What Rules of Golf do golfers of all ages need for a club medal or Stableford in South Africa? Scorecards, common penalties, lost balls and provisionals, penalty areas, free relief, dropping, unplayable balls and what to do when unsure of a ruling.
The 2023 edition of the Rules of Golf, written jointly by The R&A and the USGA, which took effect on 1 January 2023. The USGA administers the Rules in the United States, its territories and Mexico, and The R&A everywhere else, so South Africa (through GolfRSA) comes under The R&A.
Sources: Rules of Golf (2023); R&A/USGA "Additional Clarifications of the 2023 Rules of Golf", updated 2 October 2026; GolfRSA Rules of Handicapping 2024 club training.
The general penalty is two strokes in stroke play (loss of hole in match play).
| Situation | Penalty in stroke play |
|---|---|
| Ball lost (not found in 3 minutes) or out of bounds | 1 stroke, replay from where you last played |
| Relief from a penalty area | 1 stroke |
| Unplayable ball | 1 stroke (2 to drop back outside a bunker) |
| Accidentally moving your ball at rest (other than while searching for it, on the putting green or while applying a Rule) | 1 stroke, replace it |
| Playing a wrong ball | 2 strokes, and you must then play your own ball; disqualified if not corrected before teeing off on the next hole (or returning your card on the 18th) |
| Asking for or giving advice | 2 strokes |
| More than 14 clubs | 2 strokes per hole where the breach happened, maximum 4 |
| Playing from a wrong place (e.g. a bad drop played from outside the relief area) | 2 strokes |
| Not holing out | Disqualified unless corrected before teeing off on the next hole (in Stableford, zero points for the hole) |
| Returning a hole score lower than you took | Disqualified |
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rules 3.3b, 3.3c, 4.1b, 6.3c, 9.4, 10.2, 14.3, 14.7, 17, 18, 19, 21.1 and Definition of General Penalty.
Your marker (set by the Committee or chosen by you in a way it approves) keeps your card:
You must:
If you don't meet these requirements, you're disqualified (unless it was caused by your marker, beyond your control, such as the marker leaving with your card).
In South Africa, GolfRSA also requires you to show your Handicap Index on the card, and the Committee may ask for the tees played and your Course or Playing Handicap. Under the Rules of Golf, adding up and applying handicaps is the Committee's job, so there's no penalty for mistakes there.
Sources: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 3.3b; GolfRSA Rules of Handicapping 2024 club training (Scorecard information).
Once you've returned your scorecard in stroke play:
Exception for unknown penalties: if a hole score is too low only because you left out penalty strokes you didn't know about before returning your card, you're not disqualified. If it's found before the competition closes, the Committee adds the missed penalty strokes. This exception doesn't apply if the missed penalty was disqualification, or if you were told a penalty might apply (or were unsure) and didn't raise it with the Committee before returning your card.
Handicap and adding up: there's no penalty for mistakes in your handicap or the totals; the Committee is responsible for those under the Rules of Golf.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rules 3.3b(3) and (4), and 21.1b.
Stableford is a form of stroke play, so the normal stroke play Rules apply, with these differences in scoring:
| Score on the hole (net, in a handicap Stableford) | Points |
|---|---|
| More than one over par, or no score returned | 0 |
| One over par (bogey) | 1 |
| Par | 2 |
| One under (birdie) | 3 |
| Two under | 4 |
| Three under | 5 |
| Four under | 6 |
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 21.1.
If no referee or Committee member is available in a reasonable time:
Play two balls (stroke play only):
The Committee then decides which score counts.
Other points:
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 20.1c.
Play a provisional ball to save time. If your ball might be lost (outside a penalty area) or out of bounds, you may play another ball from where you just played.
Searching: a ball is lost if it isn't found within three minutes of you (or your caddie) starting to search.
What happens next:
No provisional played? If the ball is lost or out of bounds, you must go back and play from where you last played, adding one penalty stroke.
Your club may adopt a Local Rule allowing an alternative to going back; it applies only if the Committee has adopted it.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rules 18.2, 18.3 and Definition of Lost.
"Water hazards" are now called penalty areas. Any body of water on the course is a penalty area whether marked or not, and if the Committee hasn't marked its colour, it's treated as red.
You can play the ball as it lies without penalty, or take relief for one penalty stroke (you can do so if the ball is found, or if it's known or virtually certain to be in the penalty area):
| Option | Yellow | Red |
|---|---|---|
| Stroke and distance: play again from where you last played | ✓ | ✓ |
| Back-on-the-line: drop outside the penalty area, keeping the point where the ball last crossed the edge between the hole and where you drop, as far back as you like | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lateral: drop within two club-lengths of where the ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area, not nearer the hole | ✓ |
If it's not known or virtually certain that the ball is in the penalty area and you can't find it, it's a lost ball: stroke and distance.
You can't take free relief (for example, from ground under repair) for a ball in a penalty area.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 17 and Definition of Penalty Area.
These are abnormal course conditions: animal holes, ground under repair, immovable obstructions (such as cart paths and sprinkler heads) and temporary water. You get free relief when:
Being merely distracted by it isn't interference. There's no relief if the ball is in a penalty area, or if playing it is clearly unreasonable because of something else (for example, the ball is stuck in a bush).
How to take relief in the general area:
In a bunker: take free relief in the bunker, or for one penalty stroke, drop back-on-the-line outside the bunker.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 16.1.
Dropping the right way:
Where it ends up:
If you drop the wrong way, drop again (there's no limit, and it doesn't count as one of the two drops). If you play it anyway: one penalty stroke if played from the relief area, two strokes if played from outside it.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 14.3.
You alone decide whether your ball is unplayable, anywhere on the course except in a penalty area. Each option costs one penalty stroke:
For options 2 and 3 you must know where the original ball is.
In a bunker: options 2 and 3 must be taken in the bunker. For a total of two penalty strokes, you can instead drop back-on-the-line outside the bunker.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rules 19.1 to 19.3.
No. During a round you must not:
Penalty: the general penalty, two strokes in stroke play (loss of hole in match play).
What isn't advice: public information, such as where the hole is on the green, the location of penalty areas or the rules. Asking or giving advice is also allowed before a round, between rounds, and while play is stopped by the Committee. In partner formats, you may give advice to, and get it from, your partner and your partner's caddie.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 10.2a and Definition of Advice.
In stroke play (medals and Stablefords) there is no penalty for playing out of turn, and players are allowed and encouraged to play "ready golf", out of turn in a safe and responsible way.
The normal order is:
The one exception: if two or more players agree to play out of turn to give one of them an advantage, and one of them does, each player who agreed gets two penalty strokes.
In match play, order matters: if you play out of turn, your opponent may cancel the stroke and make you play again.
Source: Rules of Golf (2023), Rule 6.4.