Introduces these central principles of the game for the player:

• Play the course as you find it and play the ball as it lies.
• Play by the Rules and in the spirit of the game.
• You are responsible for applying your own penalties if you breach a Rule, so that you cannot gain any potential advantage over your opponent in match play or other players in stroke play.

 Introduces the basic things every player should know about the course:

• There are five defined areas of the course, and
• There are several types of defined objects and conditions that can interfere with play.

It is important to know the area of the course where the ball lies and the status of any interfering objects and conditions, because they often affect the player’s options for playing the ball or taking relief.

This covers the equipment that players may use during a round. Based on the principle that golf is a challenging game in which success should depend on the player’s judgment, skills and abilities, the player:

• Must use conforming clubs and balls,
• Is limited to no more than 14 clubs, and
• Is restricted in the use of other equipment that gives artificial help to their play.

This covers how to play a round – such as where and when a player may practise on the course before or during a round, when a round starts and ends and what happens when play has to stop or resume. Players are expected to:

• Start each round on time, and
• Play continuously and at a prompt pace during each hole until the round is completed.

When it is a player’s turn to play, it is recommended that they make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds, and usually more quickly than that.

This allows the player to take reasonable actions to fairly search for their ball in play after each stroke.

• But the player still must be careful, as a penalty will apply if the player acts excessively and causes improvement to the conditions affecting their next stroke.
• The player gets no penalty if the ball is accidentally moved in trying to find or identify it, but must then replace the ball on its original spot.

This covers a central principle of the game: “play the course as you find it”. When the player’s ball comes to rest, they normally have to accept the conditions affecting the stroke and not improve them before playing the ball. However, a player may take certain reasonable actions even if they improve those conditions, and there are limited circumstances where conditions may be restored without penalty after they have been improved or worsened.

This 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.

This covers what to do if the player’s ball in motion hits a person, animal, equipment or anything else on the course. When this happens accidentally, there is no penalty and the player normally must accept the result, whether favourable or not, and play the ball from where it comes to rest. Rule 11 also restricts a player from deliberately taking actions to affect where any ball in motion might come to rest.

This 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.

This covers when and how the 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.

• When a lifted or moved ball is to be replaced, the same ball must be set down on its original spot.
• When taking free relief or penalty relief, a substituted ball or the original ball must be dropped in a particular relief area.

A mistake in using these procedures may be corrected without penalty before the ball is played, but the player gets a penalty if they play the ball from the wrong place.

This 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.

• These conditions are not treated as part of the challenge of playing the course, and free relief is generally allowed except in a penalty area.
• The player normally takes relief by dropping a ball in a relief area based on the nearest point of complete relief.

This Rule also covers free relief when a player’s ball is embedded in its own pitch-mark in the general area.

This 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.

A mistake in using these procedures may be corrected without penalty before the ball is played, but the player gets a penalty if they play the ball from the wrong place.

This 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).

This covers what players should do when they have questions about the Rules during a round. It also covers the procedures (which differ in match play and stroke play) allowing a player to protect the right to get a ruling later. The Rule also covers the role of referees, who are authorised to decide questions of fact and apply the Rules. Rulings from a referee or the Committee are binding on all players.

This covers Foursomes (played either in match play or stroke play), 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.

This 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.

This provides modifications to certain Rules of Golf to allow players with specific disabilities to play fairly with players who have no disabilities, the same disability or a different type of disability.