Rules of the Game:

Know where the strokes fall in match play

As we head into springtime the weather is getting better in the Pacific Northwest. Hopefully that means more golf for you! As you head to the course … wait … what does course  actually mean?  The dictionary definition doesn’t even mention golf in association with the word course. 

Webster’s says a course is a route or direction, or an ordered process. I guess you could say that golf on a course is an ordered process on a specific route. But let’s look at some golf lingo and the USGA definition of course: the entire  area of play within the edge of any boundaries set up by the Committee.  (The Committee is essentially the person or group in charge of the competition on the course. That could be your head pro, a tournament committee, your local golf association, or even a USGA committee).

Any area inside the boundaries is part of the course, and the course is made up of five defined areas. If you know the five areas, you can impress your golfing buddies. But honestly even more important, knowing the different areas of the  course can help you understand the rules that apply specifically to each area. 

For this month’s article, I’ll share the information about the areas of the  course.  In the following months I’ll talk about each specific area and some rules that apply to those areas.  First, there are four specific areas of the golf course: 1) The Teeing Area the player must use in starting the hole  they are playing, 2) The Putting Green of the hole the player is playing, 3) All penalty areas on the course, and 4) All bunkers on the course.

The rest of the golf course  within the boundaries that are NOT part of a specific area is known as the General Area.  Notice that 1 and 2 both specifically mention THE Teeing Area and THE Putting Green, while 3 and 4 refer to ALL penalty areas and bunkers on the course .  To clarify, rules that apply to the Teeing Area mean the Teeing Area that you must use in starting  the hole you are playing.

If you are playing the blue tees on hole #7, that is what the rules would consider the Teeing Area.  During the play of hole #7, all other Teeing Areas on the golf course, including any other tee on hole #7, would be considered part of the General Area.  The same is true of Putting Greens! The Putting Green rules apply only to the Putting Green of the hole the player is playing. All other putting greens on the course  are a wrong green (which we will discuss later) and are a part of the General Area! If you are playing hole #7, the greens of ALL the other holes are part of the General Area! 

All the penalty areas on the course—either red or yellow are specific areas of the  course. And all bunkers on the course are specific areas of the course. The rules define a bunker as a specially prepared area of sand, which is often a hollow from which turf or soil was removed. Notice the rules use the term bunker —and even though sand trap is a very commonly used term to describe a spot on the course filled with sand that traps your golf ball—the rules-correct term is bunker !

Enjoy the springtime weather and share your new found golf lingo! Since we’ve previously covered the Teeing Area in the November, ‘23 edition of Inside Golf, next month we will tackle Putting Green rules.

Patti is a Rules Official with the Oregon Golf Association, Washington Junior Golf Association, NCAA, NAIA and the Junior World Championships. She can be reached at  pdask@mac.com.