The ground rules

• Play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it. Everything else is an exception to this.
• You can carry up to 14 clubs. Carry 15 and it's two strokes for each hole you played with it, up to four strokes.
• Every swing you make at the ball counts, including the ones that miss. A practice swing that doesn't try to hit the ball doesn't count.
• Penalty strokes count too. A lost ball isn't one stroke, it's the stroke you hit plus a penalty plus the replay.
• You must finish the hole with the ball you started it with, unless a rule lets you substitute. You can switch balls between holes any time.

Teeing off

Tee the ball between the two markers or up to two club-lengths behind them, never in front. If the ball falls off the tee before you swing, put it back, no penalty. If you swing and miss, that's a stroke, and now the ball is in play wherever it sits, even if it's still on the tee.

The player with the best score on the previous hole has the honor and goes first. In casual play almost everyone uses ready golf instead: whoever's ready and safe hits. Both are fine. Just agree with your group.

Lost ball and out of bounds

This is the rule that costs beginners the most strokes, so it's worth getting straight.

You have three minutes to look for a ball from the moment you or your group start searching. After that it's lost. White stakes or a white line mark out of bounds, and a ball is out only when the whole ball is beyond the line.

For both, the standard penalty is stroke and distance: add one penalty stroke and play again from where you hit the last shot. Hit your tee shot out of bounds and you're hitting three from the tee.

Two things make this less painful:

• A provisional ball. If you think the ball might be lost or out, say "I'm playing a provisional" out loud before you hit it, then hit another from the same spot. If you find the first one in bounds, pick up the provisional and play on with no penalty. If you don't, the provisional is your ball and you're lying three. Say the word. If you don't announce it, the second ball is the one in play and the first one is abandoned.
• The two-stroke local rule. Many courses let you skip the walk back. Estimate where the ball was lost or crossed out of bounds, find the nearest edge of the fairway no closer to the hole, and drop anywhere between those two points within two club-lengths of the fairway. Add two penalty strokes. So a lost tee shot means you're hitting four from the fairway. It's not in force everywhere, so check the scorecard or ask in the shop.

Penalty areas: red and yellow stakes

Ponds, creeks, desert washes and anything else the course has marked with red or yellow stakes or lines. If your ball is in one you can play it as it lies with no penalty, and since 2019 you may ground your club and move loose twigs and leaves while you do. Or you can take relief for one penalty stroke.

• Replay from where you hit the last shot.
• Back on the line. Pick the point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, draw a line from the hole through that point, and drop anywhere on that line going back as far as you like.
• Lateral relief, red only. Drop within two club-lengths of where the ball crossed the edge, no closer to the hole.

Most courses mark nearly everything red these days, so the lateral drop is usually available. Yellow is rarer and means you can't go sideways.

Unplayable ball

Under a bush, against a tree root, wedged in a cactus. You decide a ball is unplayable, nobody else does, and it's one penalty stroke for the same three options as above: replay, back on the line, or two club-lengths no closer to the hole. In a bunker, those three keep you in the sand. A fourth option lets you go back on the line outside the bunker for two penalty strokes.

How to drop

Stand up and let the ball fall from knee height. It has to land in the relief area and stay in it. The relief area is one club-length for free relief and two for penalty relief, measured with the longest club in your bag that isn't a putter. If the ball rolls out of the area, drop again. If it rolls out a second time, place it where it landed on the second drop.

Dropping from shoulder height, the old way, is a one-stroke penalty if you then play the ball without correcting it. People still do it out of habit.

Free relief: when you can move the ball for nothing

You get a free drop within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief, no closer to the hole, from:

• Cart paths, sprinkler heads, drains, and any other artificial thing that's fixed in place, when the ball sits on it or it interferes with your stance or swing.
• Temporary water, meaning puddles you can see before or after you take your stance.
• Ground under repair, marked with white lines or a sign.
• A ball embedded in its own pitch mark anywhere in the general area, which is the fairway and the rough. Not in a bunker.
• An animal hole or an ant hill, and in some places a dangerous animal, which in Arizona can mean a rattlesnake.

Loose impediments, meaning leaves, twigs, stones and the like, can be moved anywhere on the course, including bunkers and penalty areas. If moving one makes your ball move, put the ball back and add a stroke, except on the putting green where it's free.

You don't get free relief from a divot hole, a tree, a bad lie or a bush. That's just golf.

In the bunker

Don't touch the sand with your club right in front of or behind the ball, during a practice swing, or on the backswing of the real one. That's the general penalty of two strokes. You can rest the club on the sand while you wait, lean on it, and knock sand around in frustration after the shot. You can also pick up loose impediments. Rake the bunker when you're done, which isn't a rule but will be treated like one.

On the putting green

• Mark the ball with a coin or marker behind it before you lift it to clean it. Put it back on the same spot.
• Repair anything on the green that's in your way: pitch marks, spike marks, animal damage. Not natural imperfections in the surface.
• You can putt with the flagstick in or out. If your ball hits it, no penalty either way.
• If you accidentally move your ball or your marker on the green, put it back with no penalty. If the wind moves your ball after you've replaced it, put it back. If the wind moves it before you've ever marked it, play from where it ends up.
• Don't putt while another ball is still moving, and in stroke play, if your putt from the green hits another ball that's at rest on the green, that's two strokes to you. Ask people to mark.

Wrong ball

Hit someone else's ball by mistake and it's two strokes, and the strokes you made with the wrong ball don't count. Go back and play your own. Put a mark on your ball with a Sharpie before the round. It takes ten seconds and settles every argument.

Keeping score

In stroke play, every stroke on every hole is added up and the lowest total wins. In a competition you keep your playing partner's score on their card and they keep yours, and both of you certify it at the end. If you sign for a score lower than you shot on a hole, you're disqualified. Higher, and the higher score stands. In match play you play hole by hole against one opponent, and the strokes don't matter beyond who won each hole. How the words work, from birdie to double bogey to Stableford, is in golf scoring explained.

Pace

The rules recommend no more than 40 seconds to play a stroke once it's your turn, and they encourage ready golf in stroke play. In a casual round, pick up when you've hit double par and write down a number. Everyone will like you more. The customs around all this are in golf etiquette.

The penalties, in one place

Situation	Penalty	Then
Lost ball or out of bounds	1 stroke	Replay from the previous spot (or 2 strokes and drop at the fairway edge, where the local rule applies)
Ball in a penalty area	1 stroke	Replay, back on the line, or two club-lengths (red only)
Unplayable ball	1 stroke	Replay, back on the line, or two club-lengths
Ball moves when you move a loose impediment	1 stroke	Replace it (free on the green)
Grounding the club in a bunker	2 strokes	Play on
Wrong ball	2 strokes	Play your own ball
Putt from the green hits another ball on the green	2 strokes	Play your ball as it lies, replace the other
15 clubs	2 strokes per hole, max 4	Take the extra club out of play
Whiff	None, but the stroke counts	Play it as it lies

Questions people ask on the first tee

Can I use a rangefinder or a GPS watch?

Yes, unless a competition says otherwise. Distance only. If your rangefinder has a slope setting that adjusts for elevation, turn it off in competition.

Do mulligans exist in the rules?

No. A mulligan is a replay with no penalty and it's a custom among friends, not a rule. If you're keeping a score that'll count toward a handicap, don't take them.

Can I move my ball out of a divot in the fairway?

No. It's a bad break and you play it as it lies. The rules don't treat a divot hole differently from any other lie.

Can I touch the ground in a penalty area?

Yes, since 2019. You can ground the club, take practice swings that touch the ground or water, and move loose impediments.

Where do I read the full rules?

The USGA and the R&A publish them together. The USGA's rules pages have the full text, a player's edition in plain English, and a free app that's handy when something strange happens on the course.