Match and Stroke Play

1.You must be able to identify your own ball. If you can't identify it as yours, it's lost. If your ball becomes unfit for play, you may replace it, without penalty, on the hole where it becomes unfit or between holes.
2.No more than 14 clubs are allowed.
3.Don't use an artificial device or unusual equipment for gauging or measuring distance or conditions, or to give artificial aid in gripping.
4.Don't ask for advice from anyone except your partner or your caddie. Don't give advice to anyone except your partner.
5.During a hole you may practice swing but not play a practice stroke. Between holes you may practice chip and putt on or near the putting black of the hole last played or the tee of the next hole but not from a hazard.
6.Play without delay.

 

Order of Play

1.On the first tee the order of play is determined by the draw or by lot.
2.In match play, the ball farther from the hole is played first. The winner of a hole tees off first
on the next hole. If a player plays out of turn anywhere on the course, his opponent may require him to replay.
3.In stroke play, the ball farthest from the hole is played first. The competitor with the lowest score on a hole tees off first on the next hole. There is generally no penalty for playing out of turn.
4.In four-ball competitions, partners may play in the order they consider best

 

Teeing Ground

1.Tee off within two club-lengths behind the front edges of the tee-markers.
2.If you tee off outside this area, in match play there is no penalty but your opponent may require you to replay the stroke. In stroke play you incur a two-stroke penalty and must then play from within the proper area.

 

 

 

 

Playing the Ball

1.Play the ball as it lies. (Some exceptions exist)
2. Don't improve your lie, the area of your intended swing or your line of play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond the hole by moving, bending or breaking anything fixed or growing except in fairly taking your stance or making your swing. Don't press anything down.
3.If your ball lies in a bunker or water hazard, don't touch the ground in the bunker or the ground or water in the water hazard before the downswing.
4.Strike at the ball with the club-head. Don't push or scrape the ball. If your club strikes the ball more than once in a single stroke, count the stroke and add a penalty stroke.
5.If you play a wrong ball (except in a hazard), in match play you lose the hole. In stroke play you incur a two-stroke penalty and must then play the correct ball.

 

Putting black

1.Don't touch the line of your putt unless a Rule permits. You may repair ball marks and old hole plugs on the line but not spike marks.
2.You may lift, and if desired clean, your ball on the putting black. Always replace it on the exact spot.
3.Don't test the surface by scraping it or rolling a ball.
4.If the ball you played from the putting black strikes the flag-stick, in match play you lose the hole or in stroke play you incur a two-stroke penalty.

 

Ball at Rest Move

1.If your ball is moved by you, your partner or your caddie except as permitted by the Rules or if it moves after you have addressed it, add a penalty stroke and replace your ball.
2.If your ball is moved by someone else or another ball, replace it without penalty.

 

 

 

Ball in Motion Deflected or Stopped

1.If your ball in motion is deflected or stopped by you, your partner or your caddie, in match play you lose the hole. In stroke play you incur a two-stroke penalty and the ball is played as it lies.
2.If your ball in motion is deflected or stopped by someone else, play your ball as it lies without penalty, except (a) in match play, if an opponent or his caddie deflects your ball, you may play it as it lies or replay it or (b) in stroke play, if your ball is deflected after a stroke on the putting black, you must replay.
3.If your ball in motion is deflected or stopped by another ball at rest, play your ball as it lies. In stroke play, you incur a two-stroke penalty if your ball and the other ball were on the black before your stroke. Otherwise, there is no penalty.

 

Lifting, Dropping and Placing

1.If a ball to be lifted is to be replaced, its position must be marked.
2.When dropping, stand erect, hold the ball at shoulder height and at arm's length and drop it. A ball to be dropped in a hazard must be dropped, and stay, in the hazard.
3.If a dropped ball strikes the player or his partner, caddie or equipment, it must be re-dropped without penalty.
4.A dropped ball must be re-dropped if it rolls into a hazard, out of hazard, onto a putting black, out of bounds or to a position where there is interference by the condition from which relief is taken (in case of immovable obstructions, abnormal ground conditions and wrong putting black) or comes to rest more than two club-lengths from where it first struck a part of the course or nearer the hole than its original position or other reference point. If the ball when re-drooped rolls into any position listed above, place it where it first struck a part of the course when re-dropped.
5.If the original lie of a ball to be replaced has been altered, place it in the nearest similar lie within one club-length not nearer the hole, except in a bunker recreate the original lie and place it in that lie.

 

Interference

1.You may lift your ball if it might assist any other player.
2.You may have any other ball lifted if it might interfere with your play or assist any other player.

 

Loose Impediments

1.Loose impediments are natural objects (such as stones and leaves) not fixed or growing, nor solidly embedded and not adhering to the ball.
2.You may move them unless the loose impediment and your ball lie in or touch a hazard. 3.If you move a loose impediment within one club-length of your ball and your ball moves, the ball must be replaced and (unless your ball was on the putting black) you incur a penalty stroke.

 

Obstructions

1.Obstructions are artificial (i.e., man-made) objects. Out of bounds fences and markers and immovable artificial objects out of bounds are not obstructions.
2.Movable obstructions anywhere may be moved. If your ball moves, replace it without penalty.
3.If an immovable obstruction interferes with your stance or swing, you may, except when your ball is in a water hazard, drop within one club-length of the nearest point of relief not nearer the hole. In a bunker drop in the bunker, and on the putting black place in the nearest position which affords relief, not nearer the hole, there is no relief for intervention on your line of play unless your ball and the obstruction are on the black.
4.If your ball is lost in an immovable obstruction (except in a water hazard) take the same relief based on the point where the ball entered the obstruction.

 

Abnormal Ground Conditions

1.If your ball is in casual water, ground under repair or, except in a water hazard, a hole or cast made by a burrowing animal, you may drop without penalty within one club-length of the nearest point of relief not nearer the hole, except (a) in a hazard drop in the nearest position in the hazard which affords maximum relief and is not nearer the hole or, under penalty of one stroke, drop any distance behind the hazard or (b) on the putting black place in the nearest position which affords maximum relief and is not nearer the hole.
2.If your ball is lost in such condition (except in a burrowing animal hole in a water hazard), take the same relief based on the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the area.

 

Water Hazards

1.You may play the ball as it lies or, under penalty of one stroke, drop any distance behind the water hazard (keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped), or replay the shot
2.In a lateral water hazard, you may also, under penalty of one stroke, drop within two club-lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the hazard margin.

 

Lost or Out of Bounds

1.If your ball may be lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds, you may play a provisional ball before you go forward to look for the original, provided you announce your intention to do so. If your original ball turns out to be a water hazard or is found outside a water hazard, you must abandon the provisional ball.
2.If your ball is lost outside a water hazard or is out of bounds, add one penalty stroke and play the provisional or, if you did not play a provisional, replay the shot.

 

Non-playable

1.If you believe your ball is not playable outside a water hazard, you may add one penalty stroke and (a) drop within two club-lengths of where the ball lies not nearer the hole, or (b) drop any distance behind the point where the ball lay (keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped), or (c) replay the shot. If your ball is in a bunker you may proceed under (a), (b) or (c), however, if you elect to proceed under (a) or (b), you must drop the ball in the bunker.

 

 

 

 

 

Etiquette

1.Don't move, talk or stand close to or directly behind a player making a stroke.
2.Don't play until the group in front is out of the way.
3.Always play without delay. Leave the putting black as soon as all players in your group have holed out
4.Invite faster groups to play through.
5.Replace divots. Smooth out footprints in bunkers.
6.Don't step on the line of another player's putt.
7.Don't drop clubs on a putting black.
8.Replace the flag-stick carefully in an upright position.
9.Leave the course in the condition in which you'd like to find it.