Lateral Relief from a Yellow Penalty Area?

I recently experienced a situation, after a round of golf, where a member of my golf club suggested that I had allowed a player to take incorrect relief from a Yellow Penalty Area.

It was said that lateral relief was allowed instead of back-on-line and having to play over the Yellow Penalty Area.

The situation was similar to that shown in the diagram below:

In the previous Rules of Golf, back-on-line relief would indeed have required a ball to be dropped at a point on a line or extension of a line from the point of entry of the ball into the penalty area and the hole.

It would not necessarily, however,  have meant having to play over the penalty area, because the relief point would depend upon the point of entry of the ball into the penalty area, the position of the hole and the shape of the margin of the penalty area.

What you have to remember now, in the new Rules of Golf, is yes you have to determine a point on a back-on-line between the point of entry of the ball into the penalty area and the position of the hole and mark it, but that point becomes a reference point from which a 1 club-length relief area can be measured, and not the actual point at which you must drop your ball.

Therefore it is possible to measure the relief area laterally from the margin of the penalty area, and so give the impression that you are taking lateral relief.

So remember, that for all situations where relief is allowable by dropping a ball, you have a relief area in which to drop a ball, depending on the rule that applies that will be either a 1 club-length or 2 club-length area and not just a point.

Enjoy your golf!

Tony

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Rules of Golf Blog: www.my-golf.uk

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