The max is 14, if you start with less than 14 you can add clubs until you hit 14 during the round. You can not share clubs, unless it’s with a partner. When you share clubs you cannot have more than 14 between the people sharing. starting around knowing you have more than 14 clubs is DQ. Not knowing is 2 strokes per hole with a max of 4 strokes. Matach play loss of hole max 2. That is how someone can be 4 holes ahead after only playing 2.
a. Selection and Addition of Clubs
The player must start a stipulated round with not more than 14 clubs. He is limited to the clubs thus selected for that round except that, if he started with fewer than 14 clubs, he may add any number provided his total number does not exceed 14.
The addition of a club or clubs must not unduly delay play (Rule 6-7) and the player must not add or borrow any club selected for play by any other person playing on the course.
b. Partners May Share Clubs
Partners may share clubs, provided that the total number of clubs carried by the partners so sharing does not exceed 14.
PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE 4-4a or b,
REGARDLESS OF NUMBER OF EXCESS CLUBS CARRIED:
Match play ;— At the conclusion of the hole at which the breach is discovered, the state of the match is adjusted by deducting one hole for each hole at which a breach occurred. Maximum deduction per round: Two holes.
Stroke play — Two strokes for each hole at which any breach occurred; maximum penalty per round: Four strokes.
Bogey and par competitions — Penalties as in match play.
Stableford competitions — see Note 1 to Rule 32-1b.
c. Excess Club Declared Out of Play
Any club or clubs carried or used in breach of Rule 4-3a(iii) or Rule 4-4 must be declared out of play by the player to his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play immediately upon discovery that a breach has occurred. The player must not use the club or clubs for the remainder of the stipulated round.
Penalty For Breach Of Rule 4-4c:
Disqualification.
Q. A player starts a round with 15 clubs. He discovers his error at the 2nd tee after his opponent or a fellow-competitor has played but before he has played. Does the player incur the maximum penalty of (a) deduction of two holes in match play or (b) four strokes in stroke play?
A. No. Since the player has not started play of the 2nd hole, he incurs a penalty of (a) deduction of one hole in match play or (b) two strokes in stroke play.
4-4a/12 Competitor Who Misplaces Putter Borrows Fellow-Competitor’s Putter
Q. In stroke play, A, who had mistakenly left his putter at the previous green, borrows a putter from B, a fellow-competitor, and uses it. At the next tee, the Committee is advised of the situation. What is the ruling?
A. A was not entitled to borrow a club selected for play by any other person on the course — Rule 4-4a. A incurs a penalty of two strokes for a breach of Rule 4-4a and must immediately declare B’s putter out of play as prescribed in Rule 4-4c. If A recovers his own putter, he may use it.
B may have his putter returned to him and use it for the remainder of the round.
4-4a/13 Player Practices with Another Player’s Club
Q. A player starts a round with 14 clubs. Between the play of two holes he borrows another player’s putter and makes several practice putts on the putting green of the hole last played. What is the ruling?
A. There is no penalty. Such practice putting is permitted by Rule 7-2. The borrowing of the putter does not breach Rule 4-4a since the putter was not used to make a stroke that counted in the player’s score. (Revised)
4-4a/14 Player Carries Pieces of Broken Club
Q. A player starts a round with 14 clubs as well as a club that had been broken into pieces prior to the start of the round, but had not yet been removed from his bag. What is the ruling?
A. The Rules do not contemplate such a situation. In these circumstances, in equity (Rule 1-4), there is no penalty provided the broken club is not used during the stipulated round. (New)
4-4b/1 Borrowing Partner’s Putter
Q. Neither A nor B, who were partners in a four-ball match, had 14 clubs, but between them they had more than 14 clubs. Several times during the round A borrowed B’s putter. Is this permissible?
A. No. A and B should have had two holes deducted. The penalty would be applied to the state of the match at the conclusion of the hole at which it became known that a breach had occurred.
Whether Player May Borrow Balls from Another Player — See 5-1/5.
Borrowing Club for Measuring Purposes — See 20/2.
4-4c/1 Excess Club Declared Out of Play Before Round and Placed on Floor of Golf Cart
Q. Before the start of a round, a player discovers that there are 15 clubs in his golf bag. He declares one of the clubs out of play, removes it from his bag, places it on the floor of his golf cart and begins the round. Is the player subject to penalty?
A. Yes, for starting the round with more than 14 clubs. Rule 4-4c has to do with declaring an excess club out of play on discovery of a breach after a round has started. There is nothing in the Rules to permit carrying, during a round, an excess club declared out of play before the round.
4-4c/2 Whether Player May Use Excess Club to Replace Club Damaged in Normal Course of Play
Q. A player begins a round with 15 clubs. On discovering his error, he applies the appropriate penalty under Rule 4-4a and declares a club out of play in accordance with Rule 4-4c. Later in the round, the player damages one of his remaining clubs in the normal course of play to the extent that it is unfit for play. May the player replace the damaged club with the excess club he declared out of play in accordance with Rule 4-4c?
A. Yes. Rule 4-3a(iii), which states in part that a player may replace a club that is unfit for play as a result of damage that occurred in the normal course of play “with any club” overrides Rule 4-4c, which prohibits the use of a club declared out of play as a result of a breach of Rule 4-4a or b.
