What is a Playing Handicap™? Your Playing Handicap is the number of strokes you give to, or receive from, an opponent for the round being played. It’s based on your Course Handicap™ but can be ...

The USGA's new Rules of Golf will go into effect on January 1, 2023. Explore additional resources on these changes here.

The USGA Green Section explains how to properly repair ball marks.

Net Double Bogey explainerSince its founding in 1920, the Green Section has led the USGA’s efforts to improve golf course playing conditions and sustainability through research, education, course ...

World Handicap System resources dedicated to the 2024 revision.

When you hit a shot that you think might result in a lost ball or in your ball coming to rest out of bounds, you have the option of playing a provisional ball to save time.

Downloadable ResourcesOverview of the Rules Modernization Initiative: Goals, Changes and Process for Implementation in 2019 ...

This content was first published in Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive Golf Journal and to learn how you can help make golf more ...

Major ChangesThe following are the main changes to the Rules of Golf that took effect on January 1, 2019. The items covered on this page are organized into nine categories. Within each individual item ...

New Rule: Rule 17.1d removes the option to take relief on the opposite side of a red penalty area (the new term that includes what was previously called a lateral water hazard): This means that, when ...

A strict prohibition on touching or moving loose impediments or touching the ground in a water hazard has never been practical, and so a series of exceptions had to be recognized in previous Rule 13-4 ...

In a groundbreaking move that unites the two leading institutions in the collection and preservation of golf history, the USGA and the World Golf Hall of Fame will open a new state-of-the-art museum ...