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Master Golf: 5 Common Rules Explained In Simple Terms
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Aug 29, 2025
Resident Rules of Golf expert Fergus Bisset joins Golf Monthly editor Neil Tappin to discuss the situations where the Rules of Golf differ between strokeplay and matchplay and how knowing matchplay rules could well win you a hole or the match! The Rules of Golf can sometimes feel confusing and complicated, so hopefully this video explains the Rules of Golf in a way that makes them easier to understand.
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When it comes to the rules of golf there are some significant differences between match play
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and stroke play and these are things that every golfer should really get to know. So in this video
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I'm going to be joined by a golf monthly rules guru Fergus Bissett and he's going to talk me
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through five times where the rules differ between match play and stroke play. We're here at the
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London club. Let's get started. Okay so we are on the tee here of the 16th hole on the international
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course at the London Club and I've teed my ball up but Fergus if I was being honest with myself
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I think that ball is slightly out of the slightly ahead of the team yeah and this is one of those
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scenarios where there is a difference between how you proceed in stroke play and in match play yes
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explain okay rule 6.1b playing from outside the teeing area now if you played this shot
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in match play and I was your opponent I would have a choice to make
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I would notice that you've played from outside the teeing area I would see where you've hit the shot
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and I would decide whether I was going to cancel your stroke I might just say you carry on
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however if you've ripped it down the middle I might say you play from outside the teeing area
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cancelling that stroke please play again from within the teeing area if you play from outside the teeing area
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in stroke play you're in a bit more trouble. It's a two-shot general penalty
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And you would be required to re-tee within the teeing area and play three off the tee
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Now, if you didn't correct... But it's three off the tee, but that first stroke gets cancelled
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It's three off the tee because you incurred a two-shot penalty. Yes. Yes, correct
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The new ball is in play. The new ball becomes the one in play. If you didn't correct the mistake
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and you continued to play the ball that was played from outside the teeing area, you completed the hole and then started another hole
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you would be disqualified. But that's only going to happen if your playing partners decide to only tell you after you've continued to play
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which strikes me as something very unlikely. But if it did happen, it's not great form, I would say
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I would say it's not great form and you would like to think it wouldn't happen. Someone would advise you that you had made a mistake
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Yes. But yes, if it did happen, that would be the consequences
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I guess the point here is either way, it's always best to make sure that you're teeing off from slightly behind the markers
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don't leave any doubt there, because it could, it could cost you
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Okay so this one refers to playing out of turn And again there is a difference between match play and stroke play in this scenario So imagine that we are playing over the camera So we playing in this direction My golf ball is clearly closer to the target than yours is Fergus but you are still raking
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your bunker footprints or something. You're talking to somebody on another fair, I don't
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know what you're doing. So I decide that I want to go first. Now in match play, what happens next
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Okay, well, it's rule 6.4, which deals with playing in turn or the order of play. And in
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match play unless we had agreed for you to play first in order to save time then I might decide
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that I don't like the what you've just done particularly if you've hit a very good shot
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you've played out of turn and I have the option in match play to cancel your shot and ask you to
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play again and the same as if you're ahead of the team marks as we've already talked about on the
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tee but it's different in stroke play and match play why do you think it's different why is the
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order, I guess the order is more important. Yeah, I mean, in stroke play, ready golf is encouraged
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I mean, it would be prudent for you to play first if I was taking some time to rake a bunker
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It's not going to affect the result of that hole, whereas in match play, it's really quite
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important who gets the first blow in. If you get to go first and stick one to six feet, I'm under pressure, I would have liked
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to have the chance to put you under pressure. that's why I would have had the option to cancel your shot
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So are we saying here that if you play out of turn in stroke play, there's no penalty then
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There's no penalty. There is no penalty. But what's it say in the rule book? Is it encouraged to keep to the honours
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What's the rule? The basic guidelines is that you would keep to the same honours system from the tee and
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playing from whose furthest away goes first on the way up to the green and to the hole
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But ready golf is what's encouraged. So if it's safe and responsible and reasonable to do so, then play out of turn
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Keep play flowing. Keep play flowing. It's a good message and one that will certainly help in stroke play
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In match play, however, keep an eye out for that one. Oh, I'll take that
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That's a good shot. Now I did notice, Ferg, that one potential problem here
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I may have just grazed the sand on the way back with my club
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Did you notice that? I did notice that, yeah. Presumably that's fine though
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No, I'm afraid not. It in contravention of rule 12 that You follow me around all the time I know I a menace I am You are a menace so I broken the rules It the general penalty
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Now, this is where we need to ask... Two shots. Two shots
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Well, are you playing match play or stroke play? Well... Because there's going to be a difference
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We're playing a match and I'm free up. Let's have a bit of a discussion about the general penalty
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Now, the general penalty in stroke play is two shots. You're correct
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But the general penalty in match play is loss of hole. Okay. So if you'd made that breach of the rules in stroke play
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it's a two-shot penalty you would add to your score at the end of this hole. Yeah. In match play, you have immediately lost the hole
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Lost the hole, onto the next. So for instance, another example of that would be
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say you ran onto the tee, the first tee, one minute late. In stroke play, that would be a two-shot penalty
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In match play, you'd have lost the first hole. Really? Yeah. Okay, so it's worth knowing that the general penalty
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still exists in stroke play and match play. Yes. But it means different things in different formats
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Yes, it's two shots in stroke play, loss of hole in match play. Okay, that's pretty much all you need to know here
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However, make sure that you also remember the other caveats that we're exploring in this video
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Indeed. Okay, so for this one, let's talk holing out. And there's a big difference, obviously, between match play and stroke play
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Let's start with match play. In this scenario, I've just rolled a ball up from 15 feet to about 15 inches
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They're on theirabouts. I would be looking at you at this moment in time thinking, Fergus, are you going to give me this putt
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Is this a gimme? Yeah. And you would say... In match play, I would say it is a gimme
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Oh, thank you. Pick it up. Whether it's for a half or for a win
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I concede that stroke and that's fine. You don't have to put it in the hole
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I could concede a stroke, a hole or a match at any point
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Okay, so you can do it on the tee. So if I sprayed one miles right off the tee and you're next to the hole, you might concede
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I might concede the hole to you and say, pick it up, don't worry about it, let's go to the next. And that just helps pace of play
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it keeps the pace of play up during the round. But it's not the same in stroke play. There
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is no such thing as a gimme in stroke play. If I've rolled this up from 15 feet to here
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and I pick it up and walk off to the next tee thinking that you've given it to me, what
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happens to me in this scenario? Well, in standard stroke play, if you don't haul out, move to the next tee and tee off
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on the next haul without correcting the mistake of not hauling out, you'll be disqualified
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Disqualified VQ no coming back goodbye that it Yes But there are different forms of stroke play aren there So let talk about the difference between medal and stable foot here because it an important one Okay so in standard stroke play you have to haul out
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Other forms, stable foot being one of them, par bogey competitions, max score competitions, for instance
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you don't actually have to haul out. Stable foot, for instance, if that putts for a 10
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you're getting zero points on the haul. Regardless. It doesn't matter whether you haul it or not
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Yeah. So if you pick it up, you just put a zero on the scorecard, across the scorecard, no points on that hole, move on to the next hole, and you can complete the round without beating the score
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No penalty shots, no qualification, all good. And again, it's about pace of play
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If you've hit your 10th shot and you're still in the rough on the right-hand side, pick it up
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Don't keep hacking your way through the hole. Get your head into the game for the next hole, I would say, just to help keep pace of play moving
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Hopefully that tells you the difference between stroke play and match play and that there are no gimmies in standard medal stroke play
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Okay, so for this one, we're talking about moving your opponent or your playing partner's golf ball
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And there's a difference there, the difference between match play and stroke play. So let's say in this scenario, Fergus, you've hit your ball to here, but I'm mindlessly kind of wandering up and I think your ball is way up the fairway over there
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and I thought that's a golf ball from another part of the club
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and I just picked it up. What happens in match play? Well, in match play, rule 9.5b
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you're going to incur a one-shot penalty. You've lifted a ball at rest
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you've lifted your opponent's ball at rest, you will replace the ball where it was
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but you'll get a one-shot penalty. One-shot penalty. It's one of those occasions in the rules
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where it is a one-shot penalty which is quite rare actually because the general penalty, I know we're talking about stroke play and match play
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So the stroke play general penalty is two shots. So it's one of those occasions where it's a one-shot penalty
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What's the penalty then in stroke play? There's no penalty in stroke play
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Right. If you lift the playing partner's ball in stroke play, you simply replace it and there's no penalty
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So it's a one-shot penalty in match play, but no penalty in stroke play. So I will finish with a very simple piece of advice
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which is probably best not to pick up your playing partner or your opponent's ball at any time on the golf course
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It could get you in a bit of bother. There ends our look at the occasions when the rules differ between stroke play and match
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play. If you have any questions or comments, please do leave them in the box below. We'd
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love to hear what you have to say. Also, please don't forget to subscribe to the Golf Monthly
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channel for more rules-related videos and also hit the like button for this video as
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well. Thanks for watching. For now, from the London Club, it's goodbye
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