The rules of golf are very complicated and not very easy to read. There are many books available that explain the rules, but you need to put aside a good few hours to combat them.
I have detailed below the most common "involuntarily broken" rules on the golf course. It should be a good starting point for someone new to the game of golf.
Penalty & drops free
When dropping a ball a free fall is a length of club and a penalty drop is two club lengths.
You must file the ball to the nearest point of relief not more closely into the hole.
If your ball is in a Bush, you get a drop of the penalty of two lengths of club where your ball is located, if that still puts you in the Bush, then you take an other two options available to you. You can return to your ball and the flag as much as you like (a penalty stroke). Or, you can go back and play where you have played your last shot. (Stroke a penalty).
If your ball landed on a bridge on a danger you don't get a free fall unless it is a local rule of this course, you must play the ball as it lies or take a penalty drop.
If you do not find your ball, you cannot go back and play a provisional ball while your playing partners focus on research of your original ball. You cannot play a provisional ball once you have left the last place you have played your shot. If do you go back and play a second ball is the ball in play, even if you or your game partners are your original ball, once you play this second ball is the ball fill you the hole with. With a penalty of one respect.
Basins of the tree are not a free fall, unless it is on the Dashboard under local rules.
Dangers The following describes in detail the difference in the color of the issue and what they mean.
White stakes means out of bounds and you need to return to where you last plays your ball and play another stroke (a single penalty kick).
Yellow stakes means a danger in the whole of the playing area, you have three options:
1 Play the ball as it lies, do not to touch the soil of your club or remove all the debris i.e. stones branches etc.
2. Take a line from the point of entry and the flag and dropped as far as you want.
3 Go back to where you play your shot.
Options 2 & 3 will cost you a penalty kick.
Red issues means a lateral hazard "water" (not necessarily with water) you have five options to choose.
1 Play the ball as it lies, do not to touch the soil of your club or remove all the debris i.e. stones branches etc.
2. Drop a ball in the danger (two club lengths) entry not nearer the hole.
3 Drop a ball across the equidistant danger of the hole.
4 Take a line from the point of entry and the flag and dropped as far as you want.
5 Go back to where you play your shot.
Options 2, 3, 4 & 5 will cost you a penalty kick.
If you see your ball go in a danger you cannot play a provisional ball. You must follow the rules above for issues yellow or red.
If your ball is in a bunker of sand and it is in a manufactured machine of mark or a fingerprint, you do not receive a free fall. The bunker is a danger and the rules are the same as a danger of pickets, the only exception is if the ball is in the water in a bunker, then you get a free fall, but it must be placed in the bunker not closest to the hole.
Putting Green
A ball can be thrown and cleaned on green providing that the position of the ball is marked before it is thrown.
If you or your shopping cart marks the ball on the green, in the wrong position, i.e. not directly behind the ball, you small two stroke penalty
You can repair the hole and made damage caps by the impact of a ball on the Green, whether or not your ball on the green. Any other damage may not be repaired as it might help you in the subsequent play.
Not knowing the rules of golf is not an excuse, if you break the rules, then you will need to give you the necessary penalty strokes. If you are in doubt what do, while playing in a competition, you can play a second ball and put an end to two notes and the Committee on the rules of the day will make a judgment.
The above just approaching the rule book and that you get more involved in the game you need to read on all the rules, particularly if you plan to play at a competitive level.
