Golf rules for beginners: what to know before your first round
Par, tees, scorecards, scrambles, bunkers, cart paths, lost balls, the green and etiquette: the basics I wish I knew before my first round of golf.
When I went to play my first real round, I knew how to hit a ball (sort of) and that the goal was to get it into the hole. That's about it. Everything else I learned on the course, usually after doing it wrong: that I didn't have to hit off a cart path, that a practice swing in a bunker can cost two strokes, that I could pick up my ball on the green and clean it.
The official Rules of Golf from the R&A and the USGA are a long read. You don't need all of it for your first round. Here is the short version: what a hole is, how scoring works, the handful of rules that come up every round, and how not to annoy the people around you.
The hole: par, yards and handicap
A golf course is usually 18 holes, sometimes 9. Every hole has three numbers, and you'll find them on the sign at the tee and on the scorecard.
- Yards. How far it is from the tee to the green. Every hole has several tees, so it has several distances.
- Par. How many strokes a good player should need. Par 3s are short holes (usually under about 250 yards) where you're expected to reach the green in one shot and take two putts. Par 4s are the middle ones, par 5s the long ones, usually over about 450 yards. Most 18-hole courses add up to a par of 70 to 72.
- Handicap. How hard the hole is compared with the others on the course: 1 is the hardest, 18 the easiest. Often the odd numbers are on the front 9 and the even ones on the back 9. It's used to give strokes to weaker players: if your handicap is 10, you get one extra stroke on the ten hardest holes. For your first rounds you can ignore it, but now you know what that number on the sign means.
Here's a real one. On the sign for hole 1 at Cooper Colony, where I played my first episode, it's 370 yards and a par 4 from the blue tees, 320 yards and a par 5 from the red tees, and handicap 1: the hardest hole on the course. Yes, the same hole can have a different par depending on the tee.
Your score on a hole has a name, depending on how it compares with par:
| Strokes compared with par | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 stroke on any hole | Hole in one (an ace) |
| 3 under par | Albatross (double eagle) |
| 2 under par | Eagle |
| 1 under par | Birdie |
| Par | Par |
| 1 over par | Bogey |
| 2 over par | Double bogey |
| 3 over par | Triple bogey |
As a beginner you will mostly meet the bottom of this table. A bogey is a great result: my one bogey in the first episode, on hole 9, was the best moment of the round.
The parts of a hole
Every hole goes from the tee to the green, and everything in between has a name.
- Tee box (officially the teeing area): the flat area where you hit your first shot. The colored markers show where the area starts.
- Fairway: the short-mowed strip between the tee and the green. It's where you want your ball to be: a clean lie, easy to hit.
- Rough: the longer grass on both sides of the fairway. The ball sits down in it, the grass grabs the club, and it's harder to control the shot.
- Bunker: a pit filled with sand. Fairway bunkers catch long shots, greenside bunkers guard the green.
- Penalty area: usually water, marked with red or yellow stakes or lines. Before the 2019 rules update these were called "hazards", and you'll still hear the old word.
- Out of bounds: anything off the course, marked with white stakes or a fence. A ball there is out of play.
- Fringe (or collar): the strip of slightly longer grass around the green.
- Green: the very short grass around the hole, made for putting. The hole is marked with a flagstick.
Tees: why there are different colors
Each hole has several sets of tees, one behind another, so the same course can be played at different lengths. A strong player who hits the driver 280 yards and a beginner who hits it 150 can both have a fair, fun round.
There is no official standard for the colors, but in the US they're often something like this:
| Color (typical) | Who usually plays them |
|---|---|
| Black or gold | The back tees, the longest course. Low handicappers and tournaments |
| Blue | Long tees for good players |
| White | The middle tees, where most male amateurs play |
| Gold, silver or green | Shorter tees, often called senior tees |
| Red | The forward tees. Traditionally the "ladies' tees", today also for beginners |
| Green or extra-forward | Very short "family" or junior tees on some courses |
Colors change from course to course, so check the scorecard: it lists the yardage for every tee. These days more and more courses don't call tees men's, women's or senior. You simply pick the tee that fits how far you hit the ball.
A good guide for that is Tee It Forward, launched by the USGA and the PGA of America in 2011. It matches your average driver distance to a course length:
| Your average drive | 18-hole course length |
|---|---|
| 275 yards | 6,700–6,900 yards |
| 250 yards | 6,200–6,400 yards |
| 225 yards | 5,800–6,000 yards |
| 200 yards | 5,200–5,400 yards |
| 175 yards | 4,400–4,600 yards |
| 150 yards | 3,500–3,700 yards |
| 125 yards | 2,800–3,000 yards |
| 100 yards | 2,100–2,300 yards |
Even my best drives, 150 to 160 yards with roll (all my numbers are on the yardages page), put me on a course of about 3,500 to 3,700 yards. The front 9 at Cooper Colony from the red tees is 1,690 yards. So I play the red tees, and I'm not ashamed of it. The back tees would only make the round longer and slower for everyone.
The scorecard
You get a scorecard at the pro shop or in the cart. It's the map of the whole course in one table:
- One row per tee color with the yardage of every hole, plus the totals.
- Par and handicap rows (sometimes separate ones for men and women).
- Course rating and slope for each tee: how hard that course is for a scratch golfer and for an average one. You need them only for an official handicap.
- Empty rows for the players. After each hole you write down everyone's strokes.
- Out, In, Total: the front 9, the back 9 and the whole round.
Write the scores at the next tee, not standing on the green you just finished, so the group behind can play.
How scoring works
The rule is simple: every stroke counts. A stroke is any swing you make to hit the ball. If you swing and miss, that's a stroke too. In my videos a whiff is an "official practice swing", but the rule book doesn't agree. A real practice swing, one that isn't meant to hit the ball, doesn't count.
On top of your strokes, you add penalty strokes: for a lost ball, water, out of bounds and so on (more below). Add up all the holes, and the lowest total wins.
Two habits that make life easier for beginners in a casual round:
- Pick up at double par. If you've hit 6 shots on a par 3 and you're not in yet, pick up the ball, write down 6 and move on. Nobody wants to wait while you hit your 11th shot. For an official handicap there's a similar limit, called net double bogey.
- Gimmes. In friendly rounds, players often "give" each other very short putts, say inside a putter's length, instead of putting them out. It's not in the official rules, so agree on it before you start.
Scramble: the best way to start
I learned about the scramble by accident, and it turned out to be a great way to play, especially for beginners and especially when you play with someone.
In a scramble, you play as a team:
- Everyone tees off.
- The team picks the best shot.
- Everyone hits their next shot from that spot.
- Repeat until someone holes the ball. The team writes down one score.
You always play from the best position, so nobody spends ten minutes hacking out of the bushes. It goes much faster and it's much more comfortable, and you still get to hit every kind of shot. Many charity events and company outings are scrambles for exactly that reason. Scramble scores don't count for an official handicap, but for a fun round that doesn't matter.
Clubs and the tee: what you can use where
You can carry up to 14 clubs (here are mine), and you can use any club anywhere. There's no rule that says driver only from the tee or putter only on the green.
On the tee box, you're allowed to put the ball on a tee: the little wooden or plastic peg. That's the only place you can use one. And you can use it with any club. I used to think the tee was only for the driver. It isn't: you can tee up a hybrid, an iron or a wedge, or hit off the grass without one. On short par 3s I tee up my 7 iron.
The ball must be inside the teeing area: between the two markers of your color and up to two club-lengths behind them. You can stand outside it, but the ball can't be in front of the markers. Hitting from in front of them in stroke play costs two strokes and you play again from the right place.
From the fairway and the rough, there's no tee. The ball is played from the grass. You use whatever club fits the distance: woods, hybrids, irons, wedges. Even the driver is legal from the fairway, it's just very hard to hit without a tee.
On and around the green, it's usually the putter. From the fringe, a putter is often the safest choice for a beginner too. But you're allowed to use any club on the green, as long as you don't damage it. More on that below.
One ball, played as it lies
Two basic principles of golf that surprised me.
You play one ball from the tee to the hole. You can't switch to a different ball in the middle of a hole just because you feel like it. You can change it between holes, and in the middle of a hole only when the rules give you a new ball: when you lost it, when you take relief or when it's cut or cracked (Rule 6.3).
You play the ball as it lies (Rule 9). Until it's on the green, you can't pick it up, move it or wipe it. Mud on the ball, a bad lie in a divot, a leaf next to it: you hit it as it is. The exceptions:
- You may lift it to identify it if you're not sure it's yours. Mark the spot first, clean only as much as you need to see your mark, and put it back.
- You may lift it when you take relief, like on a cart path (below).
- Some courses have a local rule called preferred lies ("lift, clean and place"), usually when the course is wet. If it's on the scorecard or a sign, you may.
- You may remove loose things next to the ball: leaves, sticks, stones. But if the ball moves while you do it, that's a one-stroke penalty and you put it back.
Practice swings on the fairway and in the rough are fine, and you can brush the grass or take a little turf. Just don't move your ball (one penalty stroke) and don't improve your lie: no pressing the grass down behind the ball or breaking branches that are in your way.
Bunkers: don't touch the sand
This one I learned only recently. In a bunker, before your stroke, your club must not touch the sand: not when you set up behind the ball, not in a practice swing, and not on the backswing. You also can't touch the sand with your hand to test it (Rule 12.2). The penalty is two strokes.
The idea is that touching the sand tells you how soft or firm it is and can change the sand around the ball. On the fairway it's different: there you can swing and touch the grass all you want.
What you can do in a bunker: dig your feet into the sand to take your stance, and remove leaves and stones (carefully, the ball must not move). Make your practice swings outside the bunker.
And when you're done, rake the bunker. Your footprints and your crater are the next player's problem otherwise.
Cart paths: you don't have to hit off them
I always thought that if my ball landed on the cart path, I had to play it from there. I never did, because I felt sorry for my clubs, but I thought that was the rule.
It isn't. A paved cart path is an immovable obstruction: something artificial that isn't part of the game. If your ball is on it, or the path is in the way of your stance or your swing, you get free relief (Rule 16.1):
- Find the nearest point of complete relief: the nearest spot, not closer to the hole, where the path no longer gets in the way of your ball, stance or swing.
- Mark it, then drop a ball from knee height within one club-length of it, not closer to the hole.
- Play from there. No penalty.
One catch: it's the nearest point, not the nicest one. Sometimes that's in the rough or next to a bush. You can't walk to the other side of the path because the grass is better there. Of course, you can also play it off the path if you want to. I won't.
The same free relief applies to sprinkler heads, drains, temporary water puddles and ground under repair.
Lost ball, water and out of bounds
Every beginner loses balls. Here's what to do, depending on where it went. In all of these cases you add one penalty stroke.
Lost or out of bounds
If your ball is out of bounds (past the white stakes) or you can't find it within 3 minutes of searching, the official rule is stroke and distance (Rule 18): one penalty stroke, and you play again from where you hit the last shot. Lose your tee shot, and you hit your third shot from the tee.
To save time, hit a provisional ball right away if you think the first one might be lost or out. Say "provisional" out loud so your partners know. If you find the first ball in bounds, you play it and pick up the provisional. If not, the provisional is in play.
Walking back to the tee in a casual round is slow, and the USGA knows it. That's why many courses use a local rule (Model Local Rule E-5): for two penalty strokes, you drop near where the ball was lost or went out, anywhere out to the edge of the fairway, but not closer to the hole. It's meant for casual rounds, not for competitions.
Water and other penalty areas
A ball in a penalty area isn't lost: you know where it went in, so you get more options (Rule 17). Find the spot where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, then, for one penalty stroke:
- Yellow stakes: replay from where you hit the last shot, or drop back on a line from the hole through that crossing point, as far back as you like.
- Red stakes: the same two options, plus lateral relief: drop within two club-lengths of the crossing point, not closer to the hole.
You can also play the ball from the penalty area without a penalty, if you can reach it. Usually you can't. It's water.
Unplayable
If your ball is in bounds but stuck somewhere you can't hit it, under a bush or against a tree, you can declare it unplayable (Rule 19) for one penalty stroke and take the same three options as a red penalty area, measured from where the ball lies.
The common idea behind all of these: you pay a stroke, and you never get to drop closer to the hole.
On the green
The green has its own rules (Rule 13), and here, finally, you can touch your ball.
- Mark, lift and clean. Once your ball is on the green, you can pick it up and clean it, so mud doesn't make it roll crooked. Always mark it first: put a ball marker (a coin works) right behind the ball, on the side away from the hole. Lift the ball, clean it, put it back on exactly the same spot, then pick up the marker.
- Move your marker if asked. If your marker is on someone's putting line, they can ask you to move it, usually one putter-head length to the side. Don't forget to move it back before you putt: playing from the wrong spot costs two strokes.
- Any club, no damage. The putter is the normal club here, but the rules allow any club. Whatever you use, roll the ball. No chipping that takes turf out of the green: some courses ban wedges on the green for exactly that reason.
- Repair your ball mark. A ball landing on the green leaves a small dent. Fix it with a repair tool or a tee. Since 2019 you can also fix spike marks and other damage.
- Don't step on other players' lines between their ball and the hole.
The flagstick. Since 2019 you can putt with the flag in the hole or take it out, whichever you like. Decide before your stroke. A common habit: on long putts, leave it in, because it shows you where the hole is from far away. On short putts, take it out. In my rounds, the flag stopped my ball from dropping in quite a few times. Good to know: if your ball comes to rest against the flagstick and any part of it is below the edge of the hole, it counts as holed (Rule 13.2c).
Etiquette: be nice to people and to the course
Most of golf etiquette comes down to two things: safety and not wasting anyone's time.
Keep up the pace
- Most courses expect 18 holes in about 4 to 4½ hours, so roughly 13 to 15 minutes a hole. Short courses go faster: our front 9 at Cooper Colony took about an hour and a half, around 10 minutes a hole.
- The rule of thumb: keep up with the group in front of you, not just ahead of the group behind.
- Be ready when it's your turn: pick your club, line up, hit. The player farthest from the hole officially goes first, but in casual rounds most people play "ready golf": whoever is ready, hits (safely).
- If you're slow and the group behind is waiting on every shot, let them play through. Step aside, wave them on, wait until they hit and leave. They'll often ask, but it's polite to offer first.
- Pick up at double par, park the cart on the side of the green toward the next tee, and write the scores at the next tee.
Safety first
- Wait until the group ahead is clearly out of your range before you hit. Even if you never hit it that far. One day you will.
- If your ball flies toward anyone, shout "Fore!", loudly and right away. If you hear it, don't look up: cover your head and turn away.
- Stand to the side and behind the player who's hitting, never in front of them.
Respect the other players
- Be quiet and still when someone is hitting, in your group and on the next tee or green.
- Don't stand right behind someone or in their line of sight while they swing or putt.
- Shadows count too: don't let yours fall on someone's putting line.
Respect the course
- Replace your divots. If your shot takes out a chunk of turf, put it back and press it down with your foot. Many carts have a bottle of sand-and-seed mix: fill the hole with it instead when the divot is in pieces. As a certified divot maker, I take this one personally.
- Rake the bunker when you leave it.
- Repair your ball mark on the green, plus one more if you see it.
- Don't litter. Take your trash, broken tees and empty bottles with you.
- Follow the cart rules posted at the first tee: stay on the paths where it says so, and keep carts away from tees and greens.
The cheat sheet
If you remember nothing else before your first round:
- Play the tees that fit your drives. Red is fine.
- Every swing at the ball counts, misses included. Pick up at double par.
- Any club anywhere. A tee only on the tee box, with any club.
- One ball per hole, played as it lies until it's on the green.
- In a bunker, the club doesn't touch the sand before the swing.
- On a cart path, take a free drop at the nearest point of relief.
- Lost or out of bounds: one stroke and replay, or two strokes and drop if the course allows it. Water: one stroke and drop, never closer to the hole.
- On the green: mark, lift, clean, replace. Flag in or out, your choice.
- Keep up, let faster groups through, wait for the group ahead, shout "Fore!".
- Fix your divots, ball marks and bunkers.
Then go play. And if you want to get to know a course before you walk onto it, my game, Vlad vs Golf: The Game, has the real Cooper Colony front 9 with its real pars and distances.