Penalty Areas and Out of Bounds Explained Simply

Red stakes, yellow stakes, white stakes - what each one means, and what a junior should actually do when their ball finds one.

Coloured stakes and lines around a golf course tell you what the ground means in the Rules, and each colour carries a different set of options. Learning three colours covers almost everything a junior will meet.

White: out of bounds

White stakes or lines mark the boundary of the course. A ball out of bounds is not in play at all, and the penalty is stroke and distance: you add one penalty stroke and play again from where you last played.

This is the harshest outcome in golf, which is why the provisional ball exists. If a child suspects their ball may be out of bounds, they should announce that they are playing a provisional and hit another before walking forward. Doing that saves a long walk back and, in competition, a great deal of time.

Yellow: penalty area, two options

Yellow stakes or lines mark a penalty area, typically a pond or creek crossing the hole. If the ball is in it, the player may play it as it lies if that is realistic, or take relief for one penalty stroke in one of two ways: replay from where they last played, or drop on a line running from the hole through the point where the ball last crossed the edge, going back as far as they like.

Red: penalty area, three options

Red stakes or lines mark a penalty area too, and give everything the yellow options give plus one more: lateral relief. For one penalty stroke the player may drop within two club lengths of where the ball last crossed the edge, no nearer the hole.

That extra option is why most water and scrub on Australian courses is marked red - it keeps play moving, because a player can usually drop nearby rather than trekking backwards.

The practical version for a young player

A junior does not need to recite this. What they need is a simple decision habit:

• White stakes: the ball is gone, go back and play again with one extra shot
• Yellow or red: one extra shot, and drop somewhere sensible - red allows dropping to the side, yellow does not
• If unsure, ask a playing partner or the group's marker before touching the ball

Dropping correctly is its own small skill, and we cover the mechanics in what is a legal drop in golf.

Local rules override the general ones

Clubs publish local rules on the scorecard or a noticeboard, and these can change how a boundary or penalty area is treated at that course. In competition they are binding, so a quick read of the card before teeing off is worth the thirty seconds it takes.

If your child is heading to a rules clinic to firm all this up, here's what actually happens at one.