Play the course as you find it and play the ball as it lies. Play by the Rules and in the spirit of the game. You are responsible for applying your own penalties if you breach a Rule, so that you ...

5.7/1 – Circumstances When a Player’s Low Handicap Index Becomes More Than 365 Days Old After submitting a score on 1 March 2025, a player’s Handicap Index calculates at 12.3. Their Low Handicap Index ...

When you sign up for a Handicap Index through USGA.org, you’ll receive membership to your local Allied Golf Association (AGA), which gives you access to benefits such as a mobile app to post scores, ...

Net double bogey, and Net par. It is important that an accurate par be established for each hole on a golf course for both men and women, and these values should be printed alongside each hole on the ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 7 allows you to take reasonable actions to fairly search for your ball in play after each stroke. But you must be careful, as a penalty will apply if you act excessively and ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 5 covers how to play a round – such as where and when a player may practise on the course before or during a round, when a round starts and ends and what happens when play has to ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 14 covers when and how you may mark the spot of your ball at rest and lift and clean your ball and how to put it back into play so that your ball is played from the right place.

Purpose of Rule: Rule 4 covers the equipment that players may use during a round. Based on the principle that golf is a challenging game in which success should depend on the player’s judgment, skills ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 14 covers when and how the player may mark the spot of a ball at rest and lift and clean the ball and how to put a ball back into play so that the ball is played from the right ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 19 covers the player’s several relief options for an unplayable ball. This allows the player to choose which option to use – normally with one penalty stroke – to get out of a ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 8 covers a central principle of the game: “play the course as you find it.” When the player’s ball comes to rest, they normally have to accept the conditions affecting the stroke ...

Purpose of Rule: Rule 6 covers how to play a hole – such as the specific Rules for teeing off to start a hole, the requirement to use the same ball for an entire hole except when substitution is ...