Rules of golf to update and modernize the Rules, media outlets considered the ruling to be a response to an incident from the 2017 ANA Inspiration tournament, where Lexi Thompson was retroactively penalized four strokes from her third round score for mis-placing a ball, as reported by a television viewer, going as far as nicknaming it the "Lexi Thompson rule". Rules of golf The rules of golf consist of a standard set of regulations and procedures by which the sport of golf should be played and prescribe penalties for rule infractions. They are jointly written and administered by the R&A (spun off from
Rules of golf not meet a definition), and defines the use of particular words in context to clarify what is meant by the use of a word. The rules, for instance, differentiate between use of "a" and "the" referring to objects involved in play ("a ball" refers to any ball that can be used in a situation; "the ball" specifically refers to the ball previously mentioned in the Rule), or between "may" (discretionary), "should" (non-binding recommendation) and "must" (binding requirement). Where used in the Rules, the definitions of the terms are binding and must be strictly observed; players must not use a differing