What Are Your Options When You Hit Your Ball Into A Penalty Area?

When you hit your ball into a penalty area you have three options under penalty of one stroke if the stakes or lines are red, two options under penalty of one stroke if they are yellow, plus an additional option for no penalty… which is to play the ball as it lies if it is safe, practical and prudent to do so!

So, if part of a penalty area is dry, or a grass bank running down into a stream lies within the penalty area markings, for example, there is no problem simply playing the ball as it lies for no penalty. You can even attempt to play it if it is lying in or under water if you so desire.

Furthermore, you can move loose impediments in a penalty area (taking care not to move your ball in the process as that would attract a penalty under Rule 9.4), take practice swings or touch the ground or water with your hand or club, all of which were prohibited until the major Rules revisions from January 2019.

Assuming the stakes are red, which is what The R&A encourages them all to be these days (although yellow is still perfectly permissible), there are three penalty relief options available under Rule 17 – stroke and distance, back-on-the-line or two club-lengths lateral relief from point of entry into the penalty area. It is this final one that you lose as an option if the stakes are yellow.

It’s also worth mentioning that not all options will always be practical or possible – for example, back-on-the-line won’t be an option if that line would take you beyond the boundaries of the course and it might be unwise if the only place you can go is into deep jungle or undergrowth.