Rule 2 · The basics
Rule 2: The course
Official title: The Course
The Rules divide the course into five areas: general area, teeing area, bunkers, penalty areas and putting green. The area your ball lies in often decides what you may do.
2.1 Boundaries and out of bounds
The Committee decides where the course ends. Everything beyond that is out of bounds.
2.2 The five areas
The general area is the normal case and covers most of the course, including fairway and rough. There are also four specific areas: the teeing area of the hole you are playing, bunkers, penalty areas and the putting green of that hole. If your ball lies in two of these at once, a fixed order applies: penalty area before bunker before putting green.
2.3 What can interfere with play
Loose impediments, movable obstructions and abnormal course conditions can give you free relief. Boundary objects and integral objects do not.
Rules question on this
2.4 No play zones
The Committee can close parts of the course, for example to protect nature. A no play zone is always part of an abnormal course condition or a penalty area, and you must not play from it.
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