We all know from the last revision email that we must start the round with no more than 14 clubs, right? Well, maybe not!

Rule 4 tells us that the player must not start a round with more than 14 clubs. He is then limited to the clubs thus selected for that round unless he started with less than 14. If that’s the case, he may add any number provided his total does not exceed 14.

We recently had a junior player ask if a putter was considered a club. The answer is yes! He had played a previous round with 14 clubs plus his putter (15 clubs) and was disqualified the following day when he learned that since he had not applied the penalty for too many clubs, he had signed for a score lower than actually taken.

How about when you lose a club? Decision 4-3/10 tells us that a lost club does not fit the criteria that would allow a club to be replaced. Stevie Williams inadvertently dropped Tiger Woods’ nine iron in the lake near the 7th green at the recent Ryder Cup. Tiger was not allowed to replace the club and played the next 7 holes with only 13 clubs! Fortunately for him, a diver retrieved the club and reunited Tiger and his nine iron on the 15th hole.

And by the way, the diver was not considered to be a second caddie for carrying the nine iron to Tiger just in case you were thinking!