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These Mistakes Will Cost You A Penalty Shot - Golf Rules
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Apr 1, 2025
In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by resident rules expert Fergus Bisset to run through the 5 rules mistakes that will cost you a one-shot penalty. These would be classed as relatively minor breaches where it wouldn't seem like you're gaining a massive advantage over the field, yet they do still unfortunately incur a penalty under the rules so be sure to watch them all to make sure you don't have to add any unwanted shots to your scorecard.
View Video Transcript
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Hello and welcome to the London Club and this video which we're going to take a look at the
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five golf rules mistakes that everyone should know but they will only cost you one stroke if
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you make them. They'll only cost you one stroke because for the most part they are deemed to be a
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minor infraction in the rules but they are well worth knowing because these are mistakes that we
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can all make. I'm joined in this video by golf rules expert Fergus Bissett. And finally this
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video is being sponsored by our very good friends at Hello Fresh. We have an amazing offer
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for anyone watching this video and more on that later. Get out there, onto the golf balls and get started
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Right, Fergus, so I have just hit my approach shot into this green
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and I've hit it terribly thin, really quite thin. Okay. And before I go about the delicate process of trying to get this one up and down
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I quite want to see whether I've caused any sort of terminal damage to my golf ball
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Okay. And now I know I'm now in danger of incurring a one-shot penalty
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If I'm not careful, come to the rescue, tell me what I can and can't do
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Okay. Rule 4.2c part one. It trips off the tongue. It does. Now, if you were not reasonably sure that there had been damage to your ball, you would not be able to lift it
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You could incur one straight penalty for lifting it if you didn't really believe that there was some damage to it
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Oh, really? Oh, right. So the fact that I have to take this terribly thin is okay. That's okay. So you're okay. Now, you have to mark your ball before you lift it
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If you didn't mark it like that and you lifted it, you would incur a one-shot penalty
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OK, so I'm OK so far. So you're OK. Now, you can have a look at it. Now, it looks pretty clean, but if your ball had some dirt on it
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you would not at this point be able to clean it. If you cleaned it, even to have a look if it was cut or cracked
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you would get a one-shot penalty. Is that right? OK, so you can't clean the ball, don't need to clean the ball
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there's no mud or dirt, and actually the golf ball is looking perfectly okay. Perfectly okay, in which case you would replace it carefully and play on
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There would be no penalty. My ball, the original position of my ball was right next to the marker
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like so. You have to put it back exactly as it was. So I have to put it back like that. So anything
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else than that is wrong. Any other spot, you have to put it back on the exact spot. So clearly
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if I put it back there, that's incorrect. That would be, in contravention
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So 14.2b2. Okay. You would be incorrectly replacing a ball. Now, in this scenario, what if I go
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okay, well I put it back in the wrong spot, so I'm just gonna pop it into the right spot. That's now in the right spot, isn't it
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It is in the right spot. However, it's still an incorrect replacement of the ball
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You have to replace the ball by hand on the exact spot. Do you
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So in that case, you again would be one-stroke penalty territory. Right, so before picking, that's interesting
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before picking up the tee, I need to pick it up, pop it back down again
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Okay, we're all good. Yeah that on the exact spot No penalty You have no one stroke penalty Okay fine This is looking The grass underneath this ball is looking very tight though Yeah
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Oh. Not bad. It's a slightly fat. Slightly fat. It's trundling down there quite well, actually
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I'll take that. Okay, so there you have it. If you're unsure whether you might have damaged your golf ball
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you are allowed to check, but just make sure you mark it, you place it back exactly as it was
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and that you don't clean it. You'll avoid a one stroke penalty. Right, so I've got two words for you, Fergus. Slow play. And actually, slow play can cost you
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penalty shots. Or in this specific scenario, penalty shot. Explain to me, Ferb, what we're
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talking about specifically. Okay, so I've just missed a putt. I'm a bit frustrated about that
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and I want to have another go. I'm allowed to do that. Yeah, you're allowed to do that. Rule 5.5b
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you're allowed to have another go. But rule 5.6a, you're not allowed to unreasonably delay play
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Okay. If there was a group behind waiting to play their shot
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and I spent five minutes desperately trying to hold this putt, I would be unreasonably delaying play
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I'd be in contravention of that rule and it'd be a one-shot penalty. Yeah, so this specifically relates to practicing on the golf course, doesn't it
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So why do you think it's only a one-shot penalty then? Well, I think it's just a minor blip that first time
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You've just made a mistake. You maybe haven't noticed the people behind you. You weren't intentionally unreasonably delaying play
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So it's a one-shot penalty. But if you keep doing it, if you're so oblivious to the group behind you, you just keep doing it through the round, what happens in that scenario
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Well, it can escalate. If you break that rule for a second time, say you did the same thing on the next green, it's general penalty
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So two shots. If you did it another time, the following green, you'd actually be disqualified
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Okay. So I think in all of these rules, we are talking about what happens when you are playing in competition, not when you're playing friendlies with your friends
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However, I think with this particular scenario, I think we both agree that any time you're unduly delaying play is not a good thing
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Try and keep up with play. If you can do that in competition, then you'll avoid any of these penalty related scenarios
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OK, so I've just taken a free drop away from an immovable obstruction
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Now, Fergus, you told me that I've incurred in the process of doing that a one shot penalty
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Enlighten me. What exactly did I get wrong here? Because it felt like I did a lot of stuff correctly
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You did do a lot of stuff correctly, but I'm afraid you were in contravention 14.3b, taking an incorrect drop
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I know. You ascertained your nearest point of relief. You did that correctly
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Well done. Thank you. You marked that. Very good. You used the driver correctly
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No club cover on it. Perfect. Measured it. Marked the spot. One club length
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One club length. Thereby establishing your relief area. you drop the ball in that relief area. Correct. Unfortunately, you drop the ball at shoulder
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height. And not at knee height. So knowing how particular the rules are about these things
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again it does lead me to think why is that only a one shot penalty and not two shot Why is that not the general penalty Good question I think a one penalty is given when the breach of the rules is deemed to gain only minor advantage
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Now, in this instance, the advantage you have gained is not possibly enough, but you have actually not gone by the rules
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So it would be unfair to give you a two-shot penalty for doing something that didn't give you a huge advantage
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now you know you could have re-dropped and incurred no penalty if you had remembered
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if I hadn't have played the shot the problem was that you played the shot and then that
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is when the one shot penalty comes into play so it's a minor
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raffle and knuckles for that particular incursion of the rules it's not the worst
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offence anyone's ever committed but it's enough to get you a penalty shot right we're going to
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and it means that you won't have to worry too much about what's going on in the kitchen
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and you can focus much more on your golf. Okay, so for this one, we are talking about
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accidentally moving a ball that is at rest. And there's probably two scenarios that I can think
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where that would be most likely, probably, which would be mindlessly wandering around
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and you accidentally kick your ball. Or a scenario like this, where you're about to hit your shot
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you put the club behind the ball and you accidentally, as I've just done, they nudge the ball
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It's gone, it's rolled off its axis. It's close to the hole than it was before
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Tell me, Fergus, I can just replace that without penalty. No, I'm afraid not
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But I can on the tee. You could. If you had done it on the tee, you haven't started the hole yet, you would just put the ball back on the tee
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If you knocked it off there no penalty there But unfortunately you have started the hole Rule 9 the ball has been moved at rest It a one shot penalty and you must replace the ball where it was
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If you played it from there, that would be ball played from the wrong place, which would incur a further
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general two-stroke penalty. Two-stroke penalty. So we're back to our position, back to our thing
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about moving the ball back. I don't need to mark the position. I'm putting it back to where it was
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No, you just replace it by hand. Which is here. Yeah. So probably there
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Does the same thing apply that we talked about earlier in the video? If I use my club just to nudge it back
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Again, yes. So you'd be in danger of having one shot penalty for moving a ball at rest
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and then incorrectly replacing the ball if you rolled it back. So, yeah, be careful when you're doing that
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Do you know, this is a rule that I play a lot of golf with my 10-year-old son
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He often puts his club behind the ball a bit too close and he'll just nudge it. And he just, he looks at me and I say to him
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I think you might have incurred a penalty shot there. He looks to me as if to say, what are you talking about, Dad
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How is there any advantage from that? I think, and that again is what we're talking about
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The advantage is minor. It's not, you know, that's why it's only a one-shot penalty
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So as long as you put it back, it's a one-shot penalty, but it is still a penalty. Yeah, another one that's really well worth keeping an eye out for
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So for our last one-shot penalty rule, Fergus, we've gone for one of the most common rules
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scenarios people might face on the golf course, and that's hitting a ball out of bounds. Now, you are going to have to use your imagination slightly
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Imagine that down the right-hand side of this hole over my left shoulder is a row of white stakes
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And I've just sprayed one way right, Fergus. Explain to me why we're talking about that in this video
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Well, I think people would think that going out of bounds is a monumentally awful thing to do, isn't it
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You really feel like you've thrown shots away. And it feels like two penalty shots, doesn't it
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Yeah, because you're teeing another one up. But in fact, the penalty is only one shot
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rule 18 a ball out of bounds one penalty shot applies and of course how to proceed if you do
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hit one out of bounds is that you have to re-tee from the position that you've hit before
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so it's stroke and distance the one penalty shot is all that there is though and then you're playing
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a third shot from here so it's it seems extremely harsh but in fact it's one of the the few scenarios
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where you only incur one penalty shot for your misdemeanor but as you say it feels like a two
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shot penalty and also worth pointing out as we often say the old provisional ball rule is worth
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mentioning in this scenario because if you're not 100% sure it's out yes then you've got to hit a
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provisional ball you've got to announce it's a provisional ball uh you might well find your one
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down there you might not but if you've hit your provisional you'll at least have something in play yeah so next time you spray a ball out of bounds think to yourself oh it's not so bad it's only a
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one shot penalty so there you have it those are the five golf rules mistakes that will only cost
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you one shot. Now, one shot is still a lot. They're well worth avoiding. If you do have any questions
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at all about any of the content in this video, post them below. We'd love to hear your thoughts
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and of course, hit the like and subscribe button as well. But that's it for now from the London
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Club. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time
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