What do the rules say about adding a club to the bag mid-round?
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The rules of golf are difficult! Fortunately, we have a guru. Our The Rules Guy knows the book from beginning to end. Have a question? He has all the answers.
My buddy is 2 up on me after six holes when he realizes he’s missing a sand wedge. His house is next to the seventh tee and he runs to the garage to get his club. I punished him with a holeshot and rallied to win the match, and he hasn’t stopped complaining since. What is the actual ruling? —Michael Washburne, Alpharetta, Georgia.
We’re assuming this is your buddy – assuming that’s the case Still your buddy – stayed at or below the 14-of-clubs limit after the wedge. If so, he could grab the wedge as long as he didn’t unreasonably delay the game.
Even though you lost against the Rules of Golf, you lost 1.
For more club-related tips from our guru, read on…
Rules Guy: If you’re right-handed, is it legal to carry a left-handed bat?
Rules, man
In a stroke play competition, Player A inadvertently takes Player B’s driver out of B’s ​​bag and makes a shot off the teeing ground. Realizing the error, A hands the club to B and declares him out of play, then repeats the shot with his own driver. He drops the first ball and ends up on 5 with the second ball. What is his score on the hole? —Johnny Williams, Tampa Bay, Florida.
Something similar once happened to Rules Guy with a pair of identical twin sisters on the tournament committee, but this is not the forum for such matters….
Even if you had fewer than 14 clubs, you may not use another player’s club on the course. You generally receive two penalty strokes for breaking Rule 4.1b.
Then, when you played from the tee again, you were actually playing below stroke and distance. Before Penalty 4.1b, that shot with your own driver was actually your third shot, plus whatever it took to get the ball in the hole, plus two more for Penalty 4.1b.
To review: 1 (hitting with the wrong stick); 2 (penalty stroke under stroke and distance); 3 (hitting the correct club from the teeing area); 4, 5, 6, 7 (four more strokes to complete the hole); 8, 9 (penalty strokes according to 4.1b). And with that, Guy Rules goes to take a nap. We are exhausted.
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