Part 1 — The Beginner Essentials
Basic Rules
Play the ball as it lies
Golf's founding principle: hit the ball from wherever it ends up, without improving your lie, the area of your swing or your line of play. Exceptions exist only where the rules explicitly grant relief.
Tee shot
Each hole starts from within the teeing area: behind the tee markers, up to two club-lengths back. The ball may be placed on a tee here — the only place that's allowed.
Ball falls off the tee
If the ball topples off the tee before you swing, just re-tee it — no penalty, no stroke. An air swing at a teed ball, however, counts as a stroke.
Order of play
Traditionally the player farthest from the hole plays first. In casual golf, 'ready golf' — hitting when ready and safe — is now encouraged to keep pace.
The 14-club limit
You may carry at most 14 clubs. Carrying more costs penalty strokes in competition. There's no minimum — beginners can happily play with seven.
Playing the wrong ball
Hitting someone else's ball costs two penalty strokes (stroke play), and you must then play your own. Mark your ball with a pen dot to avoid the classic mix-up.
Ball moved by accident
If you accidentally move your ball, put it back — usually with one penalty stroke, though accidental movement on the green or while searching is free. If wind moves it, play it from the new spot.
Lost ball
You have three minutes to search. If the ball isn't found, return to where you last played, add one penalty stroke, and play again ('stroke and distance').
Out of bounds
White stakes or fences mark out of bounds. A ball beyond them must be replayed from the previous spot with one penalty stroke — the same stroke-and-distance principle as a lost ball.
Provisional ball
If your ball may be lost or out of bounds, announce 'provisional' and play a second ball before searching. It saves the long walk back if the first is gone.
Unplayable ball
You may always declare your ball unplayable (except in a penalty area) for one penalty stroke: replay from the previous spot, drop within two club-lengths, or drop back on the line from the hole.
The flagstick
You may putt with the flagstick in or out — your choice. Hitting it with a putt from the green no longer costs anything.
Holing out
The ball is holed when it rests inside the hole below the surface. In stroke play you must hole out on every hole; in match play putts can be conceded.
Whiff (air swing)
A swing intended to hit the ball counts as a stroke even if you miss completely. A practice swing that accidentally nudges the ball off the tee does not.
Penalties & Relief
Penalty areas
Red- or yellow-marked water and wasteland. For one penalty stroke you may replay from the previous spot or drop on a line behind the point of entry; red areas also allow a two-club-length sideways drop.
Free relief
Some situations grant relief without penalty: sprinkler heads, cart paths, casual water, ground under repair, and embedded balls in the general area. Drop within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, no closer to the hole.
Taking a drop
Modern drops are made from knee height, straight down. The ball must land and stay in the relief area; if it rolls out twice, place it where it touched the ground on the second try.
Bunker rules
You may not touch the sand with a practice swing or ground the club behind the ball. Loose stones may be removed. For two penalty strokes you may even drop outside the bunker, back on the line.
Casual water
Temporary puddles from rain are not penalty areas — free relief at the nearest dry point, no closer to the hole. Includes water in bunkers (relief within the bunker).
Ground under repair
Areas marked GUR (white lines, stakes or signs) are being maintained: free relief is available, and sometimes play from them is forbidden entirely.
Embedded ball
A ball plugged in its own pitch mark in the general area may be lifted, cleaned and dropped free. Doesn't apply in bunkers or to a ball plugged in a bunker face.
Loose impediments
Natural objects — leaves, stones, twigs — may be removed anywhere, including bunkers and penalty areas. If the ball moves while you do it (outside the green), that's a penalty stroke.
Movable obstructions
Artificial objects like rakes, bottles and signs may be moved anywhere without penalty. If the ball moves in the process, replace it free.
Identifying your ball
You may lift a ball to identify it after marking the spot, but only clean it as much as identification requires. On the green you may always mark, lift and clean.
Standard penalties
Stroke play's standard penalty is two strokes; in match play the same offense usually means losing the hole. The one-stroke penalties (water, unplayable, lost, OB) are the ones most golfers meet weekly.
Etiquette
Pace of play
Golf's most important courtesy: keep up with the group ahead, not just ahead of the group behind. Be ready when it's your turn, and pick up on a blow-up hole in casual rounds.
Fore!
The universal warning when a ball flies toward people. Shout it loudly and early; if you hear it, cover your head and turn away — never look up.
Quiet and stillness
Stand still and silent while others swing, out of their line of sight. Phones on silent. It's about focus, not formality.
Repairing the course
Replace or fill your divots, repair your pitch marks on greens (plus one extra), and rake bunkers smooth after use, exiting from the low side.
On the green
Never walk across another player's putting line. Mark your ball if it's in someone's way. Tend or remove the flag when asked.
Letting groups through
If your group is slower and a gap has opened ahead, invite the group behind to play through. Two minutes' cost, universal goodwill bought.
Cart and trolley courtesy
Keep carts and trolleys off tees, greens and fringes, and follow the day's cart rules (paths only, 90-degree rule). Park on the way to the next tee.
Honor on the tee
The best score on the previous hole tees off first. In relaxed golf, whoever's ready hits — just agree on the style in your group.
Dress and conduct
Codes vary by club — collared shirts are the classic norm, many courses are relaxed. When in doubt, check the club's website.
Scoring & Formats
Par
The expected score for an expert on a hole (3, 4 or 5) and, summed, for the course (usually 70–72). All scoring language is relative to it.
Birdie, eagle, albatross
One, two and three strokes under par on a hole. Birdies are celebrated, eagles are rare, an albatross may be the rarest common feat in sport.
Bogey and worse
Bogey is one over par, double bogey two, triple three. For beginners, bogey golf is genuinely good golf.
Handicap
Your skill number: roughly the strokes over par you typically shoot, calculated from recent rounds under the World Handicap System. It lets any two golfers compete fairly.
Gross vs net
Gross is your actual stroke count; net is gross minus handicap strokes. Club competitions are usually decided on net.
Stroke play
Count every stroke, lowest total wins. The standard competition format — and the least forgiving of one disaster hole.
Match play
Hole-by-hole combat: win more holes than your opponent. A 10 costs the same as losing the hole by one — which changes strategy completely.
Stableford
Points per hole based on net score vs par. A wrecked hole scores zero instead of ruining the card — which is why club golf loves it.
Scramble
Team format: everyone hits, the team picks the best ball and all play from there. The friendliest format for beginners.
Best ball / Four-ball
Partners each play their own ball; the better score counts for the team on each hole. Common in club matches and the Ryder Cup.
Foursomes
Partners share one ball, alternating shots. Fast, sociable, and famously testing for friendships.
Marking the card
In competition you keep your marker's score and they keep yours; both sign at the end. Signing for a lower score than you made carries serious consequences.
Course & Equipment
Teeing area
The rectangle between the tee markers and two club-lengths back. Pick the marker color matching your driving distance, not your ego.
Fairway and rough
The mown corridor to the green and the longer grass flanking it. The distinction matters for relief rules and for how hard your next shot is.
The green and fringe
The putting surface and its short collar. On the green you may mark, lift, clean and replace your ball, and repair almost any damage on your line.
Penalty area stakes
Yellow: water crossing your path, relief behind only. Red: lateral water, adding the sideways drop. White: out of bounds — a different, costlier rule.
Hybrids replace long irons
Wood-iron crossbreeds that replaced hard-to-hit long irons for nearly everyone. If one purchase transforms a beginner's bag, it's this.
Distance devices
Rangefinders and GPS watches are legal in most play including club competitions (slope switched off). Knowing your number is the cheapest strokes you'll buy.
Ball markers
Any small flat object marking your ball's spot on the green. Mark before lifting — lifting unmarked costs a stroke.
The scorecard
Shows each hole's par, length and stroke index (difficulty ranking that distributes handicap strokes). Reading it before the round is free course management.
Part 2 — Advanced Situations
Relief & Procedures in Depth
Nearest point of complete relief
Free relief starts from the single point, no closer to the hole, where the interference completely stops — even if that spot is in a bush. You measure the one-club relief area from there, not from the nicest grass.
Back-on-the-line relief
Several rules let you drop on a line from the hole through the reference point, going back as far as you like. Since 2023 the ball may roll up to one club-length in any direction from where it lands on that line.
Stance vs line of play
Free relief from obstructions covers your lie, stance and swing — not your line of play. A sprinkler between ball and green gives nothing (except by local rule close to the green).
Dropping in the wrong way
Drop from shoulder height or in the wrong area and correct it before playing: no penalty. Play a wrongly dropped ball and it's one penalty stroke — or the general penalty from a wrong place.
Re-drop or place
If a correctly dropped ball rolls out of the relief area, drop again. If it happens a second time, place the ball where it first touched the ground on the re-drop.
Substituting a ball
When taking penalty or free relief you may always substitute a new ball. When replacing a moved or marked ball, you must use the original unless it's cut or cracked.
Ball unfit for play
A ball cut or cracked during the hole may be replaced where it lies, after marking and announcing. Scuffs and paint scrapes don't qualify.
Cleaning a lifted ball
Lifted for relief: cleaning allowed. Lifted to identify or check for damage: clean only what's needed. Lifted because it interferes with another player: no cleaning at all.
Divot holes
A ball in an old divot hole in the fairway gets no relief — it's rub of the green. (Some clubs run winter local rules that soften this.)
Preferred lies / winter rules
A local rule sometimes allows marking, lifting, cleaning and placing within a scorecard-length in the fairway during poor conditions. Only applies when the club has activated it.
The two-ball rule (stroke play)
Unsure of a ruling with no referee around? Announce it, play two balls — the original and one under your preferred procedure — and let the committee decide afterwards. Never available in match play.
Stroke-and-distance alternative
Many clubs use the local rule letting you drop in the fairway near where a ball was lost or went OB for two penalty strokes, instead of walking back. Check the scorecard — it's optional per club and never used in elite play.
Dropping zones
Some holes offer marked dropping zones as an extra relief option (often for water carries). Using one is optional unless the local rule says otherwise.
Ball moved during search
If you, your opponent or anyone else accidentally moves your ball while searching, replace it without penalty. Estimate the spot if unknown.
Ball found after three minutes
Once the search time expires the original ball is lost even if found ten seconds later — it's now a wrong ball. The provisional (or a stroke-and-distance replay) is your ball in play.
On the Green
Repairing the green
You may repair almost all damage on your line: pitch marks, spike marks, animal damage, embedded objects. Natural imperfections and aeration holes stay as they are.
Ball moved on the green
A ball (or marker) accidentally moved on the green — by you, wind or anything else — is simply replaced without penalty, provided it had been marked and replaced before. If wind moves a ball you haven't yet marked, play it from the new spot.
Ball overhanging the hole
You get a reasonable time to walk up plus ten seconds of waiting. Falls in within that: holed with the previous stroke. Falls after: holed, but add a stroke.
Hitting another ball on the green
If your putt from the green strikes another ball at rest on the green, it's two penalty strokes in stroke play (the struck ball is replaced free). From off the green: no penalty. Ask for a mark.
Marking and moving a mark
A marker in another player's line may be moved aside one or more putterhead-lengths using an alignment point. Forgetting to move it back before putting costs the general penalty.
Caddie and line of play
Nobody may stand on or behind your line to help alignment while you take your stance, and the green may not be touched to point out a line. Verbal advice on reads from your partner or caddie is fine.
Anchoring ban
The club may not be anchored against your body during any stroke — the rule that ended belly putting as it was. Long putters remain legal held unanchored.
Standing astride the line
You may not putt croquet-style with a foot on each side of the line, or standing on the line's extension. An accidental touch of the line with your foot is no longer a penalty.
Wrong green
You must take free relief from another hole's green — playing from it is forbidden. Drop at the nearest point off the green, no closer to the hole. Aprons and fringes don't count as the green.
Testing the surface
During a hole you may not rub the green or roll a ball to test its speed. Between holes on the course you may practice putt on the green just completed unless the committee forbids it.
Conceding putts (match play)
Any putt, hole or the match itself may be conceded — and a concession can't be refused or withdrawn. There are no gimmes in stroke play: hole everything.
Flag tending gone wrong
If your ball strikes the flagstick someone deliberately removed or held, or hits the person tending, there's no penalty to you if it was accidental — play the ball as it lies.
Match Play & Competition
Playing out of turn (match play)
If you play when it was your opponent's turn, they may cancel your stroke and make you replay it — a real tactical weapon on the greens. In stroke play, playing out of turn carries no penalty.
Halved holes and dormie
Equal scores halve the hole. 'Dormie' means leading by as many holes as remain — the opponent must win every hole left just to tie.
Match scoring language
'3&2' means three holes up with two to play — match over. 'All square' is level; '1 up' after 18 wins the match by one hole.
Handicaps in match play
The better player gives strokes equal to the handicap difference, distributed by the card's stroke index. A stroke on a hole means your net score counts there.
Claims and disputes
In match play, rules disputes are settled by making a timely claim before teeing off on the next hole. Sitting on a violation and raising it later doesn't work.
Wrong information
Giving your opponent a wrong score or failing to declare a penalty in match play costs the hole if not corrected in time — honesty is codified, not optional.
Starting time
Arriving late to your tee time costs the first hole (match play) or two strokes (stroke play) if within five minutes; later than that means disqualification. Coffee accordingly.
Suspension of play
A siren means stop; for danger (lightning) you stop immediately, mid-swing excepted. You may always stop on your own when you believe lightning threatens — no permission needed.
Practice during a round
No practice strokes during a hole. Between holes you may practice chipping and putting near the green just played and the next tee — unless the competition's rules say otherwise (stroke play usually does).
Advice
You may ask advice only from your partner and your caddie — not opponents or fellow competitors. Public information (distances, positions of hazards, the line of play markers) is always free to share.
Scorecard responsibilities
You're responsible for your gross hole scores and your signature; the committee handles the addition and handicap math. A missing signature or a lower-than-actual hole score means disqualification.
Four-ball order tactics
Partners may play in whichever order they choose — putting the short putt first to show the line, or the aggressive player when the other is safely on. It's legal and it's strategy.
Foursomes strokes and penalties
In alternate shot, penalty strokes don't change whose turn it is — the rotation continues. Tee shots alternate by hole regardless of who holed out last.
Playing from a wrong place
Playing from the wrong spot (wrong relief point, uncorrected wrong drop) costs the general penalty. A 'serious breach' — gaining significant advantage — must be corrected before teeing off next, or it's disqualification.
Disqualification offenses
The short list worth knowing: signing for a lower score, refusing to correct a serious breach, deliberately mis-playing, ignoring equipment rules, and serious misconduct. Almost everything else is strokes, not DQ.
Equipment & Conduct
Damaged club
A club damaged during the round — even in anger — may be kept in use or repaired, but not replaced (except when damaged by outside influence or natural forces). Snapping your putter over your knee means putting with a wedge.
Adding or borrowing clubs
Under 14 clubs you may add during the round, but never by borrowing from another player on the course. Partners sharing one bag must still respect 14 combined per player… which in practice means: don't share.
Club specifications
Drivers have limits on size and spring effect, grooves on sharpness, grips on shape. Off-the-shelf equipment from real brands is always conforming — this only bites people who modify clubs.
The one-ball rule
An optional elite-competition rule requiring the same ball model all round. Club golfers may switch models between holes freely — but never during a hole except when the rules allow substitution.
X-outs and refurbished balls
Logo overruns and lake balls are fine for casual golf. In handicap rounds and competitions, use balls on the conforming list — every normal brand-name ball is.
Gloves and grip aids
Plain gloves are always fine; resin, powders and towels too. Devices that attach the hand to the club or objectively guide the swing are not, during a stroke.
Alignment devices
You may not set down a club or stick to aim your stance and leave it during the stroke. Doing so — even briefly — costs the general penalty. Aim, then put it away before addressing.
Caddie rules
One caddie at a time, who may carry, advise and attend the flag. The caddie may not stand behind you during the stroke or mark your line on the green.
Audio and video
Music and podcasts are allowed if not played to help swing tempo and not disturbing others — club culture varies, headphone courtesy applies. Watching swing videos mid-round to diagnose a fault crosses the line in competition.
Pace-of-play policies
Competitions may time slow groups: exceeding the shot clock (typically 40–50 seconds when it's your turn) escalates from warning to strokes. Being 'in position' resets everything — stay behind the group ahead, not the field.
Integrity clause
The rules assume self-policing: call penalties on yourself, report true scores, protect the field. Golf's entire competitive structure runs on it — and it's the habit that makes club golf work.
Special Situations
Ball deflected accidentally
If a moving ball accidentally hits you, your equipment, an animal or anything else: no penalty, play it where it stops. The days of penalties for hitting your own trolley are over.
Ball deliberately deflected
If someone deliberately stops or deflects a ball in motion, the offender takes the general penalty and the stroke is replayed or the ball placed where it would have ended up — estimated by the committee if needed.
Double hit
Striking the ball twice in one stroke counts as one stroke, no penalty — the rule that retroactively pardoned golf's most famous chip mishaps.
Ball in a tree
Identifiable ball stuck in a tree: play it (bravely), or take unplayable relief — the two club-lengths measure from the point on the ground directly beneath the ball.
Ball moved by animal
A crow steals your ball or a dog kicks it: replace it free where it was. If the exact spot is unknown, estimate. If it happened while the ball was moving, play from where it ends up.
Ball in or on an obstruction
Ball inside a bunker rake, on a towel, or riding a maintenance cart: lift it and drop directly under where it lay on the object, free.
Ball breaks apart
If the ball breaks into pieces after a stroke, replay the stroke free from the same spot with another ball. Rare — but it's in the rules because it happens.
Wrong ball found late
Discovering after several strokes that you've played a wrong ball: in stroke play, two penalty strokes and you must go back to your own ball (or proceed under lost-ball rules) before the next tee — or be disqualified.
Boundary objects
OB stakes, walls and fences are not obstructions: no free relief, and you may not remove a stake to clear your swing (replace it if you did, before playing, to avoid penalty).
Integral objects
Some artificial objects — marked support wires, decorative walls, roads declared integral — are defined as part of the course: no free relief, play it or take unplayable.
Temporary water on the green
Puddles on your putting line, when your ball is on the green, allow free relief to the nearest point (on or off the green) with complete relief — one of few cases where line relief exists.
Aeration and maintenance
Aeration holes give no relief by default; many clubs add a local rule granting it. Fresh sod seams and thin turf-repair lines often carry their own local relief rules — read the noticeboard.
Dangerous animals and situations
Ball beside a wasp nest, ant hill or worse: free relief at the nearest safe point of complete relief. The rules never require heroism.
Ball plugged in a bunker face
Embedded-ball relief doesn't apply in sand. Options: play it (rarely wise), unplayable within the bunker for one stroke, or two strokes to drop back outside the bunker.
Immovable obstruction near the green
A common local rule gives line-of-play relief from sprinklers and similar within two club-lengths of the green when the ball is within two club-lengths of them. Only when activated — check the card.
Playing a moving ball
You may not hit a moving ball — with three exceptions: ball falling off a tee, in water in a penalty area (with restrictions), and when it starts moving only after you began the stroke.
Outside influence returns a ball
A ball at rest moved by an outside influence (spectator, greenkeeper's mower) is replaced free on its original spot — estimated if necessary.
Ball played from a penalty area moves
In penalty areas, the ordinary rules apply since 2019: touch the ground or water with your club, remove loose impediments — all fine, no special hover required.
Local rules trump habits
Every course may add local rules — winter lies, dropping zones, OB definitions, cart restrictions — printed on the scorecard or noticeboard. Reading them takes one minute and settles half of all on-course arguments.
When in doubt
Casual golf: agree within the group, drop somewhere fair, keep playing — pace beats perfection. Competition: two-ball rule (stroke play) or a timely claim (match play), and the committee decides.
No matches — try a shorter word, or browse the categories above.
About this guide
These are plain-language summaries written for club golfers — not the official Rules of Golf. Start with the ~54 beginner essentials; the advanced section covers the situations that decide club competitions. For tournament questions, the R&A/USGA rules and your committee decide. New to the game entirely? Start with our complete beginner's guide.