subject: Golf - Basic Rules [print this page] Dress appropriately, if you are not familiar with the golf course and you do not know what to wear, make it your duty to go there and enquire beforehand. Do not tee off when anybody is around because you might just hit him or her as you swing the club. Make sure that there is no one around you.
On the golf course, you should only play with one ball and you should not substitute it. Use one ball until you get to the clubhouse. If you lose the ball, for example if you tee off in a far off place and you cant reach the ball, then you are supposed to replace the ball and place on your last tee off position but that earns you a penalty stroke in your score. This means that you have to go back. It is time wastage, and you will want to save your precious time.
Stroke is the forward swing of your club when you want to strike the ball. If the swing is stopped voluntarily halfway down the strike, then there was no stroke. If the swing is complete and you do not get to hit the ball, it is still a swing. You are not penalized if the ball falls off before you have started the stroke forward.
You should mark the ball that you will be using to differentiate it from the rest of the players. If you do not, you will find it hard to identify it from the rest when they are placed together. The game requires you to have 14 clubs and this is exactly what you should have. Make sure that they are all there before you start the game because you will not be given time to go back and look for the one you need.
When playing, make sure you tee off in the marked spots. If you tee off outside the marked area, the person you are playing against may demand that you do it again and this is a penalty by any other name. In match play, this is not a penalty but in stroke play, this is a penalty and you end up getting two-stroke penalty.
You should never push or spoon the ball. This is to ensure that the game is played fairly. When you are putting, make sure you do not shadow your colleagues. Do not walk in front of them. Do not bring along the golfing carts when you are in the golf course for sale. You should only do so in the specified areas and make sure that you do it carefully to ensure the safety of the other players.
Make sure that you wait until the last group has finished putting and then you can start a hole. When you lose the ball, you are only given five minutes to search for the lost ball and if you exceed that time, you are penalized.
