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Basic Golf Rules

The Magic Number for Golf Clubs? 14

14 golf clubs in the golf bag is one of the basic golf rules. Plenty of golfers have extra clubs they use in differing situations, but in order not to give those players an advantage (and to keep caddies from having to lug even heavier bags) the USGA is very clear on the amount of clubs a player is allowed to use: 14. Make them all drivers or putters or irons or wedges, or be like everyone else and use a mixed set of clubs, but 14 is the maximum allowed.

This is not one of those basic golf rules in the rules of golf that is going to get you kicked off the golf course if you’re playing a quick 18 with friends, but if you’re playing in a tournament there are strong penalties for having too many clubs. You lose two strokes per hole played with an extra club (maximum of four) or lose the hole if it is a match play situation (maximum of two lost holes). Once you discover the mistake, you have to immediately declare the extra club(s) unplayable, and if you use one of those clubs again during the round you get disqualified. That’s not a great way to finish a fun office scramble with an extremely rigid fellow competitor.

You can’t change your mind halfway through and switch your pitching wedge for a seven wood, but there are provisions for replacing clubs that get damaged in the normal course of play. If you swing your six-iron and the clubhead flies off into the water hazard while the ball trickles down the fairway, you are allowed to replace it, assuming you’re one of those people with a host of spare clubs in a hidden compartment in your golf cart.

On the other hand, if you get frustrated after a missed putt and break your putter slamming it into the ground or against your cart, you’re out of luck. You can’t replace a club that you damaged outside the course of play. Nor are you allowed to borrow your cartmate’s, not that they would be thrilled with that idea anyway if they’d just seen you treat your own club so poorly. Just get used to putting with your driver or seven-iron until the end of the round, and try to control your temper better in the future.

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