Relief from Penalty Areas
Relief from Penalty Areas is a short Golf blog post attempting to answer the basics of dropping from Penalty Areas.
What are Penalty Areas? According to The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Penalty Areas are parts of the course that are defined by Red or Yellow marker posts. See Rule number 17. of the official Rules of Golf.
They are areas where balls are often unplayable or lost. If you find your ball, in such an area, and it is playable, then you may attempt to play it. However, for a 1 shot penalty, you may choose to take relief and bring the ball back into play.
How and where to take relief from a Penalty Area?
Penalty Areas marked by Yellow stakes – the following options are available
Option 1 – Go back to the spot where you last played from. It is here where you can drop a new ball (no closer to the hole) and continue play. This is commonly known as Stroke and Distance. (See the diagram below)
Option 2 – First of all, find point X.
Point X is the point where the original ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area.
Now imagine a continuous straight line from the hole which passes through point X. You may drop a ball on the continuation of that line, going back away from the hole, as far as you wish. (See the diagram below)
When you have decided which option to take, you will need to drop a ball. The ball should be dropped within 1 club length of the chosen spot, which cannot be nearer to the hole.
Relief from a Yellow Penalty Area
Relief from Penalty Areas continued…
Penalty Areas marked by Red stakes – the following options are available
Option 1 – Go back to the spot where you last played from. It is here where you can drop a new ball (no closer to the hole) and continue play. Remember that we know this as Stroke and Distance. (See the diagram below)
Option 2 – Again, find point X.
Point X is the point where the original ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area.
Now imagine a continuous straight line from the hole which passes through point X. You may drop a ball on the continuation of that line, going back away from the hole, as far as you wish. (See the diagram below)
Option 3 – That’s right, there is a third option. This is called lateral relief. Find point X, then mark out an area of 2 club lengths (Not nearer to the hole) in which to drop your ball. (See the diagram below)
Remember that we now drop a ball from knee height and not from shoulder height. Don’t forget that!
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Both rule images in this blog post are from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.