The Rules of Golf have evolved and altered significantly since the original 13 were laid out by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers way back in 1744. The current Rules are extensive and, although there are technically only 25 of them, a huge amount of detail exists within each of those 25 Rules to cover all possible scenarios that could transpire during a round of golf.
Over the years, the Rules have changed as they have become unified between and then modified by The R&A and the USGA. They continue to be refined and, currently, an updated and improved set of Rules are released every four years. The most recent upgrade was in 2023.
