⛳ Stuff Every Golfer Should Know: Training Guide

Par and scores under par

Par is the score a scratch golfer is expected to make on a hole in normal conditions. It usually allows for two putts. Par is not a promise that a beginner will score that number.

Current R&A guidance includes par 6 for very long holes, so par is not limited to 3, 4, or 5.

A birdie is one stroke under par. On a par 4, a score of 3 is a birdie. The bird names get bigger as scores get lower: birdie, eagle, albatross, condor.

An eagle means finishing a hole two strokes below par. For example, if a par-5 hole is completed in 3 strokes, that is an eagle. To make an eagle on a par 5, a player can reach the green in two shots and then hole the putt.

An albatross is three under par. On a par 4, that means a score of 1, and on a par 5, a score of 2. It is also called a double eagle and is far rarer than a hole in one.

Scores over par and special scores

A bogey means scoring one stroke over par on a hole. If a hole is par 4 and you take 5 strokes, you make a bogey. Two over par is called a double bogey, and three over par is a triple bogey.

The National Hole-In-One Registry says a hole in one is scored about once every 3,500 rounds. It also lists the average player's odds at 12,000 to 1 and the average handicap among golfers making an ace at 14.

The registry also lists the average player's odds of a hole in one at 12,000 to 1 and the average handicap of a player making one at 14.

Stroke play and match play

In stroke play, everyone adds up every stroke, including penalty strokes, over all the holes. The player with the lowest total score wins. Most professional tournaments use stroke play.

In match play, players compete hole by hole. The winner is the player who wins the most holes. A match ends as soon as one side leads by more holes than remain.

A match score like 3 and 2 means the leader is 3 holes up with 2 holes left to play.

Handicap and net score

A scratch golfer is a player with a Handicap Index of 0.0. Course Ratings are set for how hard a course plays for that scratch player.

Your gross score is the actual number of strokes you card. Your net score is your gross score minus any handicap strokes you receive. Net score lets players of different handicaps compete fairly.

A Score Differential compares your adjusted score with the Course Rating. It also reflects Slope Rating and that day's playing conditions. The playing conditions adjustment needs at least eight acceptable scores from that day.

Once a scoring record has at least 20 Score Differentials, the World Handicap System averages your best 8 of the most recent 20. A Score Differential at least 7.0 strokes better than your Handicap Index at the time is an exceptional score.

For a player with an established Handicap Index, the maximum hole score for posting is net double bogey: par plus two, adjusted for handicap strokes on that hole. There is no limit to how many holes in a round can be adjusted to net double bogey.

Out of bounds and lost balls

A ball at rest is out of bounds only when all of it is outside the boundary edge. If any part of the ball touches or hangs over the course side, it is still in bounds. You may stand out of bounds to hit a ball that is still on the course.

If your tee shot goes out of bounds, the standard rule is to add one penalty stroke and play again from where you last hit. Replaying a tee shot means your next shot from the tee is your third stroke.

You may search for a ball for three minutes. The clock starts when you or your caddie begins searching, not when the shot lands. If you are not sure a found ball is yours, you get a reasonable extra moment to identify it.

Once you put a new ball in play under stroke and distance, the original ball is no longer in play. That is true even if you find it within the three-minute search time. A provisional ball is the exception.

Stroke-and-distance and provisional balls

Stroke-and-distance relief is available at any time from anywhere on the course. You add one penalty stroke and play from the spot of your previous stroke.

A provisional ball is allowed when the original ball might be lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds. It can save a return to the previous spot. If the original might be lost only inside a penalty area, a provisional is not allowed.

Before hitting a provisional ball, you must announce that it is a provisional ball. Saying 'playing another ball' is not enough. If no one is nearby, you may play it and tell someone when you can.

If your provisional ball sits closer to the hole than where the first ball likely is and you hit it, the provisional becomes your ball in play. The original is then a wrong ball, even if found.

A club may use an optional Local Rule alternative for a lost or out of bounds ball. It gives a two penalty stroke drop between where the ball was lost or went out and the edge of the fairway. It cannot be used for an unplayable ball or a ball known to be in a penalty area.

That Local Rule suits general play, like casual rounds or a club's own competitions. It is not appropriate for competitions limited to highly skilled players. A club may use it for the whole course or only on blind landing holes.

Playing the ball as it lies

The basic rule is to play a ball at rest as it lies. You may move it only when a Rule requires or allows it, like taking relief. Some clubs use a preferred lies Local Rule in wet weather as a special exception.

If you accidentally knock your ball off its spot in the rough during a practice swing, you get one penalty stroke and must replace it. If you hit it from the new spot without replacing it, the penalty becomes the general penalty.

On the putting green, accidentally bumping your ball with your putter is never a penalty. You replace it on its original spot. Accidentally moving your ball while searching or identifying it is also penalty-free.

In stroke play, if you hit someone else's ball by mistake, you get two penalty strokes then must play your own ball. The strokes with the wrong ball do not count. If you do not correct the mistake before teeing off on the next hole, you are disqualified.

Order of play

The honor on the next tee goes to the player with the lowest gross score on the previous hole, even in a handicap event. It is not based on age, speed, or arrival.

If players tie a hole, they should tee off in the same order as the hole before.

Ready golf in stroke play means players may play out of turn for convenience or pace when it is safe. There is no penalty for playing out of turn unless players agree to do it to give one of them an advantage.

Red and yellow penalty areas

Penalty areas are defined as red or yellow. White usually marks out of bounds. The color changes which relief options you get. Penalty areas used to be called water hazards, but now they can include deserts, jungles, and rocks.

Yellow penalty areas offer two options: stroke and distance, or back on the line. Red areas add a third option called lateral relief. Each option costs one penalty stroke. Committees often mark red when there is no good spot to drop back on the line, like a lake running along a fairway.

The standard lateral relief area for a red penalty area is two club-lengths from where the ball last crossed the red edge. You measure from the crossing point, not from where the ball ended up. Rule 25.4m expands it to four club-lengths for a player using a wheeled mobility device.

You may play a ball from a penalty area as it lies with no penalty. Since 2019 you may touch the ground and move loose leaves or twigs in a penalty area, just like in the general area.

Relief from a yellow penalty area costs one penalty stroke. Back-on-the-line relief lets you go back as far as you like, keeping the crossing point between you and the hole.

Unplayable ball

Only the player may decide to treat their ball as unplayable. Nobody else can make that call. You can even call a ball unplayable in the middle of the fairway, though you still add a stroke.

Unplayable ball relief is allowed anywhere on the course except in a penalty area. If the ball is in a penalty area, you must use the penalty area rule instead. Bunkers are allowed, but some unplayable options there keep you in the sand.

For a ball unplayable in the rough, you have three options: stroke and distance, back on the line, or lateral relief within two club-lengths. Each adds one penalty stroke. For back-on-the-line or lateral relief you must know where the ball is; stroke and distance works even if it is never found.

For a ball unplayable in a bunker, one option lets you drop outside the bunker: back on the line outside, for two penalty strokes. One-stroke back-on-the-line and lateral relief must stay in the bunker. Stroke-and-distance relief costs one stroke and returns you to the previous spot, outside the bunker only if your previous stroke was made there.

Dropping and measuring

When taking relief, you must drop the ball from knee height and let it fall straight down. You may not throw, spin, or roll it. Before 2019 golfers dropped from shoulder height.

A club-length is not one step. The Rules define it as the length of your longest club other than a putter.

For most players the longest club other than a putter is the driver. The same club-length is used to measure a teeing area, which is a rectangle two club-lengths deep.

Embedded ball relief

Free relief for an embedded ball means no penalty stroke. You drop within one club-length of the spot right behind where the ball sits.

The general area includes the fairway and the rough. The relief works in the rough too, except in sand that is not cut short.

The ball must be partly below the ground and in its own pitch mark from the previous stroke. A ball stepped on or a ball hit straight into the ground without going airborne is not embedded.

The flagstick and holed balls

The flagstick is the tall pole in the hole. You may leave it in or have it removed, but you must decide before your stroke.

You may putt from the green with the flagstick left in the hole, from anywhere, and there is normally no penalty if the ball hits it. Before 2019, hitting the flagstick with a putt from the green cost two strokes in stroke play.

A ball resting against the flagstick is holed if any part of it is in the hole below the surface of the putting green, even if the whole ball is not. A ball hanging over the lip gets a reasonable time to walk up plus ten more seconds to fall in.

Repairing the putting green

You may repair damage on the putting green, including ball marks and shoe damage such as spike marks. You may use your hand, foot, a repair tool, tee, or club, and you must not delay play.

Aeration holes and natural wear are not damage, so you may not fix them before a putt.

You may repair ball marks and spike marks on the putting green before you putt. Rule 1.2a also asks players to repair ball-marks and replace divots.

Bunkers and course care

After playing from a bunker, you should rake the sand smooth. Raking removes your footprints and club marks. You may smooth the sand without penalty once your ball is out.

Where to leave the rake differs by course, so follow the course signs.

After you make a divot in the fairway, replace the divot. Rule 1.2a also asks players to repair ball-marks and smooth bunkers.

When a course posts cart path only, keep the cart on the cart path. This protects the turf and follows the course rules.

Pace and safety

The Rules of Golf recommend making each stroke in no more than 40 seconds once you are able to play. Players should usually play faster than 40 seconds.

If your ball may hit someone, shout a warning right away, such as the traditional fore. Rule 1.2a also asks every player to look out for the safety of others.

When another player is hitting, stay quiet and still. Noise or movement can distract a player during a swing.

When lightning is seen, stop playing and enter a substantial building. NOAA says there is no safe place outside and golf carts are not safe shelter. Rule 5.7a lets you stop play if you believe lightning is a danger. Stay inside until 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.

Golf clubs and what they do

The short irons are the 8 and 9 irons and the pitching wedge. The long irons are the 1 to 4 irons, and the middle irons are the 5 to 7 irons. The PGA glossary counts the sand wedge as a scoring or specialty club, not a short iron.

Wedges have the most loft, so they send the ball high and short around the green. A short, high shot that lands softly is called a lob shot. A sand wedge has a wide flange on its sole that helps it work in deep, powdery sand.

The putter is the club for rolling the ball on the putting green. The Equipment Rules define a putter as a club with no more than ten degrees of loft. The putter is the only club allowed to be longer than 48 inches.

Loft is the angle of the clubface. More loft generally produces a higher launch. Tom Kite helped popularize the 60-degree lob wedge.

Club and equipment limits

You may start a round with fewer than 14 clubs and add clubs later, as long as you never go over 14. The limit counts every club carried by or for the player.

In stroke play, carrying a 15th club costs two penalty strokes per hole where the breach happened, with a maximum of four penalty strokes for the round. In match play, the match score is cut by one hole per breach, up to two holes.

A driver head has a stated volume limit of 460 cubic centimeters, with a measurement tolerance of 10 cubic centimeters. The volume limit and its tolerance apply only to woodheads, not irons or putters.

Links courses

A traditional links course is built on sandy land by the sea, called linksland. It is not just another name for any golf course.

The links style comes from sandy coastal terrain that links land to the sea. The Old Course at St Andrews is an example and will host The Open from 11 to 18 July 2027.

The Open is the oldest of the four men's majors, first played in 1860.

The majors and the green jacket

The four men's majors are the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The Open. Together they form golf's Grand Slam.

The Masters winner receives a green jacket. Augusta National members wear them, and every Masters champion gets one too.

Sam Snead became the first Masters winner to get a green jacket, in 1949.