The article below was written by Matt Coles of National Club Golfer.

How many clubs can I carry? Can I pick up and clean my ball? Can I tee my ball up anywhere? Here are some of the rules that beginner golfers have to know!

For golfers just starting out, learning the Rules of Golf can be just as difficult as consistently putting a clubhead on to the ball.

How many clubs can you carry? What happens when you lose your golf ball?

Hannah Holden took the time to explain some of the key rules, and why they’re so important for beginner golfers to get to grips with them.

You can watch the video below, or scroll on down to see a baker’s dozen of important rules and golf etiquette revealed…

The rules every beginner golfer needs to know

How many clubs am I allowed to carry?

Yes, there is a limit! You can only carry a maximum of 14 clubs. You can choose to carry less, but have any more than 14 in the bag and you’ll be getting a penalty.

Where and how do I start?

How do you start playing a hole? By playing a ball from anywhere inside the teeing area. A ball is classed as being in that area if any part of it touches or is above part of the teeing area.

You can use a tee, or you can play it from the ground, and you’re under way when you make a stroke to begin the hole.

This bit is important. A stroke is defined as the forward movement of the club made to strike the ball. So, even if you miss it entirely, it counts a stroke. Add one to your score.

Can I tee it up everywhere on the course?

No. The only time you can place the ball on a tee is when you are in the teeing area. Everywhere else on the golf course, the ball must normally be played as it lies – whether that is in the fairway, rough, bunker, or on the green.

I’ve lost my golf ball…

What if you can’t find your ball? Once a three minute search time has elapsed, you’ll have to take stroke-and-distance relief. That means going back to where you played your previous shot and hitting another ball.

For instance, you’ve hit your drive offline and you can’t find your ball in the rough. If you haven’t already played a provisional ball, you would have to go back to the teeing area and put another ball into play.

This is now your third shot, as you’ve hit off the tee, incurred a penalty stroke for taking stroke-and-distance relief, and have played from the tee once more.

Where does my golf bag go?

You have made it on to the green, but does your golf bag come with you? We don’t want to put it in the way, or too far out of the way so we are slowing down golfers behind.

If you can, always try and put your golf bag between the flag and the next tee, so it is on your way as you leave the putting surface. Just make sure your bag never goes on the green!

How do I know whose turn it is?

Ah, the honour. Traditionally, the person with the lowest gross score on the previous hole is the first player to tee off.

As the hole develops, the player who is furthest from the hole usually players first. Many golfers, though, adopt a mantra of ‘ready golf’.

If someone else in the group is ready, and it is safe to play, they can hit their shot to keep the game moving.

My ball has made a pitch mark on the green – what now?

The greens are usually the most receptive bits of turf on the golf course. These can also mean a golf ball coming from a high trajectory can cause marks and indentations in the ground.

If you get to the green and find your ball has done this then it is correct etiquette repair it. Normally you’ll use a pitch mark repairer but you can also use a tee.

This is done to make sure the green is in as good a shape as possible for the next group, and there are no big indentations after you’ve finished the hole that can damage the putting surface if left unattended.

Can I clean my ball when it’s on the green?

Yes, you are allowed to mark your ball and clean it before putting. You can place your ball marker behind the ball, you can use a tee if you wish, and you can then lift the ball.

When you’re done, place the ball back on the same spot, remove the marker, and away you go!

Can I move the flag?

When you are on the green, does the flagstick have to stay in the hole?

This is entirely your choice. You can putt with the flag in. You can also remove it. If you’re a long way from the hole, you can ask a playing partner to ‘attend the flag’.

This means they hold the flagstick until the ball gets closer to the hole, and then remove it. If the ball hits the flagstick, or the person attending it, a penalty will ensue if that was done deliberately.

I’m on the green, but the wrong one…

This happens more than you might think! You’re not allowed to play from a wrong green and must take relief.

You need to find the nearest point of complete relief from interference from the wrong green – that includes stance and area of intended swing – it that can be no nearer the hole you are playing.

You drop the ball, from knee height, into a one-club relief area.

How many can we have in a group?

Most clubs will only allow a maximum of four people in a group. If you are in a fourball and there are ones and twos behind, the Rules say players are encouraged to allow faster groups to play through. Step to the side and wave them on.

Eighteen holes of golf will always throw up various different tests and situations. The ability to play different golf shot shapes—from tucked away pins to simply finding the middle of the green—is a huge benefit.

In this guide, we speak to PGA Pro Barney Puttick about some of the most common golf shot shapes and how best to play them.

We’ve broken it down into the four golf shot shapes you’re most likely to find on the course and how you can practise each one.

What are the most common golf shot shapes?

Table of contents

1. The Low Shot
2. The High Shot
3. The Fade
4. The Draw

1. The Low Shot

Barney says…

What I get my students to do is narrow their stance and then move the ball back towards the middle of the stance.

I think the best way to learn how to hit it ‘low’ is to get a 7 or 8-iron and start with 30-yard chip shots. That way, you’ll start to get the feeling of keeping your hands in front, but you’ll also be practising hip rotation to get the right synchronisation.  

A common mistake golfers often make is they stick their hands just in front and then just prod them forward without any lower half movement. So, instead, try playing a chip and then expand it to 60-70 yards. The art for me, then, is truncating the swing on either side of the ball, so you go chest-high to chest-high, and because you have the slightly narrower stance and the ball positioned a bit further back, you can retain the angle through the impact zone. Then, you get that nice trapping sort of shot, and it takes off from there.

If you rehearse a few throwing movements, that will start to give you the synchronisation with the lower half. An underarm or side throw, similar to throwing a cricket ball or playing a forehand shot in tennis, for example, is good for understanding the feeling of movement in the hips.

2. The High Shot

Barney says…

Most golfers don’t struggle too much with getting the ball up as their angle of attack is quite steep. Here, it’s all about moving the ball further forward in the stance—normally, with a 6-iron, you’d be halfway between the left heel and middle of the stance—almost where you would normally put your driver. The theory, then, is that you’ll increase your hand action and start to get that desired elevation. 

You’ll be more level with the ball rather than in front of it this time, and that’s what starts to pop it up. Obviously, you don’t want to flick it, but I’ve always told golfers to start clipping a few balls with their feet together because that helps to accentuate the swing path, and you can really start to feel your hands releasing.

With your feet together, you have to release your hands so that when you put the ball forward in the stance, you can retain the same feeling in your hand action. It takes a bit of practice, but you’ll start to see a positive release.

To encourage a steeper takeaway, I usually start with something simple. I get golfers to hold their left hand where it would be at set-up, then take their right hand away as though they’re making a swing, and clap the left.  It’s quite interesting to watch, as no one ever whips their right hand inside—instead, they’ll always take it back on a normal path, so I think that’s good.  

Another method is using a medicine ball or a weight. I get golfers to take their normal posture and make a move away to simulate a throw. Body logic often takes over here, and you can see that with a weight, you’d never whip your arms across your body because it wouldn’t make for an efficient movement. Essentially, you are trying to make it so that it’s less of a fight to get it back on plane. 

I may also get golfers to put the club in the perfect position, halfway back, and make a turn from there before swinging through. Nine times out of ten, most of the damage is done by waist-high.

3. The Fade

Barney says…

I’m a bit ‘old school’. I always work in impact factors, so I’ll get golfers into good impact positions—i.e. hips cleared, hands forward, and do the drills to help with that.

I’ve worked with many good golfers, trying to get them to hold off shots with some fade to stop them from dropping it back on the inside. They’ve often ended up with a pretty straight shot with nothing on it.

Fade shots are very different now compared to 30-40 years ago. They’re often a safety thing, and if a good player loses five yards, who cares? If you’re talking about a deliberate fade, I’d aim the body where you want the ball to start and put the clubface down in line with the target.

Obviously, better golfers will feel it a little more in the downswing.  If you were to stand behind Max Homa, for example, he wouldn’t appear to be aiming that far left—certainly not like back in the day with Lee Trevino or Colin Montgomerie (Monty)—it’s very minute.  

Monty would often take out one side of the course. He knew there was never a danger of him losing it left, and I’ve seen him on right-to-left holes just plonking it over the corner, hitting it to where someone else would have just started it right and drawn it back in.  

The stock shot is an underrated one. People talk about Tiger hitting nine different golf shot shapes, but for most people, that’s the worst thing they could do. Golf is tough enough to be learning one shot never mind nine. With Monty, it was all about hitting this shot under pressure, and it was a nice, simple thing to go back to. And, of course, he was blessed with unbelievable rhythm—he didn’t look any different from the range to the practice ground.  

When people marvel at somebody getting over 60% accuracy with a driver on tour, it’s easy to forget that Monty was often in the high 70s and even 80s. He was repeatedly playing from the short stuff, and that is huge.

4. The Draw

Barney says…

The big thing for me here is making sure you get the club back on plane. In an attempt to hit a draw shot, people often end up whipping the club too far on the inside, thinking they’ve got to get around the body—but, of course, there’s no room for the club to shallow out on the way down.  

So, step one of hitting a draw is to make sure you’re coiling on plane, because it’s easy to get too tight to the body, and leave yourself nowhere else to go but over the top. 

Let’s use tennis theory—if you really want to draw it, hit it like a top hand. Then, pull your right foot back and hit it.

Golfers always want to swing around their feet. That’s always the ‘conundrum’, but they can see that even if they start to make a forehand move, like a top-spin, it comes inside but not right around. There is some shape for that shallowing movement to make.

The number one error I find with golfers trying to draw it is they aim too far right and get flatter and flatter on the backswing. Then, they wonder why they’ve ended up with a ‘low blocky’ one because they’ve got to come over the top on the way down.

About Barney Puttick

Barney turned professional in 1979 and worked under Ian Connelly, best known as Sir Nick Faldo’s original coach. He was once tied for third with Greg Norman in a 36-hole tournament in Cannes, behind Corey Pavin.

He has been the head professional at Mid Herts GC since 2000, and is a Golf Monthly Top 50 coach. He was recently made an Honorary Member of Hertfordshire Golf.