As we covered in the What Are The Areas of the Course and How Are They Defined topic (see menu on your left to review), a penalty area is an area from which relief with a one-stroke penalty is allowed if your ball comes to rest there, and includes any body of water on the course or any other part of the course that is defined as a penalty area. 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.
There are two types of penalty areas, which affect your relief options:
- Yellow – Two relief options
- Red – Three relief options (the same two as for yellow, plus one additional option)
If the color of the penalty area has not been marked, it is treated as red.
Options for a Ball in a Penalty Area
When your ball is in a penalty area, you may play the ball as it lies without penalty or take penalty relief outside of the penalty area. If you play the ball as it lies there are no special Rules limiting how your ball may be played (meaning you can ground your club, take practice swings that touch the ground, and remove loose, natural objects).
If you decide to take penalty relief, you have the following two relief options when your ball is in either a red or a yellow penalty area, each for one penalty stroke:
- Stroke-and-Distance Relief: You may go back to the previous spot and play again. See the Stroke-and-Distance Relief page on your left for a refresher.
- Back-On-the-Line Relief: Using a straight line back from the hole through the estimated point where your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area, you can go back as far as you would like and drop on that line. See the Back-on-the-Line Relief page on your left for a refresher.
Only when your ball is in a red penalty area, you have an additional relief option, also for one penalty stroke:
- Lateral Relief: You may drop a ball within two club-lengths of where the ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area, no nearer to the hole. See the Lateral Relief page on your left for a refresher.
No Free Relief
When your ball is in a penalty area, there is no relief for interference by an abnormal course condition (like temporary water or a sprinkler head), an embedded ball, or an unplayable ball.
Your only relief option is to take relief from the penalty area as described above.
However, if your ball lies outside the penalty area, you are still allowed free relief from abnormal course condition interference even if the condition itself is within the penalty area edge.
