USGA Official Rules of Golf

The complete, unabridged USGA rules of golf, as previously adopted, printed on one poster print. This elegant print measures 27in x 40in and carries the complete text of the Official USGA Handbook.

Guaranteed the same as the pocket-sized version, this is the ultimate gift for the golfer in your life and the perfect wall art for the clubhouse, pro shop, study or office. A combined work of art and reference, this archival-quality One Page Rules of Golf makes the perfect Father’s Day gift, retirement present and tournament prize. Available as a print for framing yourself, or professionally mounted to wood — an elegant display alternative that complements any décor.

One Page Book Details: 

• 27in x 40in Print
• Heavyweight fine art paper
• Readable type size
• Beautiful centerpiece illustration in oil pastels.
• Shipped in a heavyweight tube
• 30-day money back guarantee

The Rules of Golf 

The rules of golf are a set of standards and regulations for which players of the game are required to adhere, or otherwise, face penalties for rule violations. Worldwide, the rules of golf are composed and overseen by rules of golf are composed and overseen by the international governing body of the sport of golf, the R&A (formerly The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews). The United States Golf Association (USGA), however, oversees the rules of golf for the United States and Mexico. Issued repeatedly, The Rules of Golf rulebook also outlines the rules regulating amateur status.

While it is not an official numbered rule, one of the chief tenets of the rules of golf is placed on the inside cover of the R&A’s publication of The Rules of Golf: f the chief tenets of the rules of golf is placed on the inside cover of the R&A’s publication of The Rules of Golf: “Play the ball as it lies, play the course as you find it, and if you cannot do either, do what is fair. But to do what is fair, you need to know the Rules of Golf.”

Apart from the rules of golf, the game of golf also recognizes a particular protocol for appropriate behavior, or etiquette, which involves both respecting other players and the golf course itself. Golfers typically consider etiquette to be as significant as the very rules of golf.

Background

Before the international regulation of the rules of golf, individual golf clubs often followed their own rules of golf. While overall, the rules of golf were the same across different clubs, there were often some minor variations, for instance the rules around removing loose impediments such as twigs or pebbles. In the late 1800s, the majority of golf clubs started to fall in line with the rules of golf of one of two clubs: the Society of St. Andrews Golfers or the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith, which would go on to become the R&A and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, respectively.

The first recorded rules of golf were drafted on March 7, 1744 by the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith for a golf tournament on April 2, 1744. Made up of thirteen rules, the first rules of golf were titled “Articles and Laws in Playing at Golf.”

1. “You must tell your ball within a club’s length of the hole.”
2. “Your Tee must be upon the ground.”
3. “You are not to change the ball which you strike off the tee.”
4. “You are not to remove stones, bones or any break club, for the sake of playing your ball, except upon the fair green within a club’s length of your ball.”
5. “If your ball comes among water, or any watery filth, you are at liberty to take out your ball & bringing it behind the hazard and teeing it, you may play it with any club and allow your adversary a stroke for so getting out your ball.”
6. “If your balls be found anywhere touching one another, you are to lift the first ball, till you play the last.”
7. “At holing, you are to play your ball honestly for the hole, and not to play upon your adversary’s ball, not lying in your way to the hole.”
8. “If you should lose your ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to go back to the spot, where you struck last, & drop another ball, and allow your adversary a stroke for the misfortune.”
9. “No man at holing his ball, is to be allowed, to mark his way to the hole with his club, or anything else.”
10. “If a ball be stopp’d by any person, horse, dog or anything else, the ball so stop’d must be play’d where it lies.”
11. “If you draw your club in order to strike, and proceed so far in the stroke as to be bringing down your club; if then, your club shall break, in any way, it is to be accounted a stroke.”
12. “He whose ball lies farthest from the hole is obliged to play first.”
13. “Neither trench, ditch or dyke, made for the preservation of the links, nor the scholar’s holes, or the soldier’s Lines, shall be accounted a hazard; but the ball is to be taken out and play’d with any iron club.”

There is still a dispute over who in fact wrote these original rules of golf, which bear the signature of John Rattray, and of which many elements are present in golf today, including rules surrounding interference, water, the order of play, the stroke, and the penalties for losing a ball. Despite the fact that Rattray signed the rules of golf, this does not mean that he was entirely responsible for their creation. He is considered the likely author, however, due to his standing in the Edinburgh society. Rattray proceeded to win the silver club playing under these rules for the second time in April of 1745.

Every four years, the Rules of Golf is published alongside the Rules of Amateur Status by the USGA and the R&A. The Rules of Golf delineates how golfers are expected to play the game of golf. Since 1952, the Rules of Golf have been published jointly by the R&A and USGA, and prior to 2012, the groups published the same material in separate versions. Now, the same material is published in identical fashion with matching formats and covers, with only minor variations in logos and spelling. The R&A, which was formerly The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews until 2004, is responsible for the rules of golf internationally, with the exception of the rules in the United States and Mexico, which fall under the USGA.

The name “Rules” can be used to denote any of the following:

1. The rules for the etiquette of golf, which are addressed in the main book, and outline the appropriate behavior for players of the game.
2. Local rules that are established by a golf club committee, for instance, to designate the manner used to identify ball drops, course boundaries, and environmentally sensitive areas, and so on.
3. The book, Decisions on the Rules of Golf, which is published every other year by the R&A and the USGA to explain questions about the Rules.
4. Rules that govern players with disabilities who follow A Modification of the Rules of Golf for Golfers with Disabilities, published by the USGA and R&A.
5. Rules that regulate the shape, size and function of golf gear – clubs and balls – as outlined by the USGA and R&A.
6. Rules that are regularly embraced in competition, such as prohibiting the use of automotive transportation in the course of a round.