Struggling to keep on top of the changes to the Rules of Golf? Here are seven that you might not have spotted…
Play with that damaged club if you want
A brief fit of temper used to come with a big price on the course if you damaged your club. If you did it “other than in the normal course of play” and changed its playing characteristics you couldn’t use it again for the rest of the round.
That has been swept away in the Rules of Golf. Now it doesn’t matter if you bent your 7-iron hitting your ball from the base of a tree or whether you flung it at your bag after yet another shank, the club is still treated as conforming for the rest of the round.
You can carry on with the damaged club or get it repaired. What you can’t do is replace it with another.
The only exception to this is when it’s damaged by “an outside influence, natural forces or by any person other than the player or his or her caddie”.
If any part of the ball is in the hole, it’s classed as holed
We’ve all seen the videos of the ball that’s parked against a flagstick in the cup. Is it in the hole or not? A YouTube industry has been built up on this.
This is how to solve it. Rule 13.2c states “if any part of the ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green, the ball is treated as holed even if the entire ball is not below the surface”.
An exception to this comes when a ball is “embedded in the side of the hole”. On that occasion, even if the ball is touching the flagstick, all of the ball needs to be below the surface for it to be classed as holed.
You can change your ball when taking relief
Under Rule 14.3a, if you are dropping a ball in a relief area you can use “the original ball or another ball. This means that the player may use any ball each time he or she drops or places a ball under this rule”.
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What you can’t do is change the ball, apart from a couple of exceptions, when it has been lifted or moved and must be replaced on a spot.
Still in the teeing area? Just tee it up again and play your second
You’ve had a lash at one, taken far more turf than you ought to, and the ball has trickled about an inch. Not only is there much embarrassment, and much amusement for your playing partners, but you are also at risk of further destroying the greenkeeper’s lovely manicured teeing area with a second swipe off the deck.
Rule 6.2b (6) is coming to your rescue. It says if a ball in play is in the teeing area after a stroke you can lift it or move it without penalty and play it – or even another ball – from anywhere in the teeing area. You can even tee it back up.
So just pick it up, put it back on a tee, and hit the ball properly this time – remembering that it is your second shot. Or play it as it lies, the choice is yours.
Just to be clear, the teeing area is classed as a “rectangle that is two club-lengths deep where the front edge is defined by the line between the forward-most points of two tee-markers set by the committee. The side edges are defined by the lines back from the outside points of the tee-markers”.
The lowest gross score takes the honour
Someone’s trying to tell you that the three Stableford points they scored on the last hole gives them the right to hit the first shot on the next tee. You can now send them away with a flea in their ear.
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Now, and it’s been set down since the 2019 rules, it doesn’t matter how many points you rack up, it’s the lowest gross score that takes the honour. Rule 6.4b states that: “The player in the group with the lowest gross score at a hole has the honour at the next teeing area” and adds “the honour is based on gross scores, even in a handicap competition”.
It shouldn’t matter, though. If it’s not matchplay, you should all be playing Ready Golf anyway. Just tee it up and get on with it.
You can practise on the course between holes
When you are playing a hole and between two holes, you can’t take a practice stroke.
But Rule 5.5b also says that “between holes you may practise putting or chipping on or near the putting green of the hole you’ve just completed and any practice green (Rule 13.1e), and the teeing area of your next hole”.
Don’t repeat that bunker shot, though, and don’t hold up the group behind or you might find yourself in the line of fire (Rule 5.6a).
Nor should you make the mistake of thinking you can pop out before a medal and get a few holes in. You can’t practise on the course before a round on the day of a strokeplay competition. You can do it, though, in a matchplay competition.
You’re allowed to borrow a ball from someone else
Caddie Steve Williams tells a great story about how he freaked out when he almost ran out of balls as Tiger Woods was smashing up the field at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach.
The GOAT won by 15 in the end but Williams was almost running to the pro shop towards the end of the second round as Tiger teed it up at the 18th.
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Why? Because it was the last ball in his bag. Williams hadn’t noticed he was light on equipment and was in full panic mode as Woods prepared to take on the formidable last.
He need not have worried. Rule 4.2 states that a “player may get a conforming ball to play from anyone else, including another player on the course”.
Make sure to check out the competition conditions, though. They may require, for example, that you only use the same type of ball throughout your round.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of these Rules of Golf changes? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
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