Bringing Women Golfers What They Want

Playing By The Rules

This page is designed for women golfers to get to know some of the more important rules of the game. Golf is the only competitive sport where umpires and referees don’t officiate. You could say that golf is a game of honor and integrity. Those that play must know and play by the rules. For a quick walkthrough, here goes!

Basic Points To Remember

Play the holes in the course in numerical order, unless otherwise stated by the committee. Play by the rules—don’t change or ignore them.
In a match, each hole is a separate competition. If you win, you are one up. Lose and you’re one down. Draw and you’re all square. You win the match if you’ve won more holes than there are left to play. The person you play against is your opponent.
In stroke play, you win if you can put the ball into the hole using the least number of strokes. The person you play against is your fellow competitor. Play your ball into the hole before starting the next hole.
You can’t carry more than fourteen clubs. You can’t change your ball during a match unless it is damaged or has lost its shape. Your opponent or fellow competitor has to agree to the change.
Read the information provided for matches and tournaments, use your correct handicap, be ready to play at the time you’ve been given, be sure to identify your ball, keep track of your score in stroke play, and go on playing until you’re told to stop, you feel unwell, or there is a thunderstorm.
Don’t hit practice shots while playing a hole or from a hazard. You can’t hit practice shots before a stroke event but can do so before a match. However, this rule might change from time to time, so check with the committee’s rules.
Don’t ask anyone, other than your caddie or your partner, for advice on playing a round. You can ask about the rules and the positions of hazards and flagsticks. Don’t advise opponents or fellow competitors and don’t put markers on the course for your line of play.
Tell your opponent the number of strokes, including penalties, you have taken in a match, if asked.
If your score is the lowest in a match, or your ball is the farthest from the hole, you have the right to play first. In case you play out of turn in match play, your opponent may ask you to repeat your shot—this doesn’t happen in stroke play.
You can tee your ball between the tee markers or at least two club lengths behind them. If your ball falls off the tee before you have made your first stroke, you can replace it without incurring a penalty.
If your ball falls into a bunker or a water hazard and is covered in sand or leaves, you may lift off a part of the sand or leaves to identify the ball. You can lift your ball to identify it anywhere except in a hazard, after you have informed your opponent/fellow competitor that you will do so.
Play the ball as it lies—don’t move it to a better spot. You can only lightly ground the club behind the ball—you can’t press the club into the ground behind it. You can’t improve your intended line of play or swing by breaking tree branches or the grass. You can’t touch the sand in a bunker or the water or ground in a water hazard with your club before or during a backswing. You can’t remove loose impediments in a hazard, but you can remove obstructions, such as rakes and bottles.
Strike the ball with the head of your club—don’t push, rake or scrape it, or accept assistance or artificial aid when making a stroke. Don’t hit a moving ball.
In a match, if you play a ball that isn’t yours, you lose the hole. If you play the wrong ball in a hazard, there is no penalty and you must play the right ball next. In stroke play, playing a ball that is not yours could give you a two-stroke penalty. If you play the wrong ball in a hazard, you need to find your own ball and play it to avoid disqualification.
If any part of your ball touches the green, it is on the green. When your ball is on the green, you can brush off loose impediments but can’t touch your line of putt. Repair ball marks or old hole plugs on the putting green, but don’t repair spike or shoe marks before playing. Don’t test the green’s surface by rolling a ball on it or scraping it. Mark your ball by putting a marker behind it if you want to pick it up to clean it or get it out of another player’s way. If your ball projects over a hole, wait ten seconds for it to fall in. If it falls in after ten seconds, add a penalty stroke to your score.
If you play your ball from off the green and it strikes the flagstick, you are not penalized, providing no one was attending the flagstick. If your ball is on the green, get another player to hold the flagstick and take it out when you play your ball. In match play, if your ball hits the flagstick when you putt, you lose the hole—in stroke play, you add two penalty strokes to your score.
Add a penalty stroke to your score if you or your partner touch or move your ball. Replace the ball or add another penalty stroke. If your ball is moved by someone or something else, there is no penalty but it must be replaced. If moved by wind or water, you must play the ball as it lies. If the ball moves once you have addressed it, add a penalty stroke to your score and replace it.
If your ball hits you, your caddie, your partner, or your equipment during a match, you lose the hole. In stroke play, you are penalized two strokes and must play the ball as it lies. In a match, if your ball hits your opponent, his caddie, or his equipment, there is no penalty—you may play the ball as it lies or replay the shot. In stroke play, you can’t replay the shot. Play your ball as it lies if it hits another ball and moves it. The owner of the other ball must replace it. If both balls were on the green, when you hit your ball and moved the other, you may be penalized two strokes in stroke play.
If you plan to lift and replace a ball under a rule, place a marker near the ball before you lift it. If you play a ball from a wrong place in match play, you lose the hole, and add two penalty strokes in stroke play. To drop a ball stand straight, hold your arm out, and drop it. If you’ve dropped a ball and it has hit the ground, rolled into or out of a hazard, rests more than two club lengths from where it struck the course, nearer the hole, close to an obstruction or ground under repair that you wanted to avoid, you must re-drop the ball. If the same thing happens again, place the ball where it struck the ground when re-dropped.
Clean your ball when you lift it, unless you’re checking its fitness for play, identifying it, or moving it out of another player’s line of putt.
If another ball is in your line of play, request the owner of the ball to lift it. Lift your ball if it is near the hole and might assist another player.
You can remove loose impediments, such as leaves, twigs, branches, stones, and insects, except when these impediments, along with your ball, lie in a hazard. If your ball moves because a loose impediment has been removed, you incur a one-stroke penalty, unless both the ball and the impediment were on the putting green.
Obstructions, on the other hand, are artificial objects that are movable (bottles, rakes) or immovable (sprinkler heads, cart paths). Movable obstructions can be removed. If your ball moves when the obstruction is removed, you incur no penalty but should replace the ball. Drop your ball away from an immovable obstruction if it obstructs your swing. Find a place away from the obstruction where you can play your ball and drop it within one club length of that point. It should not be closer to the hole that you have to play.
If you are standing (or your ball is placed) in a rainwater puddle, an animal’s hole, or on ground that is being repaired, you can either play the ball from that point or find a place where you can play the ball and drop it within one club length of that place. Ensure that it is not too close to the hole that you have to play. If you have lost your ball in such an area, work out where it would have entered the area and drop another ball within one club length of that point without being penalized. In case your ball landed on the wrong putting green, find the closest place off the green, not close to the hole, and drop the ball within one club length of that place.
If your ball falls into a water hazard, you can play it where it lies. If you can’t find it or don’t wish to play it, add a penalty stroke to your score and do either of the following: drop and play another ball from where you last played; drop a ball behind the water hazard on a straight line from the hole played; or drop a ball within two club lengths of the hazard margin. If you can’t find a ball within the first five minutes of your search, you can declare it lost and play with another ball. Your ball could be declared out of bounds if it lies outside the course boundaries. In case your ball is lost or out of bounds, add a penalty stroke to your score, and play another ball from the same point where you played your last shot. In case you think your ball is lost or out of bounds, you can play a provisional ball after informing your opponent or fellow competitor.
If you can’t find your first ball, count all the strokes made with it and with the provisional ball, add a penalty stroke and play the hole with the provisional ball. If your first ball is found in bounds, play with it and pick up the provisional ball.
If your ball is under a bush and you can’t play it, add a penalty stroke and do either of the following: play a ball from the point where you played your last shot, go back in a straight line from where the unplayable ball left the hole and drop another ball to play, or measure two club lengths from where the unplayable ball lies and drop a ball to play.