Virginia Golfer Nov / Dec 2016 | Page 11

The Rules

Call to Order

Honor, who’s away, and how order of play affects stroke and match play
by COURTNEY JONES
In extreme situations, like when two
balls come to rest against each other
on the green, the order of play is
determined by lot.

RULE 10

ORDER OF PLAY

CHRIS LANG

“ YOU’RE AWAY.” A

common phrase we hear on the
golf course when determining
who will play the next shot.
What impact does it have on
your round of golf?
In general, as a rule, there
is no penalty in either match
play or stroke play for a player
who plays out of turn. However,
there is a difference in what
may happen if you play out of
turn, depending on the form of
play. Starting with the teeing
ground, let’s see what happens
as we make our way through
the course.
On the first tee, the order
of play may be determined in
two different ways. In competition, the side with the honor
is decided by the order of the
draw. More casual rounds with
friends don’t have this option,
meaning the first to tee off
should be decided by lot. This
can be done by drawing numbers, flipping a coin, or even
flipping a tee.

vsga.org

When starting play of subsequent holes in match play, the
side who won the previous hole
has the honor, or is the first to
play from the teeing ground.
In stroke play, it is much of
the same, with the player with
the lowest score on the previous hole being the first to play
at the next tee. If the hole is
halved, or in stroke play players
end up with the same score,
players will use the same order
as the previous teeing ground.
After hitting their tee shots,
the ball farthest from the hole
is played first. There is oftentimes confusion regarding the
order between a player with
his/her ball on the green versus
one with a ball lying elsewhere
on the course. Just remember,
regardless of where both balls
lie on the course, the distance
from the hole is what determines the order of play.
One ball may be on the putting green with 75 feet to the
hole and another in a bunker
only 20 feet from the hole.
Despite being on the green, the
player who is 75 feet away is
still farther from the hole and
should play before the player
whose ball lies in a bunker.
So what happens if someone plays out of turn? The
result may be vastly different
depending on what format you
are playing.
In match play, although
there is no penalty, there can
be consequences to playing
when it is your opponent’s
turn to play. Your opponent
may immediately require you

to cancel the stroke and play
another in the correct order.
Recalling the stroke is not
mandatory, but it could be to
a player’s advantage not to do
so if his or her opponent’s ball
has gone out of bounds, ended
up in a water hazard, or ultimately landed somewhere that
may make it difficult to win
the hole.
In stroke play, there is no
penalty. Fellow competitors
may play out of turn, or “ready
golf,” as long as they have not
agreed to do so in order to give
someone an advantage. This

is an effective way to help with
pace of play during the round.
As you can see, there are
limited situations within the
Rules of Golf where there is a
penalty associated with playing out of turn. While there is
never a penalty in match play,
having the ability to recall a
stroke could give one player a
significant advantage over his
or her opponent and may make
order of play more significant
than some players may think.
Courtney Jones is the VSGA’s
One-Day Manager.

Hole-in-savings.
VSGA members could save
EVEN MORE.

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Limitations apply. See geico.com for more details. GEICO & affiliates. Washington, DC 20076 © 2016

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