Yellow Stakes: You’ve Got 3 Options
YELLOW STAKES and YELLOW LINES
Yellow stakes and lines indicate a water hazard. If a ball crosses the margin of a water hazard (designated by the yellow stakes or yellow lines), but is not actually in water, it might be easily playable. However, if a ball is under water, it’s almost always best to take the penalty and put a new ball into play.
YOU HAVE 3 OPTIONS FOR YELLOW STAKES
Option 1: Play it as it lies, no penalty.
Option 2: Return to the spot from where the previous stroke was played and play it again; “stroke and distance.”
Option 3: You can take a drop. The drop can be made at any point, as far back as you wish; as long as the point where the ball crossed into the hazard is kept between the point of the drop and the hole. In other words, keep the point from where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard and go back as far as you want – keeping that point between you and the flagstick.
