What's the Rule About Giving or Receiving Advice in a Tournament?

While watching quite possibly the best athletic event of the year, a big rules question came up between Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland. So here’s the situation. On the 15th hole at the first round of the Masters 2023 on Thursday, video showed Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliot mouthing the word “Five” in the general direction of Woodland’s caddie, Brennan Little. It also appeared that Koepka held up five fingers in what looked like a signal in Woodland’s direction. The rules committee determined there was no infraction and players (and caddies) were cleared of any wrongdoing. Only Koepka and Elliot know the truth. Ultimately, these players are playing for a shot at the highest achievement in professional golf. It doesn’t make sense that they would want to give an advantage to a playing partner. They also know the rules better than anyone else in the game (with the exception of the rules officials) so “not knowing the rule” doesn’t make sense either. But the situation definitely brings out the question “What is the rule on giving or receiving advice"? So we thought we would share it here and try to clear up any misinformation.

USGA Rule 10.2 Advice and other help

The rules state “During a round, a player must not: give advice to anyone in the competition who is playing on the course, ask anyone for advice, other than the player’s caddie, or touch another player’s equipment to learn information that would be advice if given by or asked of the other player (such as touching the other player’s clubs or bag to see what club is being used)”

So what does it mean?

It means that the player or his/her caddie may not give or receive advice from anyone other than their own caddie during a round. When a player tells another player what club he or she has just hit, this is considered advice as the player can make a decision on what club to play based on that information.

What’s the penalty?

The penalty is a 2-stroke or general penalty if the player has been found guilty of the infraction. In Koepka and Woodland’s case, they would have both been awarded a 2-stroke penalty for the infraction.

Players and caddies often inform the media about which club they have just hit on a shot so the commentators can relay this information to the viewers and this may have been the case in this situation.

The rule book is big and there are a lot of rules to learn when it comes to playing. It’s even more important to learn these rules when you’re playing tournament golf and the score counts. For more information, you can download the USGA Rules App for Iphone or Android.

What are some rules you would like to learn about?