Penalty Areas

Rule 17 - Penalty Areas

Penalty areas are bodies of water or other areas defined by the Committee where a ball is often lost or unable to be played. 

What You Need to Know

1. Penalty areas are defined as either red or yellow. This is important because it affects the player's relief options.
   
   
2. It must be known or virtually certain that the players ball is in the penalty area in order to take relief under this rule.
   • The ball is in the penalty area when it lies on or touches the ground or anything inside the edge of the penalty area
   • If any part of the players ball touches the line defining the penalty area, the ball is in the penalty area
     
     
3. A player may remove loose impediments and touch the ground to take practice swings inside the penalty area.
   
   
    
4. The player may use the original ball or substitute a ball when taking relief under this Rule.
   
   
5. A player may stand in a penalty area to play a ball outside the penalty area.

Relief Options

The player has these relief options for a penalty of one stroke for both red and yellow penalty areas:

1. Stroke & Distance - The player may drop the ball within one club-length from where the previous stroke was made; or previous stroke was made from the teeing area, put a ball in play as allowed under the teeing area rule.
   
   
2. Back-On-the-Line Relief - The player may drop a ball in a one club-length relief area that is based on a reference line going straight back from the hole through the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area The dropped ball must not be nearer the hole than the chosen reference point on that line.
   
   
3. Lateral Relief (Only for RED penalty areas) - Using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, the player is allowed two club-lengths from that point, no closer to the hole.