Burns, gorse and winter rules: the Rules of Golf British club golfers get wrong

Ask the bar at any British golf club about a ruling and you will get four confident answers, at least two of them out of date. The Rules of Golf, published by The R&A for golfers in Great Britain and Ireland, were modernised in 2019 and revised again in 2023, yet a lot of clubhouse wisdom still dates from before.

A handful of situations cause most of the confusion in club golf, and British courses serve them up constantly: a burn in front of the green, a ball in gorse, a plugged lie in a pot bunker, a sprinkler head, a winter morning with preferred lies. In most of them the Rules are kinder than golfers think.

Burns, ponds and ditches: penalty areas

When your ball is in a penalty area, including when it is known or virtually certain to be there even though it has not been found, Rule 17.1d gives you relief options for one penalty stroke each, or you can play it as it lies:

• Stroke and distance: play again from where you last played.
• Back-on-the-line relief: drop outside the penalty area on a line that keeps the point where the ball last crossed the edge between the hole and where you drop, going back as far as you like.
• Lateral relief, red penalty areas only: drop within two club-lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the edge, no nearer the hole.

Yellow penalty areas give you the first two options but not the lateral one. The mistake British golfers make most often is measuring from where the ball splashed into the burn, or from where they are standing on the bank. The reference point is where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, which may be several yards away.

The second mistake concerns certainty. If you did not see the ball go in and it could equally be in the long grass beside the ditch, it is not “known or virtually certain” to be in the penalty area. It is lost, and stroke and distance applies.

Provisional balls: say the word

If your ball might be lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds, play a provisional. But announce it. Rule 18.3b says you must use the word “provisional” or otherwise clearly indicate that you are playing a ball provisionally. “I’ll hit another” is not enough: that ball becomes your ball in play under stroke and distance, even if the original is then found in the middle of the fairway.

A ball is lost if it is not found within three minutes of you or your caddie starting to search. That short limit makes the provisional all the more worthwhile when your drive disappears towards the gorse.

Some clubs also adopt Model Local Rule E-5 for general play, which offers an alternative to going back: a drop between where the ball was lost or went out of bounds and the edge of the fairway, not nearer the hole, for two penalty strokes. It is a local rule, not a standard Rule, and The R&A says it is not appropriate for professional or elite amateur competitions. Check the scorecard or noticeboard before using it.

Unplayable in the gorse or a pot bunker

Rule 19.1 says you may declare your ball unplayable anywhere on the course except in a penalty area, and you alone decide. For one penalty stroke, you can take stroke and distance, back-on-the-line relief, or lateral relief within two club-lengths of the ball, no nearer the hole.

In a bunker, the back-on-the-line and lateral options keep you in the bunker for one stroke. Rule 19.3b adds an extra option for two penalty strokes: back-on-the-line relief outside the bunker. When the ball is plugged under the revetted face of a links pot bunker, that two-stroke option is often the cheapest way out.

Club golfers routinely take three hacks at a ball buried in gorse before accepting a penalty they could have taken at the start. Declaring unplayable early is one of the most reliable ways to save shots.

Free relief: when you get it

Abnormal course conditions give free relief under Rule 16.1: animal holes, ground under repair, immovable obstructions such as paths, sprinkler heads and drains, and temporary water, the puddles that gather on British fairways after heavy rain. In the general area, find the nearest point of complete relief, no nearer the hole, and drop within one club-length of it.

Two points trip people up. The nearest point of complete relief is simply the nearest, not the best. It may put you behind a tree. And complete relief covers your stance and swing as well as the ball, so relief from a path may move you further than you expect.

Divot holes are not abnormal course conditions, so a ball in one is played as it lies. Nor are aeration holes, unless the committee has adopted Model Local Rule E-4 to allow relief from them.

Winter rules in Britain: preferred lies and mats

“Winter rules” is not a term in the Rules of Golf, but British clubs commonly use local rules over the colder, wetter months.

Preferred lies. Model Local Rule E-3 lets a committee allow players to lift, clean and place a ball lying in an area cut to fairway height or less, within a distance the committee specifies, such as one club-length, one scorecard length or six inches, not nearer the hole. The committee sets the area and the distance; read the notice.

Fairway mats. Model Local Rule E-12 lets a committee require mats on fairway-height areas when cold weather is limiting grass growth. If your club uses them, carry the mat you are given.

Without such a local rule, you may not clean a muddy ball in the general area except when you lift it under a Rule that allows cleaning.

The flagstick and the green

Under Rule 13.2a you may putt with the flagstick left in the hole, and there is no penalty if the ball hits it. You must decide before the stroke. Whether leaving it in helps is debated; that it is allowed is not.

Rule 13.1c allows you to repair damage on the putting green, including ball marks, shoe damage and old hole plugs, using your hand, foot, a normal repair tool, tee or club, without unreasonably delaying play. It does not let you create a path to the hole. Aeration holes are not covered unless the committee has adopted the local rule. You may also mark, lift and clean your ball on the green.

Dropping and measuring

Rule 14.3 requires you to drop from knee height, meaning the height of your knee when standing. The ball must fall straight down without touching you or your equipment before it hits the ground.

Club-lengths are measured with the longest club in your bag other than the putter, usually the driver. Two club-lengths is more room than many golfers realise.

Where to learn the Rules in Britain

The R&A. The full Rules of Golf, the Committee Procedures and the model local rules are free on its website, and the official R&A Rules App puts them on your phone. Its online Rules Academy covers the most common situations.

Rules seminars. The R&A’s three-tier Rules Seminars are delivered with national federations, so ask England Golf, Scottish Golf or Wales Golf about courses near you.

Your club. The noticeboard, competition terms and scorecard carry the local rules. When a new winter local rule appears, it is worth reading rather than assuming.

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When in doubt in a competition

In stroke play, if you are unsure what the Rules allow, you may play two balls under Rule 20.1c(3), telling your marker which ball you want to count if the Rules allow it, and report the facts to the committee before returning your scorecard, even if both balls score the same. Failing to report means disqualification.

Most rulings go wrong because someone guessed and moved the ball. Pause, check the app or ask, then act.