Rules School

Episode 1 focuses on Rule 1: The Game, Player Conduct, and the Rules.   

Episode 2 focuses on Rule 2: The Course.

Episode 3 focuses on Rule 3: The Competition. Rule 3 covers the three central elements of all golf competitions: Playing either match play or stroke play, Playing either as an individual or with a partner as part of a side, and Scoring either by gross scores (no handicap strokes applied) or net scores (handicap strokes applied).

Episode 4 focuses on Rule 4: The Player's Equipment. Rule 4 covers the equipment that players may use during a round.

Episode 5 focuses on Rule 5: Playing the Round. Rule 5 covers how to play a round - such as where and when a player may practice on the course before or during a round, when a round starts, and what happens when play has to stop or resume.

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 allowed, the order of play, (which matters more in match play than stroke play) and completing a hole. 

Rule 7 allows the player to take reasonable actions to fairly search for his or her ball in play after each stroke. 

Rule 8 covers a central principle of the game: "play the course as you find it".

Rule 9 covers a central principle of the game: "play the ball as it lies".

Rule 10 covers how to prepare for and make a stroke, including advice and other help the player may get from others (including caddies). The underlying principle is that golf is a game of skill and personal challenge. 

Rule 11 covers what to do if the player's ball in motion hits a person, animal, equipment, or anything else on the course.

Rule 12 is a specific Rule for bunkers, which are specially prepared areas intended to test the player's ability to play a ball from the sand. To make sure the player confronts this challenge, there are some restrictions on touching the sand before the stroke is made and on where relief may be taken for a ball in a bunker. 

Rule 13 is a specific Rule for putting greens. Putting greens are specially prepared for playing the ball along the ground and there is a flagstick for the hole on each putting green, so certain different Rules apply than for other areas of the course. 

Rule 14 covers when and how a 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 place. 

Rule 15 covers when and how the player may take free relief from loose impediments and movable obstructions. 

Rule 16 covers when and how the player may take free relief by playing a ball from a different place, such as when there is interference by an abnormal course condition or a dangerous animal condition. 

Rule 17 is a specific Rule for penalty areas, which are bodies of water or other areas defined by the Committee where a ball is often lost or unable to be played. For one penalty stroke, players may use specific relief options to play a ball from outside the penalty area. 

Rule 18 covers taking relief under penalty of stroke and distance. When a ball is lost outside a penalty area or comes to rest out of bounds the player must resume by playing again from where the previous stroke was made. This Rule also covers how and when a provisional ball may be played. 

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 difficult situation anywhere on the course (except in a penalty area).

Rule 20 covers what players should do when they have questions about the Rules during a round, including the procedures (which differ in match play and stroke play) allowing a player to protect the right to get a ruling at a later time. Rule 20 also covers the role of referees who are authorized to decide questions of fact and apply the Rules. 

Rule 21 covers four other forms of individual play, including three forms of stroke play where scoring is different than in regular stroke play: Stableford, Maximum Score, and Par/Bogey. 

Rule 22 covers Foursomes, where two partners compete together as a side by alternating in making strokes at a single ball. The Rules for this form of play are essentially the same as for individual play, except for requiring the partners to alternate in teeing off to start a hole and to play out each hole with alternate shots. 

Rule 23 covers Four-Ball (played either in match play or stroke play), where partners compete as a side with each playing a separate ball. The side's score for a hole is the lower score of the partners on that hole. 

Rule 24 covers team competitions (played in either match play or stroke play), where multiple players or sides compete as a team with the results of their rounds or matches combined to produce an overall team score.