2019 Rules

This temporary page will be on our website only while players become familiar with the many changes to the Rules of Golf introduced as of 1 January 2019.

Hi all:
 Well the new rules of golf have come into play. They even made the ABC TV News, New Year’s night. The new rules are listed below with the rules that they superseded. Please make sure you read the new rule at G Local rule: Alternative to Stroke and distance as it will have the most impact on us.

The Sydney Tax Golf Club kindly alerted us to a good YouTube video (about 18 minutes – also available from the GolfAus New Rules webpage) summarising the new rules. View that video here:

• Navigate away from this page by clicking within the images in the left margin, back to our Home page or the the USGA or GolfAus new rules pages.

A. On the green

  1. Ball moves on the putting green
     Rule 13.1d will revise the procedure for when a ball on the putting green is moved by wind, water or other natural forces. If the ball had been lifted, and replaced on its original spot before it moved, the ball must always be replaced on its original spot. Otherwise it must be played from its final resting point.

    Previous Rule: The ball was played from its new location unless it was moved by you or an outside agency. Then it would be replaced.

    Also, under Rule 13.1d, there will no longer be a penalty if a player (or opponent) accidentally causes the player’s ball, or ball marker, to move on the putting green. The ball must be replaced on its original spot.

    Previous Rule: It was a one-stroke penalty if you did either.

  2. Repairing damage on the putting green
     Rule 13.1c(2) allows repair of almost any damage on the green. “Damage on the putting green” will be defined to include all types of damage (such as ball-marks, shoe damage, indentations from a club or flagstick, animal damage, etc.), except aeration holes, natural surface imperfections or natural wear of the hole.

    Previous Rule: You could only repair ball marks or old hole plugs.

  3. Touching line of play on a putting green
     2019 Rule: The prohibition of touching the line of play on the putting green will be eliminated. There will no longer be a penalty for merely touching the line of play on the putting green, so long as doing so does not improve the conditions for your stroke.

    Previous Rule: Touching the line came with a penalty of loss of hole (match play) or two shots (stroke play).

  4. Ball played from green hits unattended flagstick in hole
     Under Rule 13.2a(2) there will no longer be a penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits a flagstick left in the hole. Players will continue to have the choice to have it removed (which includes having someone attend the flagstick and remove it after the ball is played).

    Previous Rule: Loss of hole (match play) or two-shot penalty (stroke play) if you struck the flagstick with a stroke from the putting green.

B. Penalty areas

  1. Expansion of water hazards
     Under Rule 17 the term water hazards is being changed to "penalty areas" and will consist of red- and yellow-marked areas. This could include additional areas that don’t contain water such as desert, jungle, lava rock, etc. If your ball winds up in one of these areas, a one-stroke penalty is applied if you take relief.

    Previous Rule: Relief was allowed only from a water hazard (marked yellow) or a lateral water hazard (marked red).

  2. Touching loose impediments or ground in a penalty area
     Under Rule 17 there will no longer be any special restrictions when a ball is in a “penalty area”. A player will be allowed to touch or move loose impediments and touch the ground with hand or club including grounding your club at address.

    Previous Rule: If you did any of the preceding, it was a loss of hole (match play) or a two-shot penalty.

  3. Elimination of opposite side relief for red penalty areas
     Rule 17.1d will remove the option to take relief on the opposite side of a red penalty area.

    Previous Rule: You could take relief on the opposite side of a lateral water hazard from where your ball last entered it.

C. Bunkers

  1. Moving or touching loose impediments or touching sand in a bunker
     Under Rules 12.2a and 12.2b, the player will be allowed to touch or move loose impediments and will be generally allowed to touch the sand with a hand or club, so long as you are not testing the conditions of the bunker. A limited prohibition continues such that the player must not touch the sand with a club in making a practice swing, in grounding the club right in front of or behind the ball, or in making the backswing for a stroke.

    Previous Rule:     With some exceptions, such as accidentally falling when entering the bunker, touching the sand with hand or club resulted in loss of hole (match play) or a two-shot penalty.

  2. Unplayable ball in bunker
     Under Rule 19.3b the player will have an extra option of declaring the ball unplayable and taking relief outside the bunker using the back-on-the-line procedure, but for a total of two penalty strokes.

    Previous Rule: The only penalty relief you could take outside a bunker was to play from where your last stroke was made.

D. Ball at rest

  1. Standard for deciding why a ball moved
     Under Rule 9.2, the “known or virtually certain” standard (meaning at least 95% likely) will apply to all questions of fact about why a ball at rest moved. A player, opponent or outside influence will be found to have caused the ball to move if the player, opponent or outside influence was known or virtually certain to have caused it to move; otherwise it will be assumed that natural forces caused it to move.

    Previous Rule: You were considered to have caused your ball to move if it was more likely than not (50.1 percent) that you were the cause.

  2. Replacing ball when original spot is not known
     Under Rule 14.2c if the ball has moved, and the exact original spot is not known, the ball will always be placed on its estimated spot rather than being dropped.

    Previous Rule: You would drop when you were not sure of the location.

  3. Ball moved during search
     Under Rule 7.4, if a player accidentally moves his or her ball while searching for it the player will get no penalty for causing it to move. The player will replace the ball on the estimated original spot.

    Previous Rule: There was a one-stroke penalty for accidentally moving it.

E. Taking relief

  1. New procedure for dropping a ball
     Under Rule 14.3 players will continue to drop a ball when taking relief, but the dropping procedure will be changed. Your ball must be let go from knee height and fall through the air without touching any part of your body or equipment.

    Previous Rule:     You had to hold the ball at shoulder height, with your arm extended, before dropping.

  2. Defined relief area
     A dropped ball must be dropped in the relief area and come to rest in the relief area where it was dropped or it must be dropped again.



     Previous Rule: The ball had to be dropped again if it rolled into any of the nine specified areas in Rule 20-2c.

  3. Procedure for taking lateral relief
     Under Rule 14.3 you must take a drop 2 club lengths from the point where the ball entered the penalty area, but no closer to the hole. The size of a club-length will always be measured using the longest club in your bag, other than your putter.

    The ball will need only to be dropped in and come to rest in the relief area. If it does not the drop must be taken again. If it comes to rest outside the relief area after being dropped a second time it will be placed where it first touched the ground at the second drop.

     Previous Rule: The ball had to be dropped again if it rolled into any of the nine specified areas in Rule 20-2c.

  4. Procedure for taking back-on-the-line relief
     Under Rule 14.3 one of your options will be to take back-on-the-line relief. You determine a line running from the flag, running through the point where the ball entered the Penalty area. You can take it back as far as you want until you determine a relief point. Once you have determined a relief point your relief area is one club length either side and one club length back from that point. You take your drop within the relief area. The ball will need only to be dropped in and come to rest in the relief area. If it does not the drop must be taken again. If it comes to rest outside the relief area after being dropped a second time it will be placed where it first touched the ground at the second drop.

    Note: The same applies for an unplayable ball. The line runs from the flag through the point where your ball lies when you declared it unplayable.

     Previous Rule: The ball had to be dropped on the line.

  5. Substitution of ball always allowed when taking relief
     Under Rule 14.3, when taking relief, either penalty or free, the player will always be allowed the choice to substitute a ball or to use the original ball.

    Previous Rule: With a few exceptions, you would have had to continue with your original ball when taking free relief, though you could substitute a ball when taking a penalty relief.

  6. Relief for an embedded ball
     Rule 16.3 will allow relief for a ball embedded anywhere in the “general area” (that is, the area currently known as “through the green”), except when embedded in sand. In taking relief, the player will drop the original ball or a substituted ball within one club-length of (but not nearer the hole than) the spot right behind where the ball was embedded.

    Previous Rule: Free relief was given only for balls embedded in closely mowed areas (fairway height or less) unless a Local Rule was enacted.

  7. Reasonable judgment in estimating and measuring
     Under Rule 1.3b(2) when the player estimates or measures a spot, point, line, area or other location, his or her reasonable judgment is accepted, if the player did all that could reasonably be expected under the circumstances to make a prompt and accurate estimation or measurement.
    Previous Rule:     Your judgment was given no particular weight or deference and the committee decided any issue about the accuracy of estimation based on a review of all facts.

F. Other rules of note

  1. Time for search before ball is lost
     Under Rule 18.2, the time for a ball search (before the ball becomes lost) will be reduced to 3 minutes.

    Previous Rule: The previous time limit was 5 minutes.

  2. Elimination of the requirement to announce the player's intent to lift a ball
     In all three situations under the Rules (that is, Rule 4.2c, Rule 7.3 and Rule 16.4) a player will be allowed to mark and lift the ball and proceed under the Rule without needing first to announce this intention to another person or to give that person a chance to observe the process.

    Previous Rule:     Before lifting, you had to announce your intention to another player or the marker and allow them to observe the process.

  3. Ball in motion accidentally deflected
     Under Rule 11.1, for all accidental deflections, including when the ball hits the player or opponent or their equipment or caddies there will be no penalty and the ball will be played as it lies, unless it is clear that a player has deliberately positioned equipment to act as a backstop and potentially deflect his or her ball. There will be a penalty if the ball hits equipment that was positioned for that purpose (Rule 11.2a).
    Previous Rule:     There was a 2 stroke penalty if it was your or your partner's equipment.

  4. Use of clubs damaged during round and replacing a club damaged during a round.
     Under Rule 4.1 a player will be allowed to keep using and/or to repair any club damaged during the round, no matter what the damage and even if the player damaged it in anger.

    Previous Rule:     You could only use a damaged club during a round if the impairment happened during the normal course of play. If it was damaged in anger or for another reason, it can’t be used for the remainder of the round.

     A player will be allowed to replace a damaged club when it is damaged during the round by an outside influence or natural forces or by someone other than the player or his or her caddie.

    Previous Rule:     You could replace a club if its damage occurred during the normal course of play

  5. Ball accidentally struck more than once during a stroke
     Under Rule 10.1a, if the player’s club accidentally hits the ball more than once during a single stroke there will be no penalty and the ball will be played as it lies.

    Previous Rule:     You had to count the additional stroke and take a 1 shot penalty.

G. Local rule: Alternative to stroke and distance

When a player’s ball has not been found or is known or virtually certain to be out of bounds, the player may proceed as follows rather than proceeding under stroke and distance.

For two penalty strokes, the player may take relief by dropping the original ball or another ball in the relief area (see Rule 14.3).

The relief area will be the estimated point on the mown portion of the fairway in line with the point where the ball crossed the OB line. In the case of a Lost Ball, the estimated point of the mown portion of the fairway in line with where the ball was last seen. In both cases it can be no nearer the hole.

The player may not use this option to take relief for the original ball when:

  • that ball is known or virtually certain to have come to rest in a penalty area, or

  • the player has played another ball provisionally (see Rule 18.3).

Previous Rule: If the player has not hit a provisional ball they must return to the point where they last hit the ball and hit another ball (3rd shot).

Previous St Leonards Rule: The player could take a drop with a one stroke penalty. The drop must be taken as close as possible to the place where the original ball was last sighted and not within two club lengths of the mown portion of the fairway.

 Comment by Mr Handicapper:

This rule will be the most contentious for St Leonards. Our first reaction was too harsh! But further investigation leads us to think otherwise. We will try to illustrate with the diagram below of the 9th hole at Mona Vale. The white line is OB on the player’s left.

Player A hits their first shot (yellow, A1) OB. Under our current rules, player A gets to take a drop within two club lengths of where the ball crossed the OB line, but not on the mown portion of the fairway, and is hitting their 3rd shot (A3).

Player B hits their first shot (red, B1) into the trees on the right. It is eventually LB. Under our current rules player B gets to take a drop two club lengths from where the ball was last sighted, but not on the mown portion of the fairway, and is hitting their 3rd shot (B3). We should add this is pretty dicey, anyway.

But if either player decides to hit a provisional (grey, P3), the shot on the provisional ball is their third shot and their next shot, from P4, is their fourth. In the circumstances below, their balls are pretty close, yet one is hitting 3 and the other 4.

Firstly, it is inequitable. Secondly, it encourages players NOT to hit a provisional ball. Better to take the drop. Even if your first shot was not that good, in most cases it is better to take the drop, not hit a provisional.

Under the new rule you would be required to take a drop, on the mown portion of the fairway, to the right of A3 and the left of B3, but with a 2 shot penalty.