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See below for the answer to the most recent rules question as posed via BC Golf's Province-wide Newsletter from Thursday, May 23rd, 2024.

In this first video of a series, Coach Shayain Gustavsp along with the assistance of adaptive golfer and former coach of Canada's Wheelchair Basketball Team, Joe Higgins, pass along some straightforward tips for new-to-the-game golfers as well as adaptive golfers who may need some information on 'getting around a golf course'.

Shayain is a certified LPGA Teaching and Club Professional since 2018. Joe's work with Paralympic athletes has resulted in gold medals for Canadian wheelchair athletes since the early 1990's.

The Rules of Golf underwent a massive review and overhaul with the newest version of the rules being brought into effect at the start of 2019. But as the game itself has evolved and continues to do so...so do the rules.

There are some more changes in store just around the corner for 2023, and while these changes are not nearly as extensive, they still represent some important new regulations that we should all know about.

 The following video takes a look at what's coming for next year as put forward by the R&A, The USGA and the world's governing bodies for the game of golf, including of course, Golf Canda.

In the third round of the 2021 RBC Heritage, Si Woo Kim hits a 32-foot birdie putt from the fringe that hangs on the edge of the cup.

Playing partner Matt Kuchar swears he can see the ball moving. So they wait...and wait...until finally, over a minute later, the ball drops in the hole.

After calling in a rules official it was decided that because Kim exceeded time without unreasonable delay, the ball was deemed to be at rest, and therefore his score is a par instead of birdie at the par-4 3rd hole.

As they say, time waits for no man...or apparently golf ball - at least according to the rules of golf in 2021.

BC's Nick Taylor Used His Knowledge Of The Rules In The Sony Open To Get Relief From This Situation By Stating He Would Play It Left-Handed - Image Courtesy Golf Rules Questions YouTube Video Grab

In the second round of the Sony Open, on the 503-yard, par-5 9th at Waialae Country Club, Nick Taylor hit his drive left and off the tall netting that separates the driving range from the hole, and his ball dropped inches outside of out-of-bounds fence posts below.

In this video, Neil Tappin from Golf Monthly is joined by their 'rules guru' Jeremy Ellwood to look at the 8 rules golfers break without realizing.

These are all things you might be doing during the course of 18 holes that you don't think are a problem when, in fact, you could actually be breaking the rules.

The 8 rules golfers break without realizing video will show what you can and can't do to ensure you do not end up having to add penalty shots to your final score.

In a special episode hosted by George Harper Jr., Grant Moir from The R&A Rules Team answers viewer questions and gives behind the scenes insight on refereeing at some of the biggest golf tournaments across the world including The Open Championship.

The really interesting part is how Moir found a way to demonstrate and film the rules examples in his backyard. Hence the name, 'Rules from the Garden'

In this newest SCGA Rules Crew take on one of golf's often misinterpreted rules, 'Taking The Nearest Point Of Relief' - they remind us that, "Nearest Isn't Always Nicest" when fulfulling the obligations of the rule. 

The 'nearest' point that offers 'relief' is often not all that nice. It helps to know the wording of the rule and specifically what 'relief' actually offers you...

 The idea for a new, unified handicap system was conceived by the USGA and The R&A and developed following an extensive reviewof systems administered by six existing handicapping authorities.

Canada is expected to be among the first countries in the world to adopt this new World Handicap System in 2020.

For Immediate Release

(4 November 2019, St Andrews, Scotland and Liberty Corner, N.J., USA): The World Handicap System (WHS) is ready to be launched from January 2020 and will provide golfers with a unified and more inclusive handicapping system for the first time.

Though many countries are planning to adopt the new system in January, the system will go live in other parts of the world throughout the year to accommodate different implementation plans and variations in the golfing calendar.

Anyone who's potentially lost a golf ball would like enough time to find it. The rules used to allow 5 minutes to search for a lost ball.

Which doesn't seem like a long time...unless you're in the group behind the ones searching for the ball.

Effective this year the amount of time allotted to search for a lost ball has changed. In this video the SCGA Rules Crew explains the new rules regarding time for search outlined in Rule 18.2a

Old habits do die hard, and when the powers that be renamed 'hazards' as 'penalty areas' and what we can do in there - legally - some of us are still confused.

Fortunately the SCGA Rules Crew is here to help us once again.

With golf's new rules fully in effect for some 6 months now, we felt it might be a good time for a couple of refresher videos starting with the new Drop Rule.

The SCGA Rules Crew once again are here to help us in our understanding of the rules.

Please feel free to download a copy of the Rules - Club Presentation by clicking on the image below.

Some of the new Rules of Golf appear to have confused people.

This may help, a video highlighting the main changes with the new 2019 Rules of Golf.

Having watched Tiger Woods leave a putt virtually staring down into the hole and not drop for him in Sunday's final round of the PGA Championship...unlike his famous slow-motion chip-in at the 2005 Masters on the 16th...we felt it might be time to revisit this SCGA Rules Crew video on that very situation.

We've all seen either on TV or in our own experience the putt that stops right on the edge of the hole and defies gravity as it stares down into the bottom of the cup, refusing to drop. And every once in a while, if you wait just long enough, it does eventually do just that. 

Problem is...how long is too long, when it comes to taking a rather delayed route to your ball before admitting that it's going to take one more stroke to finish the hole?

The SCGA Rules crew addresses that situation in the following video.  

From time-to-time we all have either given or received some friendly 'advice' or a tip on how to play a golf shot. But did you know that there's actually a rule about when it's permissable to hand out such information?

And it doesn't matter if it's asked for or received in a 'stipulated' round. Watch this video from the SCGA Rules Crew to learn more.

The Rules Crew takes a look at Happy Gilmore, an ageless classic. See what rules they got right, which ones they got wrong and everything in between.

The SCGA makes no claim to own or to the rights of Happy Gilmore. All content is used under the Fair Use License as this is a critique of the film's implementation of the rules of golf. Happy Gilmore is owned by Universal Pictures.

All golfers encounter leaves, sticks and other debris that sits in, around or on their ball after hitting a shot.

But just what are we allowed to to about that? How far can you go in 'cleaning' the area around your ball so it doesn't cause your next shot to rocket off in a ridiculous direction?

If you play golf in the Pacific Northwest in the fall then you're probably familiar with trying to find your ball amongst fallen leaves.

That's not uncommon obviously when you're under or close to the trees, but leaves often collect in bunkers as well and a couple of years ago the rule changed regarding the penalty for moving your ball when looking for it in the leaves.