Rule 4 · The basics
Rule 4: Clubs, balls, equipment
Official title: The Player’s Equipment
Success should depend on your judgement and skill. So clubs and balls are limited, and you may use other aids only within limits.
4.1 Clubs
You may carry no more than 14 clubs. If you have too many, you must clearly take the extra ones out of play. You may always keep using a club damaged during the round. Since 2023 you may also repair or replace it, unless you damaged it through abuse.
Rules questions on this
- Is there a minimum number of clubs?
- How many clubs can you carry in golf?
- Club damaged during a stroke: can I replace it?
- Can I borrow a club during the round?
- Damaged a club in anger: can I replace it?
6 more questions
- Can I adjust my adjustable driver during the round?
- 15 clubs in the bag: what is the penalty?
- Can I practise with someone else’s putter between holes?
- Removed a sticker from the clubface before playing: is there a penalty?
- 15 clubs in match play: how is the penalty applied?
- Lost a club during the round: can I replace it?
4.2 Balls
The ball must conform and must not be deliberately altered. If it breaks into pieces when you hit it, the stroke does not count and you play again. If it becomes cut or cracked on the hole, you may change it.
4.3 Other equipment
A distance-measuring device has been allowed since 2019, unless a Local Rule prohibits it. But it may only measure distance, not elevation changes or wind. For everything else: anything that artificially makes your stroke easier is prohibited. Exceptions are possible for medical reasons.
Rules questions on this
Our own simplified summary of the 2023 Rules of Golf. The official Rules text is what counts.