Most amateur golfers are honest people who genuinely want to play by the rules. And most of them unknowingly break at least two or three rules every round.
Not because they're cheaters. Because nobody told them, or because the rule changed in 2019 and old habits die hard, or because everyone in their group does it wrong so it looks normal.
Here are the most common ones. If you recognize yourself, you're not alone — and now you know.
1. Searching for your ball for more than 3 minutes
The old rule gave you 5 minutes to search for a lost ball. In 2019, the Rules of Golf changed it to 3 minutes. Plenty of golfers — and even plenty of markers in club competitions — still operate on the 5-minute rule.
Technically, if you search for 3 minutes and 30 seconds and then find the ball, it's already lost. You must return to where you last played and take a stroke-and-distance penalty.
Nobody will penalize you at your local club for finding it at 3:20. But if you're playing in a serious competition, be aware that 3 minutes is the limit.
2. Grounding your club in a bunker before the shot
The rules around bunkers changed significantly in 2019. You can now touch the sand in a bunker in many situations — when you enter or exit, when removing a loose impediment, during practice swings (as long as you don't improve your lie).
What you still cannot do is ground your club right behind or in front of the ball before the stroke. That's a 2-stroke penalty (or loss of hole in match play).
Many golfers think the rule is "you can never touch the sand in a bunker." That's no longer accurate. But the pre-shot grounding prohibition is still very much in force.
3. Playing a wrong ball and not correcting it
It happens more than people admit. You find a ball that looks like yours, hit it, and only later realise it wasn't yours. Or you're pretty sure it's yours but you don't check.
Under the rules, you must identify your ball before playing it. If you hit someone else's ball in strokeplay, it's a 2-stroke penalty and you must correct the error by going back to play your original ball — before you tee off on the next hole. If you don't correct it, you're disqualified.
Mark your ball (a small dot or line with a marker pen) so you can identify it instantly. It takes 10 seconds and saves a lot of arguments.
4. Giving or receiving advice
You can't ask your playing partners what club they used on that shot, and they can't tell you without being asked if the information is meant to help you choose. That's advice, and it's a 2-stroke penalty (1 in match play, per breach).
Caddy advice is fine. General information about the course (distances, local rules) is fine. But "I hit a 7-iron" right after landing your approach on the green? Technically illegal in competition.
This one is almost universally ignored in social rounds and most people wouldn't penalize it even in competition. But if you ever play in a serious amateur event, be aware that opponents can and occasionally do call this.
5. Conceding a putt to yourself (or picking up without being conceded)
In strokeplay, you must hole out every putt. There are no gimmies. If you pick up a short putt that wasn't conceded, you have technically not completed the hole, which means disqualification under the rules — or at a minimum, you must replace the ball and hole out.
Gimmies are a match play concept. In strokeplay, even in casual rounds with friends, the technically correct thing is to hole everything out. Most casual rounds ignore this completely — and that's fine for a friendly game. But in any competition, never pick up unless it's been formally conceded (which can't happen in strokeplay anyway).
6. Taking relief in the wrong direction
When you take free relief (from a cart path, sprinkler head, immovable obstruction), the drop point must be within one club-length of the nearest point of full relief, no closer to the hole.
The most common mistake: dropping at the nearest point that clears the obstruction, but in the wrong direction (closer to the hole than allowed), or finding the nearest point incorrectly by not accounting for your stance and swing direction, not just where the ball sits.
The nearest point of full relief is a specific calculated spot — not wherever you feel like dropping. Getting it wrong is a 2-stroke penalty.
7. Moving your ball to improve your lie in the rough ("improving the lie")
"Foot wedge" jokes aside, deliberately moving your ball to a better position is playing from a wrong place — 2 strokes in strokeplay, loss of hole in match play.
More subtle versions of this happen all the time: pressing the ball down slightly into the rough, "accidentally" improving the lie while removing a twig, or nudging it with a foot while approaching it. None of these are allowed.
The ball must be played as it lies, with the specific exceptions listed in the rules (embedded ball, abnormal course conditions, etc.).
8. Practicing on the course between holes during a competition
During a stipulated round in strokeplay, you cannot make a practice stroke at any hole you've just completed, or on the way to the next tee. In match play, you're generally allowed to practice between holes by agreement with your opponent.
A few practice chip shots around the back of the green after finishing a hole, while waiting? 2-stroke penalty in strokeplay. Easy to forget, easy to do without thinking.
9. Flagstick confusion
Since 2019, you can leave the flagstick in the hole while putting from anywhere on the green. That's fine. What's not fine:
- Attending the flagstick and leaving it in the hole — if you attend the flagstick (hold it while someone putts) and then fail to remove it before the ball arrives, it's a 2-stroke penalty if the ball strikes the attended flagstick.
- Removing the flagstick on behalf of an opponent without permission — technically interfering with their choice.
The simplest approach: decide before each putt whether the flag stays in or comes out, communicate it, and act accordingly.
10. Not announcing a provisional correctly — or forgetting to play one
You must declare a provisional ball before going to search for the original. If you hit a second ball without saying "I'm playing a provisional," it automatically becomes the ball in play with a stroke-and-distance penalty. The original can't be searched for.
The announcement doesn't need to be formal. Just say "provisional" clearly before you play. But if you forget — even if you meant it as a provisional — the rules don't care about your intentions.
None of these make you a bad person. They make you a normal golfer. The rules are complicated, and most of us learned them imperfectly from other imperfect learners.
The good news: now that you know, you can apply them correctly. And if you're ever mid-round and unsure about a specific situation, Lazar can tell you exactly what to do based on what's actually in front of you.