in such a way and the ball then hit the flagstick, you would receive the general penalty.

It’s one to be careful of. It’s fine to hold the flagstick above ground and tap in, but not fine to either rest on the flagstick as you tap in or manipulate the flagstick in the hole to an off-centre position. It’s a good Rule to be aware of.

Rules Quiz

There’s a great story I once heard from Carnoustie Golf Links about a group of visitors who played off on the last tee time of a summer’s day.

As the staff back at base were getting ready to shut up shop, with darkness encroaching, they realised the last group was nowhere to be seen. They hadn’t completed their game and there was no word from them.

A course marshal was sent out on a buggy to check they were ok, and he came towards them acting strangely way back on the 12^th hole. He watched on as one of the four hit a shot and then started running after it. He picked it up and then ran back to the group.

The marshal got near enough to shout over, “Hey – what’s going on?” One of the visitors held his hand up to show, and shouted back to confirm that the foursome were down to their, “Last ball!”

It may or may not be true. Carnoustie is tough enough though that I can definitely believe the tale. I always think those guys must have been very unfortunate or just didn’t search very hard to not find some other “lost” balls while they were trudging around in the rough.

Anyway, that’s a convoluted way to getting round to our question. If you run out of golf balls, are you disqualified under the Rules?

The basic answer to that is no.

Rule 4.2a says that you must play a conforming ball during your round, but you may get a conforming ball to play from anyone else, including another player on the course.

So, if you run out of balls and you’ve been nice to your playing partners, you can just borrow one from them. If your pal is on an adjacent hole, you might be able to shout across and borrow one from them.

If you’re seriously unpopular and nobody will lend you a ball, you could try looking for one in some bushes or maybe, you might be close enough to your car or the pro shop to get some more.

You would have to be careful with those last options though as you could be in danger of breaking Rule 5.6 and unreasonably delaying play, for which you would receive a penalty stroke for a first breach.

Ah, you say, what about when Tiger Woods was down to his last ball in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach? Why was Steve Williams in such a panic if he could have just borrowed one from his playing partner?

Well, that’s because in most elite level professional tournaments, the organisers use the “One Ball Rule.” That’s a Model Local Rule G-4, which says the player must use the same brand and model of conforming ball during a round.

It’s very specific. So, if you play a Titleist Pro V1 it must be the same model of Titleist Pro V1 you use all the way round. Play a different iteration of Pro V1 (of which there are many) and you would be in breach of G-4.

It’s one penalty stroke for each hole you make a stroke on which is in breach of this local rule and, if you realised you were playing with a ball in breach of the rule and then teed off with the same ball on the following hole, you would be disqualified.

So, if Tiger had lost his last ball, he would have needed to find one, or be given one of exactly the same make and model to not be in breach of the one ball rule.

But don’t panic, the one ball rule is seldom used at non-elite level so if one of us mere mortals runs out of balls, we don’t have to worry unless we can’t find any generous sorts in the vicinity to show a bit of charity and lend us one.

Rules Quiz

Playing in the autumn and winter, you might fairly often face a scenario where leaves have blown on to the putting green. Sometimes they might have come to rest on the line of your putt. What do the Rules say about that?

First thing to note is that leaves are loose impediments – any unattached natural object and so can be moved under Rule 15.

If there are leaves on the line of your putt and you’d rather they weren’t there, you are within your rights to move them away.

In most situations that would be your likely course of action. Who wants leaves on their line, possibly deflecting the ball in the wrong direction?

But what if you have a long, sloping putt right across a green and a single leaf sits very close to the line you require halfway across the surface? Are you allowed to leave it there as a guide?

Yes, you are. You are not required to move loose impediments. If by chance, a leaf gives you a helping point of reference on the green. You can leave it there.

You can even have the leaf put back if a fellow player moves it. This is covered under Rule 8.1 and clarification 8.1d(1)/2. It says that, generally speaking, a player is entitled to the conditions affecting the stroke they had when the ball came to rest.

If by removing/moving a loose impediment (a leaf), your playing partner worsens the conditions affecting the stroke you would be entitled to restore the conditions by replacing the object or objects.

So, if your partner picked up the leaf you were looking at, you could put it back.

But, and this is the answer to our main question – You cannot simply take any leaf and go and place it on a spot to act as a target line.

Rule 8.1a(2) clearly states that you cannot move a loose impediment into a position to improve the line of play.

If you had a leaf that you liked the look of on your line and it blew away, you couldn’t go and place another one there.

So – If there is a leaf on your line of play, you don’t have to move it. If someone else does, you can put it back.

But you cannot go with any old leaf or leaves and start plotting out your route to the hole.

If you did that you would be improving the conditions affecting the stroke and you would receive the General Penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

Golf Rules Quiz

Playing against Irishman Eamonn Darcy in the 1987 Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village, Ben Crenshaw got off to a poor start in the singles.

There was a heated atmosphere and the normally “gentle” Ben became agitated. In fact, his frustration got the better of him as he went two-down through six holes. Walking off the green he slammed his trusty Wilson 8802 putter into the ground – It snapped.

He was not allowed to replace or repair the putter. The Rules state that you can replace or repair a damaged club, but not in the case of abuse. Ben hadn’t purposefully snapped his putter but he had done so in anger, so he wasn’t allowed a replacement.

For the rest of the round, the Texan had to putt with a selection of long-irons, including a 1-iron, and he did so very effectively – taking the match all the way to the 18^th hole before Darcy holed a heroic putt to win one-up.

The answer to the question, are you allowed to putt with any club in the bag? Is, yes. You can use any conforming golf club anywhere on the golf course.

The putting green is on the golf course… of course… so there’s nothing to prevent you using anything from driver right down to sand wedge to make a stroke on the putting green if your putter is either misbehaving or has been damaged in anger.

Players will use different techniques when faced with putter-less putting. Si Woo Kim putted with a 3-wood in the 2021 Masters after breaking his putter in anger on the 14^th hole of the second round.

Others might opt to use a shorter club like a sand wedge and putt using the leading edge. Effectively playing a “belly wedge,” a shot that can be effective when a ball sits against the fringe or a collar of rough.

Robert Streb used the belly wedge technique after snapping his putter (throwing it at his bag) at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic.

Interestingly Streb did rather well with his wedge as a putter. He made five birdies on his back nine and got into a playoff for the title, losing out on the first extra hole.

If your putter accidentally breaks during a round, say you are leaning on it and it snaps or bends, you have the option to repair or replace it. If you don’t unduly delay play, you can grab another from your car or the pro shop.

If it’s bent rather than snapped, you can choose to either – continue using it, try to bend it back into shape, or replace it.

If you have simply had enough of your putter and you can’t hole a thing, there’s no reason in the Rules why you can’t take out any other conforming club in your bag and use it on the putting green.

Rules Quiz

We recently received an email from a reader about taking a drop away from a cart path. This was the gist of it:

“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

There are few more anxious walks in golf than when you’re heading towards the out of bounds (OOB) and you’re not sure whether your ball has just stayed in or just trickled out.

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

All sorts of things can happen in golf, and the Rules must cover the most bizarre scenarios.

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

It’s always a hotly debated topic among golfers – Should rakes be left in or outside of bunkers?

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

We have all experienced that sinking sensation on the golf course when you hit a shot and watch on as it begins to sail offline towards the out of bounds or some impenetrable bushes.

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

After hitting an odd, spinning drive on the 7^th hole at Harding Park in the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship, Bryson DeChambeau lent on his driver as he bent down to pick up his tee. The shaft snapped near the head.

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

It doesn’t happen too often on the golf course, but golf balls do occasionally collide. If you’ve played a shot from off the putting surface and your ball hits another ball, what to do is covered by Rule 11.1 – Ball in motion accidentally hits person or outside influence…

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.

Every golf course is different with varying layouts, topography, climates and surrounds. Most scenarios you will encounter on the golf course are covered by the 24 Rules of Golf, but each course will also have a set of its own Local Rules and it’s important to be aware of these.

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

In whatever situation you find yourself on the golf course, there is a ruling within The Rules of Golf which will cover how to proceed.

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.

Golf’s Rules can catch you out and there are many ways in which you can find yourself facing penalty shots for breaking them.

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

Imagine this scenario. You’ve hit a ball from the tee, it’s headed down the left side of the fairway before disappearing over the crest of a hill. You haven’t played the course before so you don’t know what’s over there, but you’re pretty sure it will be fine.

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.

The Rules of golf are comprehensive and it’s important for all players to have a good understanding of them in order to maintain the integrity of the game.

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!

If you break the Rules in golf, you’re going to face a penalty. In most instances an infringement will cost you shots.

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.

I’ve been writing about The Rules of Golf for a few years now and I’m always impressed by how comprehensive and fair they are.

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.

A fundamental principle in The Rules of golf is covered by Rule 8 – You should play the course as you find it. That means, wherever your ball comes to rest, you must normally accept the conditions and not take any action to improve those conditions.

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.

Many of today’s best-selling drivers come with the option of adjustability. You can adjust the hosel to create more or less loft and to promote a draw or a fade bias.

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.

Some golfers like to tinker with their equipment and will have different options to go to throughout the bag. They might have different drivers depending on the ball flight they want to see.

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.

One of the great things about golf is the variety of challenges that different courses around the world present. In tennis, a court in Australia has the same dimensions as a court in Brazil. Football pitches across the world are roughly the same size…

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.

A good halfway hut can provide a welcome break. A chance to rest your legs, get some refreshments, or simply just try to forget a poor front nine and reset for a good run in.

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.

The Rules of Golf are there to protect and to help golfers. Sometimes Rules can even work in your favour… OK, not that often, but the occasional free drop can occasionally save your bacon.

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 golfing times past, players would often use sand to tee up their golf ball. In fact, caddies would sometimes carry sand for their players and there would often be small piles of sand to use for teeing.

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!