Golf Rules

The game of golf as we know it today originated in the 1400s in Scotland but the first relations of the game go back as far as the first century B.C. In 1457 King James II of Scotland outlawed the game as an unwelcome distraction and no doubt many golf widows and widowers wish it had remained so.

Golf's official rules are full of obscure rulings for instances that will likely never occur. Because of this, this lesson will only touch on the most common rules - the ones you would likely encounter on the course a few times per round.

Regarded as the home of golf, the Old Course at St Andrews was established in 1552. Although Musselburgh Links is officially recognized as the world’s oldest course and dates from “just” 1672, there is no doubting golf is a sport with serious history and a seriously intimidating set of rules.


Before we get into the rules and scoring of golf, let's cover the game's basic framework. In a full game of golf, a player uses a series of differently shaped metal clubs to strike a small ball into a hole that is slightly larger than the ball. Players generally start this quest from anywhere between 100 to as many as 600 yards from the hole. 토토사이트 Depending on distance and difficulty, a golfer is expected to complete this task in 3, 4, or 5 strokes; this standard is called par. Par is simply a guideline; the fewer strokes a golfer takes, the better. A golfer completes 18 holes over the course of a single round of golf. If competing against others, the golfer who takes the fewest strokes to complete the round wins.

The object of the game is simple enough: to get your ball from the tee to the green and ultimately into the hole in as few shots as possible. “The hole” refers both to the physical hole marked by a flag into which the ball must be sunk and also the entire area from the tee to the green. This may be considered one unit of the course, with a standard course consisting of 18 separate holes played in turn.

In normal stroke-play golf, the player who takes the lowest amount of strokes to complete the round wins. In addition, any players who deny other players their right to exercise a certain rule are disqualified.

The most common scoring method in golf is called stroke play, where the total number of shots a player takes to get the ball into each hole is added together. At amateur level this is usually over one round (set of 18 holes) whilst professionals normally play four rounds, starting on a Thursday and finishing a tournament on the Sunday.

For many years, there were two sets of Rules, codified by the USGA and The R&A. Beginning in 1952 the two groups standardized the rules, publishing a new set every two years, usually with some minor changes. However, it was not until 1990 that the two sets of Rules truly became one.  Golf is a global game and now The R&A and USGA issue a single set of Rules to apply worldwide to all golfers.