This rule in a nutshell: You can take relief, but only if the competition committee has designated the staked tree as a No Play Zone through a Local Rule.
Few things are considered more sacred on a golf course than a young tree. There are so many protections, I’m surprised an alarm doesn’t go off if you step within 50 yards of one.
If your course is full of young saplings, or trees that are yet to mature, it’s likely you are taking relief from them if you find one in and around the general area.
You’ll know them straight away because they are normally identified with a stake, or ribbons, or tape.
But what if the trees are away from the regular playing areas? What if your ball lands in a penalty area, you think you might have a chance of getting it out, but there’s a staked tree interfering with the stroke you want to play.
Now you may already have dismissed this as being a bit niche, but it has happened on a golf course – I know this because a golfer lobbed the question at me while we were playing a medal round.
I only gave him a partial answer that day – in fairness, I was grinding out a net 77 – but in the interests of getting to the truth, I got out the trusty rule book and started turning pages.
So if you’ve ever wondered, this is the answer…
Can you get relief from a staked tree in a penalty area?
This depends on how your committee defines the trees. If they are abnormal course conditions, then free relief won’t be forthcoming – because you can’t take relief from an abnormal course condition in a penalty area. You’d either have to play the ball as it lies – if that was possible – or take penalty area relief.
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There is also a Local Rule (Model Local Rule E-10) that allows clubs to designate the young trees as No Play Zones. This will often be the case around the course and if you have any sort of interference from the trees – if your ball is in the protected trees or if they physically interfere with your stance or swing – then you must take relief.
Does that also apply to staked trees in a penalty area? It does. In text explaining the purpose of the Local Rule, it says that when a ball lies in a penalty area, players must “either take free relief under the Local Rule within the penalty area” or take penalty area relief under Rule 17.1.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of this rule on staked trees? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
