After one of the biggest controversies over the 2025 rules, USGA and R&A are making an update

Call it the Paul Mitzel update. Or Akshay Bhatia’s. Or the Korn Ferry sixsome update.

Any of these could work. Each refers to incidents in which a player or the player’s caddy claimed to have accidentally ridden a cart during play, only to receive a two-stroke penalty or lose a match play hole. But now, following a 2026 update to the Rules of Golf by the USGA and the R&A, similar events may not be penalized at all.

This comes via added language to Model Local Rule G-6, which defines the prohibition on the use of motorized transportation. A paragraph has been added in one area, which reads as follows:

“A Committee may also later approve a ride that was accepted by a player under the mistaken belief that it was permitted, such as where it was reasonable for the player to believe that the person offering the ride was authorized to do so as part of the competition.”

Would that have helped Mitzel, six Korn Ferry Tour players, Bhatia and others involved in cart-riding situations, a no-go rule? Maybe. First, the local model rules are in the hands of the tournament or governing body; they can be enforced or ignored. And “committees” could decide on player matters.

The most recent known case of accidental use of a cart occurred during last year’s US Mid-Amateur round of 64, where Mitzel’s caddy used a cart from the green of the first hole of a playoff to the second hole – and a rules official penalized Mitzel with the loss of a hole, subsequently costing him the match. In a story written by Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine (which you can read here), Mitzel said his caddy was asked if he wanted a ride from a shuttle driver who had just taken the players from the last hole of their match to the first hole of the playoff, and he also said that a shuttle was in use on another part of the course.

“I think everyone in that situation takes the ride when a shuttle driver asks to get on really quickly and doesn’t think anything about it,” Mitzel told Romine. “… My caddy doesn’t deserve any mistakes. He’s the man and a great friend. I would do the same in his shoes. We had so much fun, it’s a shame.”

Bhatia’s incident also involved a caddy.

According to a story written by Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner (which you can read here), the looper for the then 16-year-old had stopped to use the bathroom on the 14th hole during the 2018 US Amateur and then got a ride to the green from someone he thought was a USGA official. But the person wasn’t, and Bhatia lost the hole.

“The gentleman was wearing a USGA jersey,” Bhatia’s caddie, Chris Darnell, told Lavner. “I asked if I could get a ride to the green to keep pace, and he said yes. So I hopped on the back, went to the green, got off and didn’t think anything of it.”

Then there was the Korn Ferry Tour incident.

At the 2023 Lecom Suncoast Classic, two trios – Mason Andersen, Wilson Furr and Alejandro Tosti, and later Ashton Van Horne, Boo Weekley and Jared Wolfe – were penalized on separate occasions for making shuttle runs from a green to a tee box. The incidents took place on two different routes: from 9 green to 10 tee for Van Horne/Weekley/Wolfe and from 18 green to 1 tee for Andersen/Furr/Tosti.

The penalties, which were first reported by Ryan French from Monday Q Infoseemed to result from a combination of oversight and bad luck. Players will receive tournament-specific rules for events, which outline things like where transportation is and isn’t allowed. But according to French, the event didn’t have a locker room, so it wasn’t posted there, but it was still available in player dinners and online through player portals. In addition, the tournament allowed for a shuttle from green 7 to tee 8, as well as shuttles from the range to the starting tee.

But there was confusion. In another story written by Romine of Golf Channel (which you can read here), Tosti said he was the first to walk off the 18th green and saw a volunteer sitting in the same shuttle they rode to the 10th tee, where they began play. The KFT told French that the cart was there because it had stopped while the players were putting.

“I asked the guy, ‘Do you give rides to the first tee?’ And he said, ‘Yes, jump in,'” Tosti told Romine. “I know I can’t jump on a bandwagon that isn’t official, but this was almost organized. It almost seemed like someone had sent this man to give us a ride. It was there, waiting for us to walk off the green and give us a ride to the first tee, and apparently that guy wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Below is the full wording of Model Local G-6, as written in the Rules of Golf:

G-6 – Prohibition on the use of motorized transport

Goal. A Committee may choose to prohibit players from using any type of motorized transportation during a round, such as a golf cart. This is appropriate when the Committee considers running to be an integral part of competitive play or when it considers that the use of motorized transport would be unsafe or could damage the course.

By adopting this Local Rule, the Committee may authorize motorized transportation in limited ways, such as taking players from one hole to another when those holes are far apart or allowing members of the Committee to give a ride to a player when he is about to play again, or has played, with penalty of stroke and distance.

If a player accepts a ride without permission from the Commission, the Commission may waive the penalty if it would have allowed the player to ride in that situation if the request had been made. For example, if a player who had lost a ball and needed to return to the teeing ground accepted a ride from a volunteer when no member of the Committee was available, the Committee could waive the penalty if Committee members had given the player the ride when requested.

A Committee may also later approve a ride accepted by a player under the mistaken belief that it was permitted, such as where it was reasonable for the player to believe that the person offering the ride was authorized to do so as part of the competition.

But when motorized transport is not permitted by the Local Rule, it is a principle of the Local Rule that players must walk the entire course. Therefore, no permission should be given if a player has been given a lift forward when he or she has not yet run that distance. For example, if a player stops to buy a refreshment after playing his tee shot, and then asks a volunteer to ride to his ball, this is not a situation where it is reasonable for a ride to be later approved by the Committee and the penalty under the Local Rule should be applied.

Model local rule G-6

“During a round, a player or caddy may not ride any form of motorized transportation except as permitted or subsequently approved by the Committee.

[A player who will play, or has played, under penalty of stroke and distance is always authorized to ride on motorized transportation.]

[Players and caddies may ride on the shuttle between holes [identify hole] And [identify hole].]

Penalty for Violation of Local Rule: The player will incur the general penalty for each hole in which this Local Rule is violated. If the violation occurs between the playing of two holes, it will apply to the next hole.” (Updated January 2026)

Editor’s note: The USGA and the R&A have also updated or added additional Model Local Rules, and the PGA Tour will use them. If you would like to read more about this, click here.

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