The Rules of Golf Clubs and Balls

A week or so ago I was building a belly putter for a good friend, and I wanted to be sure I knew the rules on how upright putter lies can be. I could not find the USGA rule book that I had that provides this kind of info. and so I ordered another one.

The title of this booklet is “A Guide To The Rules On Clubs and Balls.” Probably because I am a golf club geek I just love this little book. It is available from the USGA web site if anyone else wants to get it.

Here are a few of the rules that I think are pretty interesting from this booklet…..(dear USGA, hope there are no issues with me providing some of this info….!!). Here are some of them…..

1. First of all, back to what I was initially checking about – the lie angle of a putter cannot be greater than 80 degrees. This I believe is to prohibit putters that have a straight vertical shaft.

2. For irons and putters – when a club head is in its normal position, the distance from the heel to toe must be greater than the distance from the front to back of the club.

3. A putter is a club with a loft not greater than 10 degrees that is designed for use on a putting green.

4. The overall length of a golf club must be at least 18 inches and – except for putters – must not exceed 48 inches. (guess my grandson needs to wait for me to build him a golf club?)

5. A grip must be straight and plain in form, must extend to the end of the shaft, and must not be molded for any part of the hands. Remember the old “reminder grips” – they are not legal.

6. Putters may have two grips, if they each have a circular cross section, the axis of each coincides with the axis of the shaft, and they are separated by at least 1-1/2 inches. This is an important one for long putters, because these are often built with two grips. There was a case a few years ago where a PGA player was disqualified because his grip violated this rule.

7. The size of a clubhead must not exceed 460 cc, with a tolerance of 10 ccs (there was I believe a few years a driver advertised to be 460 + 10 cc in size…).

8. And finally (for tonight!) a golf ball has to have a diameter not less than 1.680 inches. However, it can be larger than that provided it does not weigh more than 1.620 ounces!

Tony