As you may have noticed, the penalty areas (formerly known as hazards) have been freshly marked. I had the opportunity to watch Jon and Shane from the maintenance crew do the marking. They follow the guidelines that were established by the Player’s Cup officials from 2016. I have attached a photo of the tool they use. It takes about 2 to 3 hours to mark the entire course. Read More>>
As some penalty areas run along bush areas, not all of them can be marked with a red line all the way around. Instead, red stakes have been placed on the inside of the areas that border on the bush line as a visual guide for a portion of the line. Some examples of this are the ditch on the left side of 10, the ditch on the right side of 8, and the ditch on the right side of 16.
In these examples, the bush is NOT part of the penalty area. In order to determine if your ball is in the penalty area, you must visually line up the red stakes, imagining that the line continues from stake to stake. You need to be certain or virtually certain that your ball is in the penalty area before implementing any relief (1 stroke penalty). If you are NOT certain or virtually certain that your ball is in the penalty area, then this falls under the “lost ball” rule, a 2 stroke penalty under Local Rule E-5.
My next communication will explain your relief options when you hit one into a penalty area