Rules Refresher – Red Penalty Areas

ast month, we ran the rule over yellow penalty areas, so this month it seemed sensible to expand on that by looking at how relief from red penalty areas differs. The good news is that the only difference is an extra lateral relief option over and above the two options available from a yellow penalty area, with all three options shown in the diagram here attracting a one-stroke penalty.

It is worth re-stressing that if it is not known for sure that your ball is in a red penalty area, or you are not 95 per cent certain that it is, you will have to go back to where you last played from under stroke and distance (Rule 18.2). That is represented by option 1 in the diagram, and you also have this option if you do know for sure that your ball is in a red penalty area. To proceed, you must go back to where you last played from, or estimate that spot if you are not exactly sure.

The second option is to determine the point at which the ball last crossed

Lthe edge of the red penalty area (option 2) and choose a reference point as far back as you wish on a reference line, keeping the point at which your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area directly between you and the hole. With both option 1 and option 2, you then get a one club-length relief area in which to drop, in an arc that is not nearer the hole and is in the same area of the course as your reference point.

The third option, which is only available from red penalty areas, is the additional lateral relief shown at point 3 in the diagram. If you opt for this, you must estimate the spot where your ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area as your reference point. You are then allowed two club-lengths from this point in which to drop, not nearer the hole than your reference point and in any area of the course other than the penalty area from which you are taking relief.

You may recall that until 2019 you used to be able to take lateral relief at an equidistant point on the opposite side of a red-staked ‘water hazard’ (now ‘penalty area’), but that is no

“With lateral relief, you must estimate the spot where your ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area”

longer the case, though you may be wondering why option 2 in this diagram is, indeed, on the opposite side of the penalty area.

It is important to clarify that in option 2, the player is proceeding via the ‘back-on-the-line’ relief option and not lateral relief, and it is simply down to the geography of this particular hole that this line has taken the player to the opposite side of the red penalty area.