People play golf for many different reasons. Whether you play primarily to spend time with friends (old or new), experience a new venue, get outdoors or seek to improve and test your skills in competitions and tournaments, most players want an enjoyable experience. Don Pieper, the General Manager and Director of Golf at Merit Club, puts it best: “Golf is Fun!” That’s why we play.
Recreational golf played with relaxed adherence to each and every rule is how many players enjoy the game. That is how almost every golfer begins their golf journey. But when golfers step up to compete in club or other competitions, complying with the Rules of Golf is generally expected. Below are some of the basic Rules of Golf every competitor should know when joining the fray:
1. Identifying Your Ball: With exceptions, a golfer is expected to complete the hole with the same ball with which they started the hole. In order to do so, the golfer must be able to identify their ball (type, number, special markings, etc.) when they do not know precisely where their previous shot landed. If you don’t know the brand and number of the ball you teed off with (or the ball does not have some other unique identifying mark), are you sure the random ball you stumbled into in tall grass is the same ball with which you started the hole? This is the reason players will mark their ball and announce in advance to their fellow competitors what ball they are playing.
2. Changing Balls Between Holes: Players are always allowed to use a new ball to start any hole. And unless your competition has adopted a local rule known as the “one ball rule,” that new ball can be a different brand or type than the one used on the previous hole.
3. Play the Ball as it Lies: In general, the ball must be played as it lies. Moving the ball to improve the lie (even if it is in a divot) is prohibited.
4. Holing All Putts: In stroke play, a hole is not completed until a player’s ball is holed. While conceding strokes is an integral part of match play, in competitive stroke play, all putts must come to rest at the bottom of the cup.
5. Standing Behind Your Partner: Rules 22.6 and 23.8 state that a player cannot stand on or close to the line of play behind the ball where their partner is making a stroke to gain information about the player’s next stroke. This situation arises on or near the green all the time when partners have a similar line to the hole. So, as a general rule, do not stand behind your partner. Either stand on the opposite side of the hole, or wait until after your partner strikes their putt or chip to move into a position to see the path your ball may take. A player breaching this rule receives the “General Penalty” - two strokes in stroke play and disqualification from the hole in match play.
6. Distance Measuring Devices: While the Rules of Golf permit many forms of “distance measuring devices,” they do not allow use of devices that measure elevation change. So, make sure the slope feature on your range finder is turned off before you use it in competition.
7. Ball Search Limited to Three Minutes: Most golfers know that the search for a ball is limited to three minutes once it begins (whether initiated by the player or their partner or caddie). Once that time expires, the ball is “lost” and may no longer be played (even if found after the expiration of that time limit).
8. Balls Moved on the Green: Finally, if you have marked and lifted your ball on the putting green, you must putt from that spot even if your ball moves after you set it back down. Whether it is moved accidentally or by a sudden gust of wind, to avoid a penalty for playing from a “wrong place,” replace the ball in its original location and play on.
Best of luck to all of the golfers this summer!
David Rathgeber is the CDGA’s Second Vice President and a member of the Championship Policy and Rules Committees. He has been a CDGA Blue Coat since 2017.
