Red or yellow? No, we’re not talking about traffic lights, the colours of the rainbow, or a new fashion statement.
We’re on penalty areas and what you can do when your ball – unfortunately – ends up in one of them.
You know there are two colours. We’ve already said what they are right at the start. But we’re focusing on red here. Why that colour? What happens when you end up in a red penalty area and what makes them different from yellow stakes? Let’s look at the rules for red penalty areas…
Golf rules for red stakes
So why are some penalty areas red?
Though they may well have been used earlier, the first reference I can find to red stakes or lines comes in the definitions to the 1980 Rules of Golf where, as a final note to the section on hazards, it is written: “Water hazards should be defined by yellow stakes or lines and lateral water hazards by red stakes or lines”.
They’re part of a series of colours generally used on the golf course to denote certain conditions, such as white for boundaries or blue for no play zones.
What can you do if your ball ends up in one?
You can always try and play it as lies and, as the rules allow you to ground your club in a penalty area, there will occasionally be times when you dive in and hope you don’t get splattered with mud.
But let’s say you’ve hit a ball into a pond and it’s beyond reach. Rule 17 says in a red penalty area you can take relief in three ways, each at a cost of one penalty stroke.
The first of these is stroke-and-distance. You go back and play again from where your previous stroke was made.
The second is back-on-the-line relief. It’s a bit more complicated. You need to keep the “estimated point where your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area between the hole and the spot where the ball is dropped (with no limit on how far back the ball may be dropped).”
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If that rules language all seems a bit technical, let’s try and simplify it. Find the spot where the ball last crossed the pond, line it up with the flag, and then go backwards on that line as far as you like.
You’ve got to drop the ball on that line – oops Rory – and it creates a relief area that is one-club length in any direction from that point.
Remember that bit. Yes, the ball can go forward up to a club-length with back-on-the-line relief, so don’t go absent mindedly picking it up as you’ll get a daft penalty.
The third option is lateral relief. Again, find that estimated point and you’ve got a two-club relief area in which you can drop.
This is what you’ll do a lot of the time when taking relief from a red penalty area. Why? Who wants to go back if they don’t have to, and sometimes back-on-the-line relief can put you in worse trouble than stroke-and-distance!
What’s the difference then between red and yellow stakes?
Though this sometimes confuses golfers, it’s actually very simple. The difference between the two is there is no option to take lateral relief with a yellow penalty area. You’ve only got stroke-and-distance, or back-on-the-line relief to choose from.
You’ll often see yellow stakes or lines on holes where getting over the water is a significant part of the challenge of the hole.
Didn’t I see something that said all penalty areas should be red?
Not quite, but there has been a move to suggest most penalty areas could be red to give golfers the extra option of lateral relief. Competition organisers can also choose to make all penalty areas red to remove any hint of confusion about what you can do.
Interestingly, the definition of penalty area says if one isn’t marked – for whatever reason – it is treated as a red penalty area.
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 these red stakes golf rules? Let me you what you think, and send me your own rules questions, by emailing me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or by leaving us a comment below, or on X.
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