Golf Digest editors picks
Golf Instruction

The Most Misunderstood Rules in Golf

In golf, we love to boast about how we govern ourselves. But what happens when no one in your group knows the rules? Unveiling the rules that trip golfers up most.

RELATED: The Reasonable Man's Rules of Golf

December 2012
misunderstood rules

MYTH: A ball that is touched and falls off the tee after it has been addressed counts as a stroke.
FACT: In most cases, it doesn't count as a stroke and the ball should be re-teed without penalty. It counts as a stroke if the ball already was in play (if you whiffed on your first attempt, for example), or if you were making a stroke at the time the ball fell off the tee.
Subscribe to Golf Digest

The latest on golf digest

Golf Instruction
Get Game Ready
These 14 fixes will put you in mid-season form now.
Golf Equipment: What's In My Bag: Nick Watney
What's In My Bag
Nick Watney
America's Toughest Courses
Rankings
America's Toughest Courses
Swing Sequence: Louis Oosthuizen
Swing Sequences
Louis Oosthuizen

Golf Instruction Tweets

. Close

Thank you for signing up for the newsletter.

You will receive your first newsletter soon.
Subscribe to Golf Digest
Subscribe today