Player's Guide to R&A Rules of Golf for Club Competitions All ages 2026

It depends which way the mistake goes (Rule 3.3b(3)), once you've returned your card:

Exception for penalties you didn't know about: if your score was too low only because you left out penalty strokes you didn't know you'd incurred, you're not disqualified. If it's found before the competition closes, the Committee adds the missing penalty strokes to that hole. This exception doesn't apply if:

• the missing penalty was disqualification, or
• you were told a penalty might apply, or were unsure and didn't raise it with the Committee before returning your card.

Mistakes in adding up or in handicap strokes aren't penalised. You don't have to add up your score or apply your handicap; the Committee does that.

The best protection: check each hole with your marker as you go, and go through the card carefully before you sign and return it.

Medal (stroke play): yes. Under Rule 3.3c you must hole out on every hole. If you don't, you must correct it before making a stroke to start another hole (or, on the last hole, before returning your card), or you're disqualified.

Stableford (Rule 21.1): you don't have to hole out. Points are based on your score against a fixed target, which is par unless the Committee sets something else. In a handicap competition your net score is compared with par.

• Once you can't score a point, you're encouraged to pick up to keep play moving.
• If you hole out and score points, the card must show your actual score. For a zero-point hole, you can leave it blank or write any score that gives zero points.
• A few breaches that would disqualify you in a medal (such as not holing out) only cost you the points for that hole in Stableford. Other disqualification penalties still apply.

Maximum Score (Rule 21.2) works the same way: if you pick up, you get the Committee's maximum score for that hole.

The general penalty in stroke play is two strokes. These are the ones that catch club golfers most often:

Wrong ball and teeing area mistakes: if you don't correct them before playing from the next tee (or, on the last hole, before returning your card), you're disqualified.

No penalty for: hitting the flagstick left in the hole, repairing spike marks on the green, removing loose impediments in a bunker or penalty area, or accidentally moving your ball while searching for it.

Lost or out of bounds = stroke and distance (Rule 18.2b). Add one penalty stroke and play again from where you made your previous stroke.

• Lost: not found within 3 minutes of starting to search (Rule 18.2a).
• Out of bounds: only when the whole ball is outside the boundary edge. If any part is inside, it's in bounds.

Save time with a provisional ball (Rule 18.3):

• Allowed when your ball might be lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds.
• You must announce it before you play, using the word "provisional" or otherwise making it clear. "I'll play another one" isn't enough; without a proper announcement the second ball becomes your ball in play under stroke and distance.
• You can keep playing the provisional until you reach the area where the original ball is likely to be.

What happens next:

Strokes with an abandoned provisional don't count.

Play it as it lies, no penalty (Rule 17.1b). The same Rules apply as in the general area. There are no special restrictions on how you play from a penalty area, so you can ground your club and move loose impediments.

Or take penalty relief for one stroke (Rule 17.1d):

Things to know:

• You must know, or be virtually certain, that the ball is in the penalty area to use these options. If it might just be lost elsewhere, play a provisional ball.
• You can't take free relief from an abnormal course condition, or use the unplayable ball Rule, while your ball is in a penalty area.

These are abnormal course conditions: animal holes, ground under repair, immovable obstructions (such as cart paths) and temporary water. Relief is under Rule 16.1.

When you get relief: your ball touches or lies in the condition, or the condition physically interferes with your stance or swing. On the putting green only, it also counts if the condition is on your line of play.

No free relief when:

• your ball is in a penalty area (use Rule 17 instead)
• playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable because of something else (for example, a bush prevents a stroke)
• the interference only exists because of a clearly unreasonable club, stance, swing or direction of play.

How to take it:

The nearest point of complete relief isn't always the nicest spot. It can be in thick rough.

Yes, if it's in the general area (Rule 16.3).

When it counts as embedded: the ball is in its own pitch mark made by your previous stroke, and part of the ball is below the level of the ground.

How to take relief:

• The reference point is the spot right behind the ball.
• Drop in a relief area one club-length from that point, in the general area and not nearer the hole.
• No penalty.

When you can't take relief:

• The ball is embedded in sand in a part of the general area that isn't cut to fairway height or less.
• The ball is in a bunker or penalty area (Rule 16.3 only covers the general area).
• Interference is only from something clearly unreasonable, or playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable because of something else (for example, it's plugged under a bush).

On the putting green, you can repair the pitch mark under Rule 13.1c instead.

You can declare your ball unplayable anywhere except in a penalty area (Rule 19). Each option costs one penalty stroke.

In the general area or on the green (Rule 19.2):

• Stroke and distance: play again from where you made your previous stroke (you don't need to have found the ball).
• Back on the line: drop behind the ball's spot, keeping that spot between the hole and where you drop, as far back as you like. The relief area is one club-length from where the ball first touches the ground, not nearer the hole.
• Lateral relief: drop within two club-lengths of the ball's spot, not nearer the hole. If the ball is in a tree, measure from the spot directly below it.

For back-on-the-line and lateral relief you must know where the ball is.

In a bunker (Rule 19.3):

In a penalty area: you can't use Rule 19. Your only relief is penalty relief under Rule 17.

Under Rule 14.3:

1. You must drop the ball yourself (not your caddie or partner).
2. Drop it from knee height, meaning the height of your knee when you're standing.
3. Let it fall straight down without throwing, spinning or rolling it, and it mustn't touch your body or equipment before it hits the ground.
4. It must land in, and come to rest in, the relief area for the Rule you're using.

If the ball rolls out of the relief area, drop again. If it rolls out a second time, place the ball where it first touched the ground on the second drop.

Playing from the wrong place (Rule 14.7): if you play a ball from somewhere the Rules don't allow, it's the general penalty (2 strokes in stroke play). If it was a serious breach (you could have gained a significant advantage), you must correct it by playing out the hole from the right place before teeing off on the next hole, or before returning your card on the last hole, or you're disqualified. If you're not sure whether it was serious, play out the hole with both balls and report it to the Committee.

Marking and lifting (Rule 13.1b): you may lift and clean your ball on the green, but you must mark its spot before lifting and replace it on the original spot.

Repairing damage (Rule 13.1c): you may repair damage on the green without penalty, including ball marks and spike marks, using your hand or foot, a ball-mark repair tool, a tee, a club or similar equipment. Don't unreasonably delay play, and don't go beyond restoring the green to its original condition (for example, creating a path to the hole). That's the general penalty (2 strokes in stroke play).

Flagstick (Rule 13.2a): you can putt with the flagstick left in the hole. If your ball hits it, there's no penalty and you play the ball as it lies. The exception is deliberately moving it off-centre to gain an advantage (general penalty).

Hitting another ball (Rule 11.1a): in stroke play, if your ball played from the green hits another ball at rest on the green, and both balls were on the green before your stroke, you get the general penalty (2 strokes). Ask for the other ball to be marked if it might be in the way.

Holing out: in a medal you must hole out on every hole (see the question on not holing out).

Not on the course itself. Under Rule 5.2b, in stroke play you must not practise on the course before a round on the day of the competition. You may:

• practise putting or chipping on or near the first teeing area
• practise on any practice area
• practise on or near the putting green of the hole you've just completed, even if you'll replay it that day.

You can practise on the course after you've finished your final round of the day.

Starting on time (Rule 5.3a): you must be at your starting point, ready to play, at your starting time.

There's no penalty if the Committee decides exceptional circumstances stopped you starting on time.

Handicap note (GB&I): the national associations' handicapping guidance says a general play score played before a competition round on the same course and tees would breach this Rule (unless your club authorises it), while one played after the competition round is fine.

In stroke play you can play two balls under Rule 20.1c(3), without penalty:

• Decide to do it after the doubtful situation arises and before you make another stroke.
• Tell your marker or another player which ball you want to count. If you don't choose, the ball you played first counts.
• Complete the hole with both balls.
• Report the facts to the Committee before you return your scorecard, even if you scored the same with both balls. If you don't, you are disqualified.

Other points (Rule 20.1):

• If no referee or Committee member is available in a reasonable time, you must decide what to do and play on.
• Players can help each other with the Rules, but you can't settle a Rules issue by agreement. Any such agreement doesn't bind the Committee.
• If you believe another player has breached a Rule and isn't owning up to it, tell them, their marker or the Committee before they return their card. If you don't, the Committee may disqualify you for serious misconduct.

In match play there's no two-ball option. If no referee is available, tell your opponent you'll be asking for a ruling later. You must make that request in time, or the result of the hole stands.