Golf equipment, and the rules that shape it.

Golf's equipment is closely regulated. The size of a driver head, the shape of the grooves on a wedge, the weight of the ball and even the thickness of a glove are all set out in rules written jointly by the R&A and the USGA. This section explains what each piece of equipment does, what the rules say about it, and where the claims you read in shops and adverts come from.

Two rulebooks

Two joint R&A and USGA publications matter for equipment:

• The Rules of Golf. The current edition is the 2023 Rules of Golf, in effect from 1 January 2023. Rule 4 covers equipment: Rule 4.1 for clubs, Rule 4.2 for balls and Rule 4.3 for how other equipment may be used during a round. The R&A says the next edition is due on 1 January 2028; its January 2026 article gives that as the publication date, and we could not confirm when the new edition takes effect.
• The Equipment Rules. These set the technical specifications that clubs, balls and other equipment must meet. The R&A's online version has eight Parts, covering club playing rules, club conformance, ball playing rules, ball conformance, equipment playing rules, devices and other equipment, modified rules for players with disabilities and committee requirements, plus three Supplementary Papers. The copy hosted by the Japan Golf Association is labelled version 1.3. We could not confirm its effective date from a primary source.

Committees can also adopt Model Local Rules that tighten the equipment rules for a particular competition. A Model Local Rule applies only when the Committee running your course or event has adopted it, so the Terms of the Competition always come first. The R&A says new Model Local Rules are released through quarterly updates. See Model Local Rules for how they work.

What we will and will not say about products

These pages give the limits from the R&A and USGA documents, with their dates. They never say that a particular club, ball or device conforms. Whether a specific model conforms is decided by the governing bodies, and the R&A publishes lists you can check: its Conforming Ball List, a list of conforming driver heads, and a searchable equipment database. Check those lists, and the conditions of any competition you enter, before relying on a piece of equipment.

When we describe what a club or ball does, we name the source. Figures such as lofts, shaft flex bands and spin characteristics mostly come from manufacturers, retailers and trade press, not from the governing bodies, and these sources often disagree. Where they do, we show each version and who says it. A maker's description of its own product is a claim, and we label it that way.

How the section is organised

• Clubs: clubs explained, including the 14-club limit, then drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, irons, wedges and putters.
• Components and fit: shafts and grips and club fitting.
• The ball: golf balls and the ball testing change, the long-running plan to change how balls are tested for distance.
• The rules in one place: conforming equipment, covering Rules 4.1 and 4.2, the conforming lists, grooves and club length.
• Devices: distance-measuring devices, including rangefinders, GPS and launch monitors under Rule 4.3.
• Carrying and wearing: bags, carts and trolleys, shoes and gloves and weather gear, which also summarises lightning and heat guidance.