In an absolute sense, the easiest Rules of Golf to get wrong are simply the ones you personally don’t know. These will be different in both number and nature for various golfers depending on whether or not they’ve experienced a particular scenario, how long they’ve been playing and so on.
So here, we’re going with a dozen of those that we see or hear about most often out on the course or at our clubs, or where the evidence of the Golf Monthly inbox suggests a wide level of uncertainty… or perhaps concentration lapses!
Failure to sign the scorecard
Don’t forget to sign your scorecard before you return it
(Image credit: Kenny Smith)
Rule 3.3b requires you as the player to certify/sign your scorecard before returning it to the Committee, whatever the procedure for that is at your club. If you don’t, you will be disqualified. It can be a very easy mistake to make if you get distracted at the wrong moment or steam is still coming out of your ears after a bad finish!
Playing the wrong ball
Playing the wrong ball here will prove very costly
(Image credit: Kenny Smith)
Lack of concentration or not checking properly are the usual culprits when someone plays a wrong ball. Perhaps there’s a ball where you’re pretty sure yours went and you just assume rather than checking; or you’ve been shorter than your playing companion all round so automatically go for the shorter ball… but this time yours got a big unseen kick forward off a downslope. It’s the general penalty for this under Rule 6.3c, so loss of hole in matchplay or two strokes in strokeplay, where you must also correct the error by continuing play with the correct ball before teeing off on the next hole – or before handing your card in if it was the final hole – to avoid disqualification
Playing from outside the teeing area
If you play from outside the teeing area the Rules are very different for strokeplay and matchplay
(Image credit: Kenny Smith)
This is another common concentration mistake that typically sees a player teeing up from the wrong set of tees or perhaps between a tee-marker and a sprinkler head. Whether you play from outside the teeing area, the wrong set of tee markers on the same hole or a different hole, it’s a two-stroke penalty in strokeplay under Rule 6.1b and you must correct the error by playing again from within the teeing area before teeing off on the next hole – or before handing your card in if it was the final hole – to avoid disqualification. In matchplay, there…
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