Rules of golf

The rules of golf are a standard set of regulations and procedures by which the sport of golf should be played. They are jointly written and administered by the R&A (spun off from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews) the governing body of golf worldwide except in the United States and Mexico, which are the responsibility of the United States Golf Association (USGA). The rule book, entitled "Rules of Golf", is published on a regular basis and also includes rules governing amateur status.

A central principle, although not one of the numbered rules, is found in the R&A rule book's inside front cover:

Play the ball as it lies, play the course as you find it, and if you cannot do either, do what is fair. But to do what is fair, you need to know the Rules of Golf.

In addition to the rules golf adheres to a code of conduct, known as etiquette, which generally means playing the game with due respect for the golf course and other players. Etiquette is often seen as being as important to the sport as the rules themselves.

History

Before the rules of golf were standardised golf clubs commonly had their own set of rules, which while broadly the same had subtle differences, such as allowing for the removal of loose impediments, e.g. leaves and small stones. In the late 19th century, most clubs began to align themselves with either the Society of St. Andrews Golfers, later the R&A, or the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith, later the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

The earliest surviving written rules of golf were produced by the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith on 7 March 1744, for a tournament played on 2 April. They were entitled "Articles and Laws in Playing at Golf" and consisted of 13 rules.

1. You must Tee your Ball within a Club's length of the Hole.
2. Your Tee must be upon the Ground.
3. You are not to change the Ball which you Strike off the Tee.
4. You are not to remove Stones, Bones or any Break Club, for the sake of playing your Ball, Except upon the fair Green within a Club's length of your Ball.
5. If your Ball comes among water, or any watery filth, you are at liberty to take out your Ball & bringing it behind the hazard and Teeing it, you may play it with any Club and allow your Adversary a Stroke for so getting out your Ball.
6. If your Balls be found any where touching one another, You are to lift the first Ball, till you play the last.
7. At Holing, you are to play your Ball honestly for the Hole, and not to play upon your Adversary’s Ball, not lying in your way to.
8. If you should lose your Ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to go back to the Spot, where you struck last, & drop another Ball, And allow your adversary a Stroke for the misfortune.
9. No man at Holing his Ball, is to be allowed, to mark his way to the Hole with his Club, or anything else.
10. If a Ball be stopp’d by any Person, Horse, Dog or anything else, The Ball so stop’d must be play’d where it lies.
11. If you draw your Club in Order to Strike, & proceed so far in the Stroke as to be bringing down your Club; If then, your Club shall break, in any way, it is to be Accounted a Stroke.
12. He whose Ball lies farthest from the Hole is obliged to play first.
13. Neither Trench, Ditch or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, nor the Scholar's Holes, or the Soldier's Lines, Shall be accounted a Hazard; But the Ball is to be taken out and play’d with any Iron Club.

The Rules of Golf have been amended from time-to-time over the last century, but they have been consistently recognized as being particularly strict.

Rules of Golf (book)

The Rules of Golf and the Rules of Amateur Status is published every two years by the governing bodies of golf (R&A/USGA) to define how the game is to be played. The Rules have been published jointly in this manner since 1952, although the code was not completely uniform until 2000 (with mostly minor revisions to Appendix I). The Rules Committee of The R&A, which was spun off from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 2004, has responsibility for upkeep and application of the rules worldwide except in the United States and Mexico, which are the responsibility of the United States Golf Association (USGA).

The term "Rules" can be said to include the following:

• Decisions on the Rules of Golf, a book published every two years by the USGA and R&A to clarify questions raised by the Rules.
• Local rules set by the Committee of a golf club, for example to denote the method used to define the boundaries of the course, ball drops, environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs), etc.
• Rules of golf etiquette, covered by the main book, define the proper behaviour of those playing the game.
• Rules often adopted in competitions, for example the prohibition on using automotive transportation during a round and Rules related to Temporary Immovable Obstructions (TIOs).
• Rules governing the size, shape and performance of golf equipment (clubs and balls) as defined by the R&A/USGA (Appendices I and II).
• Rules governing golfers with disabilities who play in accordance with A Modification of the Rules of Golf for Golfers with Disabilities as published by the R&A and USGA.

Note that while the USGA defines its own handicapping and course rating system, the R&A defers this responsibility to the appropriate national governing bodies.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is a private golf club run for the benefit of its members. As such, since 2004 it has passed responsibility of publishing the rules to a private company, R&A Rules Ltd, operating under the stewardship of the golf club.

In 2004, the University of Chicago Press published a plain-language translation of this book. It was entitled The Rules of Golf in Plain English, by the lexicographer Bryan A. Garner and USGA rules official Jeffrey S. Kuhn. The purpose was to make the rules more accessible than the official version, which is pervasively legalistic and opaque.^{[citation needed]}

Notable rule changes

The biggest change that came with the 2008–2011 edition was a new rule about clubheads not having too much 'spring' effect. This has led to the publishing of lists of conforming and non-conforming drivers.

In 2010 a new rule governing grooves came into force for professional and high level amateur competition. The change was made in order to decrease the amount of back spin that players were able to produce, particularly from the rough. However, due to a previous legal settlement with Ping following an earlier rule change in the early 1990s, their Eye 2 irons, which were otherwise non-conforming, were deemed legal. This led to a controversy in the early stages of the 2010 PGA Tour season when Phil Mickelson used these irons.

The 2012–2015 edition was published October 24, 2011. Nine Rules were changed, the most significant being Ball Moving After Address (Rule 18-2b). Rory McIlroy was penalized by this Rule in the final round of the 2011 Open Championship.

External links

• 2008-2011 Rules of Golf (free download)
• The Rules of Golf online at the USGA's official site
• Royal and Ancient Golf Club website
• United States Golf Association website
• For an in-depth analysis of Rule 13-4 (Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions), see Pelanda, Brian. "What's a 'Bunker'?: The Curious Case of How Dustin Johnson Lost the 2010 PGA Championship and Why the PGA Must Revise the Now Infamous Local Rule at Whistling Straits". Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal 22 (Fall/Winter 2011): 67. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1909575.