Understand All the Written and Unwritten Rules of Golf

Those who play golf hail it as a great game that's entertaining, frustrating and addictive, all at the same time. Today there is so much of stuff available around just general golf news and relating to its equipment, courses, golf travel news, and so on. However, when it comes to the history of golf, there isn't much reference data available. Even with all the success, money, fame and everything that's there in golf today, the history of golf is still not clear and is debatable. A segment of historians have linked golf to the ancient Roman game, paganica. In paganica players used to hit a leather ball that was stuffed from inside. It's also noted that players would use a slightly tilted stick to hit the ball. So the historians that subscribe to the idea of golf being a modern evolution of paganica, put forward the view that paganica was spread in different countries of Europe as the Romans of first century BC had conquered and ruled most part of Europe.

There are various other segments of historians, however, who accredit different games from history as being the precursors of the modern golf of today. Some historians believe that a Chinese game named chuiwan that was played there between 14th and 17th centuries gradually evolved to become what is the golf of modern world. However this theory is not substantiated because modern golf's recorded existence dates back to early 17th century in Europe and so it offers little or no explanation of how the Chinese game of chuiwan was introduced to Europe without any proper mention. There are some other games that different segments of historians have associated with origin and history of golf such as cambuca which is an English game. A segment of historians is also known to have believed that the descent of golf is through chaugán which is a Persian game. Of all these theories and believes, though, the one that is most logical and is believed by the majority of historians is that golf actually originated in the 12th century Scotland.

Today golf is one of the most popular and successful games globally. There are proper magazines that cover golf news from around the world. So the success of the game has brought about new innovations in the game and some fads too. Going by various golf news sources, the latest of such golf fad seems to be golf travel. Golf travel is a trip during which a golfer plays multiple courses - usually a course per day - while traveling. This trend of golf travel offer double fun for golf lovers in that they get to play the game along with enjoying their travel. However, there are quite a few things that need to be taken care of while planning such golf travel trips. Let's discuss some of these.



It's impossible to discuss all the rules here, so let's just go over some selected ones. Rule 13-1 implies that all players must only strike the ball from a position exactly where it rests following the previous stroke that was made. Only exception can be made if there is another rule for it. Rule 14-2 implies that no player can be assisted in making his or her stroke. Another set of rules discusses how a balls can only be replaced in certain conditions when it's destroyed, or lost, or is deemed unplayable as per the rules. The players, however, have an option of getting the balls changed between the holes. As per another set of rules, before starting the game, the golfers are advised to read and be well versed with any and all local set of rulings mentioned on the scoreboard. It's also important for golfers to put identification marks on their balls as many players use the balls of same brands and the ball is considered lost if a player can't seem to identify it. Also, every player is allowed a maximum of 14 clubs at a time. So you need to make sure that you have checked your clubs and they are not more than 14

Another category of rules is golf match play rules. In a match play the players contest for holes. There can be exceptions set to this rule before the game begins, but usually a hole is considered won by the player who is able to put the ball in the hole taking the fewest strokes. For handicap matches the winner for the hole is decided by the lowest net score. For a match that's being contested for holes, a golfer is considered and duly declared winner once his or her lead over the opponents stretches to the number of holes that is more than the number of holes that remain to be played.

Under match play rules, if a player has some doubt or is not in total agreement with the result declared by the deciding committee, he or she can raise a claim to such a decision. However, a claim is only considered when the opponent or all the opponents that are involved in the claim are made aware of it. Another important match play rule is that once the match is over and a deciding committee has officially declared a winner, no later claim is to be considered by any player unless the claimant player can prove that he or she was mislead by false information.