The Gentlemen Golfers' revision of the original 1744 Rules.
[1744_Leith] [1754_St Andrews] [1773_Bruntsfield] [1775_Leith] [1776_Bruntsfield] [1783_Aberdeen] [1786_Crail]
|
Laws to be Observed by the
Members of The Golfing Company
in playing Golf
22 April 1775
1. You must Tee your Ball not nearer the Hole than two club lengths, nor farther distant than four.
2. Your Tee must be upon the Ground.
3. You are not to change the Ball you strike off the Tee before that Hole is played out.
4. You are not to remove stones, bones or any break club, in order to play your Ball, except upon the fair Green.
5. If your Ball is half covered or more with water, you are at liberty to take it out, tee it behind the Hazard and play it with any Club allowing your Adversary a stroke; And if on Tee, you may take it up, and tee behind the Tee, losing one, or play it off the Tee, in the option of the Player.
6. If your Ball lye in a made Hazard, or in any of the Water-tracts for draining the links, when the cut of the Spade appears at the place where the Ball lyes, it may be taken out, dropped behind the Hazard, and played with an iron club without losing a stroke; or, in the opinion of the Player, the Ball to be tee’d, and lose one; And in no case, but what is mentioned in this and the immediately preceding law, can a Ball be lifted, but must be played where it lyes.
7. If your Balls be found anywhere touching or within six inches of one another, you are to lift the first Ball until the other is played.
8. At Holing, you are to play your Ball honestly for the Hole, and not to play upon your Adversary’s Ball not lying in your way to the Hole.
9. If you lose a Ball, you are to drop another as near as can be judged to the place where your Ball was lost, and allow your adversary a stroke for the misfortune.
10. At Holing, you are not to mark the direction to the Hole.
11. If a Ball be stopped by accident, it must be played where it lies; and if stopped by the Adversary, his cadie, or servant, the party who stops the Ball to lose one.
12. If in striking, your club breaks, it is nevertheless to be accounted a stroke, if you strike the ground, or pass the ball with the club.
13. The Ball farthest from the Hole must be played first.
14. In playing, you are to strike off from the Braehead-hole, and play from it to the Sawmill, for the First Hole; from the Sawmill to the North Mid-hole, for the Second Hole; to the east Hole for the Third; to the South Mid-hole, for the Fourth; and to the Thorntree-Hole, for the Fifth, where the First Round ends; and every other Round is to begin at the Thorntree-Hole, playing from that to the Sawmill-hole, and from thence to the North mid-hole, etcetera, as above, until you come again to the Thorntree-hole, where every Round ends.
15. Any disputes arising between the parties on the Green shall be determined by the Captain for the time being, if present, or by the latest Captain who may be on the ground.
At the Golf House the 22nd day of April 1775. In a general meeting of the Company of Golfers, called for revising the Laws and Regulations of the Company, the meeting having taken the above Laws and Regulations under consideration they Approve of the same.