GOLF’S MOST MISUNDERSTOOD RULES!

When it comes to marker posts on the course, the stakes are high. Whether they are used to indicate a water hazard or out of bounds, we all watch with bated breath whenever a shot veers hopelessly beyond them. What happens next often leads to some kind of dubious decision. Some people think it’s as simple as taking a penalty drop, others will play the ball as it lies, no questions asked.

To make sure you don’t get caught out, swot up now on what the different coloured stakes mean. The latest Rules of Golf no longer use the word ‘hazard’ to define a red or yellow-marked area where your ball may be lost. Instead, these areas are now referred to as penalty areas — and the rules governing what you can and can’t do within their confines have changed, too.

YELLOW STAKES = A YELLOW PENALTY AREA What’s the penalty?

There isn’t one if you decide to play the ball as it lies. The same Rules apply as if you were playing from the fairway or rough, so you may remove loose impediments, make practice swings that touch the ground or water, and ground your club at address (Rule 17.1b).

Under the old rules, if you found your ball inside of red or yellow stakes but in a still-playable lie, you could play the shot without penalty, but you were not allowed to ground your club or remove loose impediments.

What if the ball is unplayable?

As long as it is known or virtually certain that your ball came to rest in the penalty area, you have two options, each for one penalty stroke (Rule 17.1d).

1. Return to the spot where the previous stroke was made.

2. Take a drop behind the penalty area, keeping the point of entry between you and the hole. There is no limit to how far you can go back, but you must drop within one club-length from a reference point on the straight line from the hole through the point of entry. A penalty area stake can also be removed without any penalty.

What else do I need to know?

Your ball is in a penalty area when any part of it lies on or touches the

ground or anything else inside the edge of the penalty area, or is above the edge or any other part of the penalty area. You may stand inside a penalty area to play a ball outside of it, including after taking relief from the penalty area. In addition, you’re not allowed to take free relief from any abnormal course conditions (such as an immovable yardage post) when your ball is in a penalty area.

RED STAKES =

A RED PENALTY AREA How are they different?

A red penalty area is a lateral penalty area and exactly that… lateral. It usually runs alongside or adjacent to the line of play, rather than across it.

Do the same rules for ‘yellow’ penalty areas apply?

Yes, but with one additional option – a penalty drop can be taken within two club-lengths from the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, no nearer the hole. There is nothing to stop you playing the ball as it lies in a penalty area marked with red stakes.

WHITE STAKES = OUT OF BOUNDS What is out of bounds?

When defined by a stake or fence, the boundary edge is the line between the course-side points of the stakes or posts at ground level. A ball at rest is out of bounds only when all of the ball lies outside the boundary edge. When a line is painted on the ground, the line itself is out of bounds.

What’s the penalty?

When your ball lies out of bounds, you must take stroke-and-distance relief, by playing under a penalty of one stroke, from where the previous stroke was made (Rule 18).

What else do I need to know?

You may stand out of bounds to play a ball that is lying inbounds, but you do not get free relief from boundary objects that define or mark the course boundary. Removing an out-ofbounds marker post that interferes with play (and making a stroke while it’s removed) will result in general penalty, which means loss of hole in matchplay, or two penalty strokes in strokeplay.