Whether you are new to the game or an experienced player, the rules of golf can be particularly confusing at times. Sometimes, without intending to be rebellious, players can inadvertently stumble into a rules faux pas and be left red-faced by common occurrences in the game – like what to do after playing into a red penalty area or declaring a provisional ball.
The best way to arm yourself against costly penalties on the golf course is to deepen your understanding of the rule book, and luckily for you we have just the man to help.
In this video and article, Golf Monthly editor Neil Tappin is joined by rules aficionado Fergus Bisset as they explore and clear up five of the most perplexing rules in golf…
1. Advice
Plenty of golfers will have experienced a time on the course where they have either given or received some advice from a playing partner, but did you know that you may have been breaking the rules?
You might think you were just being friendly and helpful, but rule 10.2a will make you think twice before being so charitable in the future.
According to the rule, a player is not allowed to give advice to other players in the competition, nor are they allowed to ask advice from anybody other than their caddie. Advice is determined to be a comment or an action that would influence a player in the way that they either select a club or play a shot.
For example, if you had a 150-yard shot into the green on a par-3, you couldn’t ask which club your playing partner might be hitting, nor should they tell you this information. This would result in a general penalty, and likely a rather unhappy group for the rest of the round.
(Image credit: Future)
It’s not just verbal communication that can be scrutinised, as purposefully showing your club to a playing partner can also land you in hot water (general penalty).
There are some caveats to this, as your playing partner could say “The distance on this shot is around the same as your shot on the fourth hole, what did you hit?”, which interestingly would be perfectly fine by the letter of the law.
You could also take a sneaky look in your playing partner’s bag to see which club is missing as they take their shot, but be careful with this, as if you touch their equipment to do so, it will result in a general penalty.
This is a rule that…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…