For many avid sports fans, penalties are most often associated with football. The sport is well known for their officials throwing the yellow flag for infractions such as offsides, holding, pass interference, etc. All of these infractions come with varying levels of a penalty attached. Well, the same applies in golf, minus the brightly colored laundry flying around. Rule 1.3c within the Rules of Golf address our game’s actions giving rise to penalties and the levels of those penalties. Here’s a primer on what every golfer should understand.

RULE 1.3C

We are going to focus on the level of penalties and the differences between them. Penalties are meant and implemented to cancel out any advantage (or potential advantage) to the player. The penalties are broken down into three levels:

One-stroke Penalty

This is the “misdemeanor” of the penalty structure. This level of penalty applies in both stroke play and match play (for example, cleaning your ball when not permitted is a one-stroke penalty in both forms of play). This level of penalty occurs when a potential advantage of the breach of a rule is minor or when a player is taking penalty relief by playing a ball in a different location than where the original ball lay.

General Penalty

This is the “felony” of the penalty structure. It involves a penalty of two strokes in stroke play and a loss of hole in match play. This is applied when a player breaches a rule where the potential advantage is more significant than the level of a one-stroke penalty (for example, playing from a wrong place).

Disqualification

This is the “death sentence” of the penalty structure. It can occur in either stroke or match play and comes about when an action of serious misconduct or a potential advantage is too significant for the player’s score to be valid (for example, signing an incorrect scorecard).

Incurring a penalty, no matter the level, is never pleasant. But the structure of these penalties is intended to remove any potential advantage and to make the game fair for everyone playing a round. The key difference with our sport is that the players are required to call penalties on themselves. No need to throw the flag. Leave your handkerchief handy to clean your golf ball … when allowed!