Colored Stakes in Golf

It’s your first time on a golf course and you notice some colored lines all over the course. You begin wondering what these lines might mean and how they impact the overall scoring. In this article, I will explain why you see red, yellow, and white lines on a golf course. What do Colored Stakes in Golf indicate? And what are some of the rules to keep in mind when you are around these colored lines? So, let’s begin!

What are Colored Stakes in Golf?

While playing golf, you can get into trouble in a lot of ways. However, the most common problem faced by amateurs is understanding the colored Stakes on the golf course.

Usually, there are White, Yellow, and Red Stakes. These lines indicate sand, trees, and water hazards that you should avoid. Each of these stakes comes with different options and penalties. So, let’s break them one by one!

Yellow Stakes

The Yellow Stakes on a golf course indicate a water hazard. In case you hit beyond the yellow line, you get a one-stroke penalty. So, you will have to either play the ball from the previous spot or you can take a drop. This means dropping the ball behind the water hazard where the marker line was violated.

Red Stakes

The Red Stakes in golf also represent a water hazard but this time it’s a lateral water hazard. Compared to the normal water hazard a lateral water hazard runs along the line of play.

In this case, you get a one-stroke penalty, and you have to play your shot from the previous spot.

White Stakes

The White Stakes on a golf course indicate out-of-bound areas. This area is also sometimes defined using a fence.

So, in case you hit a shot that goes out-of-bounds you get a penalty. After receiving the one-stroke penalty, you play the shot again from the previous spot.

Conclusion

Now that you have learned about all the important stakes on a golf course you would not have any problem playing. Just keep in mind to avoid these penalties as much as you can and thus maintain your golf score as low as possible.