Rules of Golf 101: What Are the Areas of a Golf Course?

Do you know what the defined areas are on a golf course? How many are there, anyways?

The Rules of Golf (Rule 2.2) tell us there are five areas of the course.

a. The General Area

The general area covers the entire course except for the four specific areas of the course described in Rule 2.2b.

It is called the “general area” because:

• It covers most of the course and is where a player’s ball will most often be played until the ball reaches the putting green.
• It includes every type of ground and growing or attached objects found in that area, such as fairway, rough and trees..

b. The Four Specific Areas

Certain Rules apply specifically to the four areas of the course that are not in the general area:

• The teeing area the player must use in starting the hole they are playing (Rule 6.2),
• All penalty areas (Rule 17),
• All bunkers (Rule 12), and
• The putting green of the hole the player is playing (Rule 13).

A ball is always treated as lying in only one area of the course:

• If part of the ball is in both the general area and one of the four specific areas of the course, it is treated as lying in that specific area of the course.
• If part of the ball is in two specific areas of the course, it is treated as lying in the specific area that comes first in this order: penalty area, bunker, putting green.

Want to Learn More About the Rules of Golf? The NCGA' Rules experts are hosting four On-Course Rules Seminars from May 2 through June 18