Changes to the Rules of Golf 2023 - Part 8

Rule 14.3 c Relief area for a relief back on the line

-> Previously (also in the rules prior to 2019), the ball had to be dropped in a semicircle (never closer to the hole) if a player wanted to drop back on the line, e.g. from a yellow penalty area. If the ball rolled forwards only slightly out of this semi-circle, the ball had to be dropped again. However, as the reference point for the relief procedure was the intersection of the ball with the boundary of the penalty area, the ball would still not have been closer to the hole than the reference point (otherwise it would have been back in the penalty area). Only in the above rules, which refer to dropping back on the line, is the relief area therefore now defined as a circle, so that the club length also extends forwards.
-> The facilitation procedure back on the line has been changed to clarify that the player must drop on the line. The point on the line where the ball first touches the ground after the drop creates a relief area of one club length in all directions from that point. This change requires changes to Rules 14.3b(3), 16.1c(2), 17.1d(2), 19.2b and 19.3 and the definition of relief area.


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