Rules of Golf

Get golf Rules ready

The R&A

11 Mar 23

5 min

With the Masters Tournament in April signalling the start of “major golf season” in the men’s game, a quick refresh of some of the common Rules situations that golfers experience on course can set you up for the season ahead. So let’s take a look at some of the basics.

Unplayable Ball (Rule 19)

At The Open, referees spend hours in advance poring over every inch of the course and familiarising themselves with Rules scenarios that might arise involving grandstands and TV towers, but the situation that crops up more than any other is the unplayable ball Rule. If you find your ball on the course in an area where you don’t want to play it as it lies (for example in a bush), this is when you can take a form of penalty relief known as “unplayable ball relief”. This type of relief is allowed anywhere on the course, except when the ball is in a penalty area. There are three options for relief, in each case adding one penalty stroke under Rule 19:

Stroke-and-distance relief
Back-on-the-line relief
Lateral relief

You can use the stroke and distance option even if the original ball has not been found and identified. However, to take back-on-the-line relief or lateral relief, you must know the spot of the original ball for these options to apply. To find out how to take relief for each of these options watch the following video.

Unplayable Ball

Lost Ball Rule (Rule 18.2)

When you hit your ball deep into the woods it is worth knowing that you cannot make your original ball lost by declaration. Stating “that ball is lost” is meaningless as it’s not what you say that matters, it’s what you do. A ball is only considered lost if:

It is not found in three minutes after you have begun to search for it; or
You have put another ball into play under penalty of stroke-and-distance; or
You make a stroke at a provisional ball from a spot nearer the hole than where the original ball is estimated to be.

If your ball is lost (or out of bounds), your only option is to take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing a ball from where the previous stroke was made. See video here.

Relief for Ball Lost or Out of Bounds

Provisional Ball (Rule 18.3)

The provisional ball Rule can help you to save time and effort. If, after playing a shot, you think your ball may be lost (outside a penalty area) or out of bounds you should play a provisional ball. Before playing the provisional ball, you must announce to someone that you are going to play a provisional ball. It’s not enough to say “I’ll play another” or “I’m going to reload.” You need to be more specific than that and use the word “provisional” or otherwise clearly indicate that you are playing the ball provisionally under Rule 18.3. If there is no one nearby to hear your announcement, you may still play the provisional ball and then inform someone of this as soon as it is possible to do so. Failure to make this announcement before playing from where the previous stroke was made, means the second ball played is in play under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 18.1) (and is not a provisional ball). If you have played a provisional ball and the original ball is lost or out of bounds, you must continue with the provisional ball, under penalty of one stroke. But if your original ball is found in bounds within three minutes of starting to search for it, you must continue with that ball and stop playing the provisional ball. To find out more about when your provisional ball becomes the ball in play, watch the following video.

Provisional Ball Becoming Ball in Play or Being Abandones

To learn more about the Rules, visit the video section in the Learn Tab of the Rules of Golf App.

Rules of Golf