How Many Clubs Can You Play With?

Now-a-days it seems like there’s a club for every single situation you might find yourself in on the golf course. There’s a club for those tough long bunker shots, there’s new hybrid clubs to add to or replace your fairway woods, there’s new green side wedges, loft wedges, mid-wedges, approach wedges, and a whole slew of putters out there to choose from.

But how many clubs are you really allowed to play with?

Well USGA rules state that you are only allowed to play a round with 14 clubs. And if you are caught playing a round with more than 14 clubs there are penalties you must incur depending on the type of play and when the mistake was discovered.

For instance if you are playing in match play and you discover that you are playing with more than 14 clubs, you must deduct one hole for each hole in played with more than 14 clubs with a maximum of 2 holes per round penalty. So if you are on the 5th hole and you are up by 4 holes, you must deduct 2 holes from your score making you only up by 2 holes.

If in stroke play and you discover that you are playing with more than 14 clubs you must add 2 strokes to each hole that you played with more than 14 clubs with a maximum of 2 holes or 4 strokes penalty. So if you’re on the 5th hole here and you’ve parred every hole up to that point, you now must mark down that you have two bogeys, one of the first hole and one on the second hole.

Once you discover you have too many clubs you must designate the specific clubs in your bag that you are not going to use for the remainder of the round that bring your total playable clubs to 14. You can’t switch after you designate the clubs, which club will be unplayable. Once designated, that golf club cannot be played even if it is in your bag.

You may also add a club after the start of play as long as it doesn’t delay play. So if on the 12th hole you noticed that you forgot your magic wedge and you need it for a sand shot. If you can run to the car or your locker, get the club, and be back ready to hit your shot, it’s OK.

But remember, according to the rules of golf you cannot borrow clubs from any player who is playing with you during the course of play.