7 Rules golfers may find confusing

Jeremy Ellwood runs through a selection of Rules scenarios to which even some long-established golfers won't always know the answer

- Jeremy Ellwood

There are 25 Rules of Golf, plus more than 70 Definitions that combine to cover some 238 pages in the latest book. And there are also almost limitless scenarios that can potentially occur out on the golf course every time you tee it up. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that despite the major revisions to the Rules that came into effect in 2019, many golfers do still find certain elements a little confusing – some Rules more than others.

The Golf Monthly Rules query inbox is testament to this, so this month, we have picked out seven Rules, definitions or scenarios – including the ones we get asked about most frequently – where there is the potential for confusion, misunderstanding or misinterpretation…

Q What does ‘known or virtually certain’ mean?

A This phrase crops up a number of times in the Rules, whether to do with determining if your ball is in a penalty area, whether or not it moved or what caused it to move. But what does it mean?

‘Known’ is fairly self-explanatory – there is conclusive evidence that your ball did go into a penalty area, perhaps because you saw a splash, for example. ‘Virtually certain’ means all available information points to it being in the penalty area, but there is a very small degree of doubt – perhaps there’s a patch of rough where it could conceivably be.