A penalty area is a part of the course, often water, that the course marks yellow or red. You can play your ball from inside it with no penalty, or take relief for one penalty stroke. The options differ a little by colour.
My ball went in the water — can I just play it?
Yes. You can hit the ball as it lies inside a penalty area with no penalty, and there are no special limits on how you play it. You can also stand in a penalty area to hit a ball that is outside it.
What are my options for one penalty stroke?
Each of these costs one penalty stroke:
- Go back. Play a ball from where you hit your previous shot.
- Back on the line. Drop a ball behind the penalty area, keeping the point where your ball last crossed the edge between you and the hole. You can go back as far as you like. Your relief area is one club-length around where the ball first touches the ground, and it can't be nearer the hole than the edge-crossing point.
- Lateral relief, red areas only. Drop within two club-lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the edge, no nearer the hole.
Yellow areas get the first two. Red areas get all three.
What if I can't find the ball?
If you know or it is virtually certain the ball is in the penalty area, you can use these options without finding it. If you only think it might be in there, it is a lost ball and you go back with one penalty stroke (see A lost ball).
What other relief is allowed there?
None of the usual free relief applies. You can't take unplayable-ball relief, and you do not get free relief from things like an embedded ball. The penalty-area options are your relief.
The governing rule is Rule 17.
Local rules
Your league's committee may have local rules that change this. Ask the organizer which ones your league uses.