Golf is a game in which a ball is struck with a club from a prepared area, known as the "teeing ground", across fairway and rough to a second prepared area, which has a hole in it, known as the "putting green". The object of the game is to complete what is known as a hole by playing a ball from the teeing ground into the hole on the putting green in the fewest possible number of strokes. A "round of golf" consists of playing 18 such holes.
There are basically two forms of play, one which is decided by holes won and lost (match play) and the other which is decided by the total number of strokes taken to complete the round (stroke play).
There are three important principles to remember when playing golf:
• Play the course as you find it.
• Play the ball as it lies.
• And if you can't do either, do what's fair.
Click here to view the key changes to the Rules of Golf effective 1 January 2016