Name: Think you know the Rules of Golf? | A quick guide to the rules
Uploaded: 2025-05-19T23:36:51.000Z
Duration: 12 min 51 s
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Adverbs of degree

This guide provides the basic information you need to play golf by the rules and the key points that will make you an enjoyable person to play with and help you to enjoy your game even more.

It's not a substitute for the rules of golf, which should be consulted if you have a doubt about any situation.

Participle clauses

You will be a good playing companion if you play in the spirit of the game, showing consideration to others by playing at a good pace and looking out for the safety of others and taking care of the course by replacing divots, smoothing bunkers and repairing ball marks on putting greens.

You should play your shot in no more than 40 seconds.

Normally the person whose ball is farther from the hole should play first, but whenever possible you should play ready golf, which means you are encouraged to play out of turn if it is safe to do so and if it will help save time.

For example, in this situation, the player further away from the hole has a difficult shot so he encourages his fellow competitor to play first while he decides how to play his shot.

The rules identify five areas of the course.

The main area is known as the general area, which includes the fairways and rough.

The general area covers the entire course except for four specific areas, which are the teeing area of the hole you are playing, the putting green of the hole you are playing, all penalty areas and all bunkers.

Knowing the area of the course where your ball lies is important as it may affect what you can do when you're playing your ball or when you are unable to play the ball as it  Before starting your round, you should read any local rules that are specific to the course you are playing.

These can usually be found on a notice board and on the scorecard.

Find out which tees you're required to play from or select the tees you wish to play from if you have the option.

Make sure you arrive at the first tee well in advance of your tee time.

Count your clubs to make sure you don't have more than 14.

And put an identification mark on your ball so you can tell it is yours.

When starting a hole, you play a ball from the teeing area.

The teeing area is defined by two tee markers and is a rectangle that is two club lengths back from the front of those tee markers.

You may play your ball from a tee when playing from the teeing area.

The teeing area is defined by two tee markers and is a rectangle that is two club lengths But you are not allowed to do this anywhere else on the course.

Before playing your ball, you're allowed to take practice swings.

However, in order to speed up play, you should avoid taking too many practice swings.

And although the club may hit the ground when you are doing so, you should be careful not to damage the course.

Before playing the ball, you are allowed to touch the ground behind the ball lightly with your club.

You make a stroke at the ball by striking it with the head of your club.

If you intend to strike the ball but you miss it, that still counts as a stroke.

But if you accidentally hit the ball more than once during a stroke, this only counts as one shot.

Generally, after playing your ball from the teeing area, you then play it from where you've hit it to until you get it into the hole.

This is often referred to as playing your ball as it lies.

Playing your ball as it lies also involves not improving the situation around your ball.

For example, long grass that might mean you have a difficult lie or trees that might make it difficult to hit.

This is often referred to as playing the course as you find it, which means that wherever your ball comes to rest, you have to accept the conditions that affect your shot and not improve them before playing the ball.

After playing the ball from the teeing area, generally you won't touch it again other than hitting it with a club until you get it onto the putting green.

Once your ball is on the putting green, you are allowed to mark its position with an object such as a ball marker or a coin.

If you've lifted your ball on the putting green, you must replace it on the spot that you lifted it from.

Completing the hole is often called holing out.

No thought for leaving it short, just went for it.

You have holed out when your ball is in the hole and all of it is below the surface of the putting green.

But your ball is also treated as holed if it touches the flagstick and any part of the ball is below the surface of the putting green.

There are a limited number of situations where you do not need to play the ball as it lies because something that is not meant to be part of the challenge interferes with your shot.

When this happens, you're allowed to move your ball without penalty by dropping your ball away from the thing that is interfering but no nearer the hole.

For example, you can normally take free relief when you have interference from a cart path or temporary water.

So just confirm in there to make sure he's clear the steps there.

Sometimes you will hit your ball into a place that you don't want it to go such as into a bush or a pond.

This may mean that you are unable to play the ball as it lies or it would be difficult to do so.

In these situations, you will need to take what is known as penalty relief and usually this involves a penalty of one stroke.

Your ball is lost when you can't find it within the three minutes of starting to search for it.

I think Gmax three minutes were up just as one of those spectators said, here it is.

Your ball is out of bounds when it has come to rest outside the boundary of the course.

In both cases, you might need to take a penalty You must take a form of penalty relief known as stroke and distance relief.

This means that you add one stroke to your score.

Go back to where you last played and play your next shot from there.

If you find your ball on the course in a place where you think you cannot play it as it lies.

For example, in a bush, you can take a form of penalty relief known as unplayable ball relief for one penalty stroke.

You may take stroke and distance relief by playing from where you played your last stroke.

You may drop back on the line as far as you like by keeping the spot where your ball lay between you and the hole.

Or you may drop within two club lengths of where your ball lay, no nearer the hole.

The only place on the course where you cannot take unplayable ball relief is when your ball is in a penalty area.

Penalty areas are often areas that contain water such as ponds and streams.

There are two types of penalty area and they are distinguished by whether they are defined as red or yellow.

If you find your ball in a penalty area, you may play it as it lies if you wish to do so.

Or for a one stroke penalty, you may take relief outside the penalty area.

Whether your ball last crossed the edge of a red penalty area or a yellow penalty area affects the options you have for taking relief.

If your ball last crossed the edge of a yellow penalty area, you have two options for taking relief, each for one penalty stroke.

Option 1 allows you to go back to where you played your last stroke.

Option 2 allows you to go back on the line keeping the point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area between you and the hole.

If your ball last crossed the edge of a red penalty area, you have an additional third option, again for one penalty stroke.

This third option allows you to take lateral relief by dropping within two club lengths of where your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, no nearer the hole.

If you don't find your ball but know or are virtually certain that it is in the penalty area, you may still take relief outside the penalty area for one penalty stroke.

At the end of your round, thank those you have been playing with.

If you've been keeping a score on a scorecard, make sure that your scorecard is completed properly and is signed by you and your marker and return it to the competition organisers or post your score electronically as soon as possible.

Or if you've been playing a match that is part of a competition, post the result of the match on the notice board or tell the competition organisers.

Now you've had a quick guide to the rules, go out and enjoy your game. .