Rules of Golf

RULES OF GOLF

Effective January 2023

As the governing body of golf in Canada, Golf Canada holds the exclusive right to govern, publish and distribute the Rules of Golf in Canada.

The Rules are typically updated every four years through the work of the R&A and the United States Golf Association. A joint committee of these associations, on which the Chair of Golf Canada’s Rules and Amateur Status Committee sits, is charged with revising, modernizing and improving the Rules of Golf. These two documents form the complete Rules of Golf that are used universally throughout the world of golf.

For clubs or committees in charge of competitions, the Conditions of Competition and Standard Local Rules that Golf Canada implements at all championships is posted for your reference. In addition, a list of local rules that should be considered is available on this website.

RULES OF GOLF PUBLICATIONS

  • The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf

    This “guidebook” contains information to best support committees and officials. It includes the Rules of Golf, its clarifications and Committee procedures (available local rules and information on establishing the terms of the competition.  It is a “long-form” resource document intended as a supplementary publication and for golf administrators, Referees, officials, and Rules enthusiasts.

    Click here to buy the Official Guide

  • Full Rules of Golf

    The full edition of the Rules will be written in the third person and will include illustrations. The Rules of Golf is intended to be the primary publication for officials and is expected Golf Club Committees and Referees will use the publication as their primary Rules of Golf resource.

    Click here to buy the Rules of Golf

    Golf Canada is the authorized distributor for the Rules of Golf publications in Canada.

     

Committee Toolkit

The Committee Toolkit has been designed to help those responsible for preparing the golf course for general play and for those running and administering competitions at all levels. The “Toolkit” aims to help Committees familiarize the Committee Procedures section of the Official Guide, and to better understand the changes that they need to make to reflect the new Rules. The toolkit also includes a ‘Local Rules Creator’. The purpose of this is to helps Clubs and Committees with the process of updating Local Rules.. Of course, the amount of space available on scorecards is limited and with that in mind, short form Local Rules are also available.

Equipment

The List of conforming drivers and conforming golf balls are universal lists used by all golf associations.

1. List of conforming driver heads
2. List of conforming golf balls
NEW – R&A Equipment Rule