[jaltiere]

First off, a little about myself. I just started playing golf about 2 months ago, and I'm addicted. I even find myself hitting the driving range on my lunch hour whenever I can. I've got a good set of starter clubs, my brother in law gave me his old Ping G-2 irons, and I just bought a used Ping G2 driver and a used Ping G2 5 Wood from Golf Galaxy. I'm not really even close to breaking 100 yet, but I'm getting better. I'm still at the point in my golf career where I spray the ball all over the place but the 3 or 4 decent shots I hit in a round keep me coming back. I had my first 250 yard drive last time I went out!! I'm actually considering getting a lesson or 2 now that I don't completely embarass myself swinging the club.

Anyway.....

I just read a thread talking about the rules of golf, and people were discussing how closely they actually follow them. One post in particuliar about not taking or giving advice during a round made me realize that I have no idea what all the rules of golf even are. I play my ball where I hit it, I count strokes for losing balls, and I putt everything out.....but I'm probably breaking a million other rules I don't even know about.

Anyway, here are a few questions:

Where can I read what the rules of golf are? What does "winter rules" mean? Should I break down and actually get some lessons from a local pro?

Thanks for any help you can give me. This forum is a very cool resource, I've been lurking around for a few days but this is my first post.

[Lefty44]

First off...welcome!

Where can I read what the rules of golf are? The Rules of Golf

What does "winter rules" mean? Winter Rules Reading

Should I break down and actually get some lessons from a local pro? Yes. The pros take lessons so we probably should too. It will make the game easier to learn and much more fun if you start off doing it the correct way.

[stevieheong]

Actually there are the rules of golf you can read about, and the rules of golf that's unwritten, unspoken. The former we can learn in a book, like how to take a drop, lateral hazard, yellow/red stakes, hazard rules and yes, giving/taking advice during tournament play.

The non-spoken ones are the ones you'll pick up. There are some obvious ones, like raking bunkers, fixing divots and pitchmarks, dont walk in someone's putting line or the return line (when he misses the putt and goes past the hole), and you can generally also read about it over here

ht2p://golf.about.com/cs/beginnersguide/a/golfetiquette.htm

Other ethics are really group dependent. For instance, with my normal foursome, we tend to help each other out as much as possible, so we give each other advice and teach each other on the course. Of course, you don't do this in a tournament/matchplay. You also shouldn't do it if you're new in the group because some people dont like guys who comment about every single damn thing about their swing.

The idea is, in a friendly round of golf, even though its important to abide in the rules as much as possible, look at your foursome. If they are really anal about their rules, then follow it. I tend to avoid these groups. I once played with a guy who couldn't even hit a proper ball but get all fussed up when I stand in his line of sight in the putting green or take an OB drop (2 strokes, save time)...it takes the fun out of the game, especially when he lines up a 3 footer for one minute and miss the bloody thing and blames it on me standing in his line of sight. There are a lot of anal, delusional golfers out there, so you just need to roll with it.

At the end of the day, I doubt we'll get to the PGA (unless we play more than 3 times a week!), so make sure you have fun, first and foremost, and not get too anal over the rules. Welcome to the world of golf and God help you in financing this obsession!!