The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
Is it OK to carry 13 right-handed clubs and one left-handed club? This would work for me rather than flipping over a club to get out of tough situations. –Paul Dziengelewski, Westfield, Mass.
Knock yourself out, Paul.
There is no rule regarding the makeup of a set, only that you have 14 clubs or fewer.
Seven lefty, seven righty? Sure. Fourteen putters? Have at it. As the kids like to say, you do you.
For more club-related guidance from our guru, read on …
In a stroke-play competition, Player A inadvertently pulls Player B’s driver out of B’s bag and makes a stroke from the teeing area. Realizing the mistake, A hands the club to B and declares it out of play, then replays the stroke with his own driver. He abandons the first ball and winds up making a 5 with the second ball. What is his score for the hole? —Johnny Williams, Tampa Bay, Fla.
Something similar once happened to Rules Guy with a pair of identical-twin sisters on a tournament committee, but this is not the forum for such matters ….
Even if you had less than 14 clubs, you’re not allowed to use a club selected for play by another player on the course. In essence, you get two penalty strokes for the breach of Rule 4.1b.
Then, when you played again from the teeing area, you were actually playing under stroke and distance. Before the 4.1b penalty, that stroke with your own driver was actually your third shot, plus whatever else it took to get the ball into the hole, plus two more for the 4.1b penalty.
To review: 1 (stroke with wrong club); 2 (penalty stroke under stroke and distance); 3 (stroke with correct club from teeing area); 4, 5, 6, 7 (four more strokes to complete the hole); 8, 9 (penalty strokes under 4.1b). And with that, Rules Guy is off to take a nap. We are exhausted.
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Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.
