Play Pitch & Putt
Getting into Pitch and Putt couldn't be easier. With over 100 clubs nationwide, almost all of are open to new members and also will allow new players to pay a green fee to play the course. To find your nearest Pitch and Putt course, see our list of Pitch and Putt Clubs in Ireland - click to open.
Basic Rules of Pitch and Putt
While there are a lot of rules to playing the game of Pitch and Putt competitviely, there are some basic rules which a new player should be aware of before taking to a course. To see the full list of rules as set out by Pitch and Putt Ireland click this link.
While that document is almost 20 pages long with the full list of rules, there are some basic rules which newcomers will need to be aware of:
• A player shall have the option of using two or three clubs, one of which must be a putter.
• The teeing ground is the starting place for the hole to be played. The ball shall be raised from the ground by placing it on a tee. If
the ball falls off the tee or be knocked off by the player in addressing it, it shall be re-teed without penalty.
• If the player strikes the ball twice when making a stroke, two strokes are counted
• A player shall not improve or allow to be improved, their line of play or the lie of the ball and shall not move, bend or break anything fixed or growing except as may occur in the course of fairly taking up their stance.
• Any loose impediments may be removed. If the ball moves after any loose impediment lying within a club length of it has been touched by the player or his partner the player shall be penalised one stroke.
• The ball furthest from the hole shall be played first.
• The flagstick shall be removed from the hole before a player plays a stroke on the green. At no time may the flagstick be attended or left lying on the green. If the ball rests against the flagstick when it is in the hole the player's last stroke not having being made on the green, the player must remove the flagstick, and if the ball falls into the hole the player shall be deemed to have holed out at the last
stroke.
• When a ball on the green is to be lifted, its position MUST be marked BEFORE it is lifted by placing an object such as a coin
or pattern marker behind the ball on the line of the putt, if the object interferes with an opponent it should then be moved one or more putter's head lengths to one side. Standard Penalty applies.
• If a ball be in the opinion of its owner, unplayable, the player may drop a ball to the nearest point of relief, not nearer the hole and add one penalty stroke or play a ball from the place at which he made his last stroke and add one penalty stroke
• Lost ball - a ball is "lost" if: (a) not found or not identified as his by the player, within three minutes after the player(s) side has begun to search for it. (b) the player has put another ball into play under the Rules. Play of a wrong ball does not constitute abandonment of the ball in play. Time spent in playing a wrong ball is not counted in the three-minute period allowed for search.