GUIDELINES
Before you start your round
- Read the local rules on the scorecard or on the information board
- Put an identification mark on the ball. Many golfers play the same brand of ball, and if you cannot identify your ball, it will be considered lost.
- Count your clubs; you are allowed a maximum of 14 clubs.
During the round:
- Do not ask for advice from anyone other than your partner (your team player) or your caddies. Do not give advice to anyone other than your partner. But you may ask questions about rules, distances and positions of obstacles, flags, etc.
- No practice strokes of any kind are allowed on the hole during play.
At the end of the round
- In match play, make sure the result of the match is recorded
- In scoring play, make sure the score card is fully drawn and return it as soon as possible.
GAME RULES
Kick
Place the first shot ball between the tee markers, but not in front of them. You may place the ball for the first shot within two lengths of the stick behind the line between the markers. If you take the first shot from outside the tee, in match play, no penalty is imposed, but your opponent has the right to ask to replay the shot; in score play, you are subject to a penalty of two shots, and then must play from the correct place.
Playing the ball
If you think you have found your ball, but the identification mark is not visible, you are entitled to mark and pick up the ball to determine its belonging with the permission of your marker or your opponent. Play the ball from the position in which it appeared. Do not improve the location of the ball, the intended stance or swing area, or the line of play by moving, ducking, or breaking anything fixed or growing, except directly as a result of taking a playing stance or swing. Do not improve the location of the ball by tamping anything.
If the ball is in a bunker or water obstruction, do not touch the ground in any obstruction with your hand or stick, or the water in a water obstruction, or move any loose obstruction, before you strike the ball.
You must strike the ball with your club fully. You must not push, pick up, or rake the ball. If you play the wrong ball, in match play, you lose a hole; in score play, you incur a two-stroke penalty, after which you must correct the error by playing the correct ball.
On the green.
You have the right to mark, pick up, and clear the ball while on the green. Always return the ball exactly where it was before. At the put line, you may correct only ball marks or old holes, but not any other damage, including shoe spikes. When making a shot from the green, make sure the flag is removed from the hole or serviced. The flag may be removed or serviced when the ball is outside the green.
Shifting the ball at rest
Whenever the ball is in play, if you accidentally move the ball, pick it up when it is not allowed, or the ball has moved after you have prepared to hit it, add a penalty shot and return the ball to its original location. However, there are exceptions-read rule 18-2a. If a resting ball is moved by someone else or another ball, return it to its original place without penalty to you.
Deflecting or stopping a moving ball
If a ball you have played is deflected or stopped by you, your partner, your caddie or tackle, add a penalty kick and play the ball from the position it was in.
If the ball you have played is deflected or stopped by touching another ball that was at rest, play the ball from the position it was in without penalty, except in a score game where you are subject to a two stroke penalty if both balls were on the green before you hit it.
Lifting, throwing in and setting the ball
Before picking up a ball to be returned (for example, when the ball is picked up on the green for cleaning), its location must be marked. If the ball is picked up for a throw-in or placed elsewhere (e.g. for a throw-in within two lengths of the stick under the unplayed ball rule, for example), you are not required to mark the location of the ball, but it is advisable to do so.
Ball helping or hindering play
You have the right to pick up your ball, or ask to pick up any other ball, if you think the ball might help any other player. You do not have to agree to a request to leave your ball in a position that helps another player’s play. You have the right to ask to pick up any ball if it interferes with your play. A ball that has been picked up as helping or hindering play cannot be cleared unless it has been picked up on the green.
Free Interference
You may move a free hitch (i.e. a loose natural object such as a rock, fallen leaf or branch) unless both the hitch and the ball are in the same obstruction. If you remove a loose obstruction and move the ball, the ball must be put back in its place (unless the ball is on the green) and you are subject to a one-punch penalty.
Movable obstacles
Movable obstacles (i.e. artificial movable objects such as rakes, tins, etc.) placed anywhere may be moved without penalty. If the ball is moved, it must be returned to its original position without penalty. If the ball is lying on a movable obstacle, the ball may be lifted, the obstacle removed and the ball thrown in without penalty at the point immediately below where the ball was lying on the obstacle, except on the green where the ball must be placed on that point.
Fixed obstacles and abnormal field conditions
Fixed obstacles are man-made fixed objects such as buildings or man-made roads (but check with your local rules for the definition of paths and tracks on the course). An abnormal condition of the field is the occasional water, repair area, as well as a burrow, indentation in the soil or path made on the field by a burrowing animal, reptile or bird.
Except when the ball is in a water hazard, you may, without penalty, remove the effect of a fixed obstruction or abnormal condition of the field of play if it physically interferes with the position of the ball, your stance or swing. You may pick up the ball and throw it within one stick length of the “nearest point of
elimination point” but no closer to the hole than that point. If the ball is on the green, it is set at the nearest elimination point. You are not allowed to eliminate line-of-game interference unless both your ball and the obstruction are on the green.
Water Hurdles
If your ball is in a water obstruction (yellow pegs and/or lines), you are entitled to play the ball from the position it was in, or with a penalty of one stroke:
- play again from where the ball was played into the obstacle,
- throw in the ball at any distance behind the water hazard, on a straight line from the hole through the point where the ball last crossed the water hazard.
If your ball is in a lateral water hazard (red pegs and/or lines), in addition to the possibilities for a ball in a water hazard (see above), you may, with a penalty of one shot throw in the ball within two club lengths of:
- the point where the ball last crossed the boundary of the obstruction, or
- the point on the opposite side of the obstacle, equidistant from the hole, but not from the other side.
The ball is lost or outside the bounds of the hole, but no closer to the hole than these points. The ball is lost or out of bounds;
Temporary Ball
If the ball is lost outside a water hazard or out of the field, you must play the ball from the point from which you last played the ball, with a one stroke penalty. You are allowed 5 minutes to search for the ball, after which if it is not found or its identity is not determined, it is lost.
If, after the kick, you suspect that the ball may have been lost outside the water hazard or may have been out of the field, you should play a “temporary ball”. You should declare that it is a temporary ball and play it before you move to look for the original ball.
If you find that the original ball is lost (out of the water) or out of the field, you must continue playing with the provisional ball with a one-strike penalty.
If the original ball is found within the field, you are required to continue playing with that ball, and play of the provisional ball must be stopped.
Unplayable Ball
If your ball is in a water obstruction, the unplayable ball rule does not apply, and if you want to remove the impact of the obstruction, you must act on the water obstruction rule. In any other part of the field, if you think your ball is unplayable, you are entitled, with a one stroke penalty:
- throw in the ball at the point where the last shot was played, or
- throw in the ball any distance behind the point where the ball is, in a straight line from the hole through that point, or
- throw in the ball within two club lengths of where the ball is, but no closer to the hole.
If your ball is unplayable in the bunker, you may proceed as described above, but if you throw the ball backward on the line or within two club lengths, you must throw it into the bunker.