🏛️Official — R&A
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Individual Sports
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outdoor
ball
10 essential rules
This rulebook is sourced from the Rules of Golf 2023–2026, jointly published by The R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), effective January 1, 2023. The Rules of Golf are revised on a four-year cycle; the current edition took effect on 1 January 2023 and remains authoritative through...
Rule 16.1 provides free relief (no penalty stroke) from abnormal course conditions: animal holes, ground under repair, immovable obstructions, and temporary water (formerly called casual water). Relief is taken within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief, no nearer the hole.
Rule 7.1 allows the player to take reasonable actions to find and identify their ball, including moving sand in a bunker or water in a penalty area, moving or bending vegetation, and probing the ground. If the player accidentally moves their ball ...
Rule 10.3a allows a player to have one caddie at a time to carry their clubs and provide advice and other assistance. Having more than one caddie at a time is a breach; the penalty is two strokes (stroke play) or loss of hole (match play) for each...
Maximum Number of Clubs (Rule 4.1b): A player must not start a round with more than 14 clubs and must not have more than 14 clubs during the round. A player who starts with fewer than 14 clubs may add clubs up to that limit during the round, provided play is not unduly delayed.
Par: The expected number of strokes a scratch golfer would need to complete a hole or round.; Birdie: One stroke under par on a hole.; Eagle: Two strokes under par on a hole.
Under Rule 1.2a, players are required to take good care of the course. This includes raking bunkers after play, repairing ball-marks on the putting green (Rule 13.1c permits repair of any damage on the putting green), and replacing divots.
Committees must mark all penalty areas (Rule 17), out-of-bounds limits (Rule 18.2), and abnormal course conditions (ground under repair, immovable obstructions) clearly before competition. Inadequa...
If a club becomes damaged during the round in the normal course of play (not by abuse), the player may continue to use or repair the damaged club, or replace it with another club, as long as:
Rule 16.2 provides that if a player's ball lies near a dangerous animal (e.g., a venomous snake, wasp nest, alligator, or biting insect swarm) that could cause physical injury, the player may take ...
Wrong score on scorecard lower than actual (Rule 3.3b(3)): Disqualification.; Failure to return scorecard (Rule 3.3b(2)): Disqualification.; Late start by more than five minutes (Rule 5.3a): Disqualification.
Never hit into the group ahead
A player must never play a shot that lands near or could reach the group playing ahead of them, regardless of how slowly that group is moving. This is simultaneously a safety imperative and a cardinal courtesy. The accepted practice is to wait until the group ahead is clearly out of range before playing.
Hitting into the group ahead is one of the fastest ways to be censured or removed from a club.
Sandbagging is a cardinal violation of golf's honor code
Deliberately playing to an inflated handicap — 'sandbagging' — to gain advantage in handicap competitions is considered one of golf's gravest violations. The entire handicap system rests on self-reported honesty; exploiting it is treated as cheating even when technically unprovable. Social sanction from fellow club members is the primary enforcement mechanism.
The World Handicap System (WHS) introduced by R&A/USGA includes algorithmic safeguards, but the cultural stigma predates formal handicap systems by generations.
Never walk in another player's putting line
Walking across the line between a player's ball and the hole — or between the hole and the player — is among golf's most serious courtesies. It can subtly compress or alter grass and affect the putt's roll. Players are expected to step over or route well around putting lines, even at significant personal inconvenience.
Violation is treated as a serious breach at every level, from club play to professional tours.
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Maintain silence and stillness during another player's swing
Players must not talk, move, jingle coins, or cause any distraction while another golfer is addressing the ball or executing a swing. Even subtle movement in peripheral vision is considered a serious breach. This applies to fellow players, caddies, and spectators within the group.
Maintain pace of play — be ready when it is your turn
Slow play is considered deeply disrespectful to fellow competitors and groups behind. Players are expected to be ready to hit when it is their turn, limit practice swings, search for lost balls promptly and without dawdling, and move briskly between shots. The social expectation of a 'good pace' predates formal timing rules by over a century.
At professional level, official slow-play rules apply. At amateur and club level the unwritten social censure can be equally severe.
Never visibly celebrate or welcome an opponent's misfortune
Showing pleasure — through expression, comment, or body language — when an opponent mishits, misses a putt, or suffers bad luck is one of the most condemned acts in golf. Even in fierce competition, players are expected to commiserate or remain neutral. Gamesmanship that exploits a rival's misfortune is widely and explicitly condemned.
Golf's self-regulated origins and emphasis on personal honor make this norm stricter than in most other sports.