Golf

Overview

Hit a ball from a tee into a hole using as few strokes as possible, across eighteen holes. Lowest total wins. Almost every other rule exists to cover what happens when the ball ends up somewhere awkward.

These follow the Rules of Golf, written jointly by The R&A and the USGA. This entry is checked against the Rules of Golf, effective January 2023, which is still the current edition. Rule numbers below are the Rules'. Handicaps and par ratings come from separate documents (section 8).

1. Par and scoring terms

Each hole has a par — the expected strokes for a scratch player.

Result	Name
Three under par	Albatross (double eagle)
Two under par	Eagle
One under par	Birdie
Par	Par
One over	Bogey
Two over	Double bogey

How par is set for a hole isn't part of the Rules of Golf; it comes from the handicapping and course-rating system, so no yardages are given here.

2. Formats

Stroke play counts every shot across the round. Lowest total wins.

Match play is scored hole by hole. Win a hole and you go one up. A match ends when a player leads by more holes than remain — "4 and 3" means four up with three to play. Conceding a putt is legal in match play and not in stroke play.

Stableford awards points against par, letting you pick up on a disastrous hole without wrecking the card.

3. The teeing area

You may only use a tee in the teeing area — the two club-lengths behind the markers at the start of each hole.

You may not tee the ball on the fairway, in the rough, or anywhere else. Once you leave the teeing area the ball is played as it lies for the rest of the hole.

You may stand outside the teeing area, but the ball must be inside it.

4. Clubs and equipment

You may carry a maximum of fourteen clubs. Carrying more is a two-stroke penalty per hole, capped at four strokes in stroke play.

Any club may be used from anywhere. There is no rule restricting which club you use on any part of the course — a wedge on the green, a putter from the fairway, a driver from a bunker are all legal. They are often unwise, never illegal.

Gloves are unrestricted. You may wear one, two, or none.

5. The ball

You must hole out with the ball you played from the teeing area, except where the Rules allow a different one (Rule 6.3b):

• Whenever you take relief by dropping or placing a ball, including relief on the putting green, you may use the original or another ball.
• When you play again from where you last played (stroke and distance), you may use another ball.
• When you replace a ball on a spot, including after marking and lifting it on the green, you must use the original ball, with limited exceptions.

So you can't switch to a different ball for putting after marking and lifting on the green. If you do and then make a stroke with it, the penalty under the 2023 Rules is one penalty stroke, and you play out the hole with that ball. Many older guides still give the pre-2023 penalty of two strokes, or loss of hole in match play.

Some competitions add the One Ball Local Rule, requiring the same brand and model for the entire round. It is not in force unless the committee says so.

You may lift, clean and replace your ball on the putting green at any time, having marked its position.

6. Penalties

Situation	Penalty
Out of bounds (white stakes)	Stroke and distance — one stroke, replay from where you last played
Lost ball	Stroke and distance
Ball in a penalty area (red or yellow stakes)	One stroke, with relief options
Unplayable lie	One stroke, three relief options
Ball at rest lifted, touched or moved by you	One stroke, replace it (Rule 9.4b), with exceptions: no penalty if it happens accidentally on the putting green (13.1d) or while searching for it (7.4)
Wrong ball played	Two strokes, then play the correct ball
Ball at rest moved by wind or water	None. Play it from the new spot, except on the putting green if you had already lifted and replaced it, when it goes back (13.1d)

You have three minutes to search for a ball before it is lost — reduced from five in 2019.

A provisional ball may be played if you suspect the original is lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds. Announce it before playing, or the new ball becomes the ball in play.

7. On the green

Chipping on the green is legal. There is no rule requiring a putter. It is unusual because it risks damaging the surface, and many clubs ask you not to as a matter of etiquette — but it is not a Rules matter.

The flagstick may be left in while you putt, with no penalty for striking it. This changed in 2019 and was one of the most visible reforms.

You may repair almost any damage on the green, including spike marks, ball marks and old hole plugs. You may not repair natural imperfections or aeration holes.

Touching your line of putt is permitted, provided you do not improve the conditions affecting the stroke.

8. Handicaps

Not covered by this page's verification. Handicaps are governed by the World Handicap System and its Rules of Handicapping, not the Rules of Golf, and that document hasn't been checked for this page.

A handicap lets players of different ability compete. A scratch golfer plays off 0. Handicaps can go below zero. These are written +1, +2 and so on, and a plus-handicap player gives shots back rather than receiving them.

9. Order of play and pace

The player furthest from the hole plays first. On the tee, whoever scored lowest on the previous hole has the honour.

Ready golf — playing when ready rather than strictly in order — is now actively encouraged in stroke play to speed things up.

Rule 5.6b recommends making each stroke in no more than 40 seconds, "and usually more quickly than that". It's a recommendation, not a limit; committees can set pace-of-play policies with penalties.

Commonly argued

• You can chip on the green. Legal under the Rules. Discouraged by etiquette and often by club policy, which is a different thing.
• You cannot tee the ball outside the teeing area. The tee is for the tee shot only.
• You cannot switch balls to putt. Doing it costs one stroke under the 2023 Rules, not two, and you then finish the hole with the new ball.
• You may use a different ball whenever you take relief or replay a stroke.
• Any club, anywhere. Wedge on the green, putter from a bunker — all fine.
• Two gloves are legal. So is none.
• Plus handicaps exist, and those players give shots rather than receive them. That comes from the World Handicap System, not the Rules of Golf.
• Moving your ball by accident on the green costs nothing. Just put it back.
• The 40 seconds is a recommendation, not a rule with a penalty.
• Three minutes to search, not five. Changed in 2019 and still catches people.
• The flagstick can stay in. Also 2019.