Rules

The Relief Area

Daniel Sommerville, R&A Rules manager, explains that the Rules are not just there to solely penalise players – they can also help a player if they know them and use them wisely.

At this year’s Players Championship, Tiger Woods was playing the iconic 17th hole during round two. He pulled his tee shot into the water and took relief in the dropping zone, only to hit it into the water once again. He walked off with a quadruple-bogey seven.

On both occasions, Woods chose to go to the dropping zone, which was located on a forward tee. However, with his ball having last crossed the edge of the yellow penalty area near the path to the island green with his tee shot, Woods could have chosen to take relief under Rule 17.1d(2).

Rule 17.1d(2) allows the player to drop the ball in a relief area that is based on the reference line going straight back from the hole through the estimated point where the ball last crossed the