You’ve hit a great-feeling drive, but watch in horror as it veers hard right, bounces on the cart path, and disappears deep into the woods. Now what? The traditional rules call for the dreaded 'walk of shame' back to the tee box to re-hit, holding up your group and the one waiting patiently behind you. This is where a popular, pace-of-play-friendly option called the side carry comes in. This guide will walk you through exactly what a side carry is, how to take one correctly, and when it’s the right call to make during your round.
A side carry is a modern, unofficial but widely adopted local rule that allows you to take a drop near where your ball went out of bounds or was lost, instead of going back to the spot of your previous stroke. Think of it as an alternative to the traditional stroke-and-distance penalty. Instead of trudging back to the tee, you can drop a ball on the edge of the fairway, no closer to the hole, and add two penalty strokes to your score.
This rule has been formally modeled by the USGA and R&A as Local Rule E-5. Its entire purpose is to speed up play. Waiting for a golfer to walk or drive all the way back to the tee box to re-hit creates significant delays on the course. The side carry, or Local Rule E-5, offers a practical solution that keeps the game moving and reduces frustration, especially for recreational golfers playing a casual round.
It's important to differentiate this from a standard lateral hazard drop. When your ball goes into a red-staked water hazard, you typically take a one-stroke penalty. The side carry, for a lost ball or a shot hit out of bounds (which is managed by white stakes), is a two-stroke penalty. That distinction is the most important part to remember.
The primary reason to use a side carry is pace of play. It’s a gentleman’s agreement designed to keep the game fun and flowing. Let's look at the two common scenarios where it makes perfect sense.
You hit your tee shot and it looked alright, but you get to the landing area and it’s nowhere to be found. After a quick search (the rules recommend a maximum of three minutes), the ball is declared lost. Instead of heading back to the tee, your group can agree that taking a side carry is the best option to keep things moving.
This one is more straightforward. You see your ball sail past the white stakes marking the course boundary. You know immediately it’s O.B. Rather than reloading on the tee, you can proceed directly to where the ball crossed the boundary line and use the side carry procedure.
Using the side carry is ideal for:
Essentially, this rule shines when speed and enjoyment are prioritized over strict conformity to the official Rules of Golf during recreational play.
Alright, so you’ve lost a ball and your group has agreed a side carry is the way to go. How do you do it correctly? Here’s a clear, step-by-step process that follows the accepted procedure for Local Rule E-5.
First, be absolutely sure the ball is lost or out of bounds. Give it a fair search within the three-minute time limit. If anyone saw it go O.B., confirm with your playing partners. Honesty and transparency are fundamental here.
Next, you need to identify two key spots:
This is where most people get a little confused, but it’s pretty simple once you understand the logic. From your Fairway Reference Point, you can drop your ball anywhere within a relief area that is two club-lengths wide.
Your relief area is determined like this:
In simple terms, you find where your ball was lost/went O.B., go straight across to the fairway, and then you get a generous two-club-length area to drop your ball on the fairway grass, ensuring you aren't dropping closer to the green.
This is the most important part. A side carry is a two-stroke penalty. Let’s break down the math so it makes perfect sense.
The standard stroke-and-distance penalty works like this:
So, you’re hitting your third shot from the tee. The side carry is designed to simulate this outcome. By dropping it up in the fairway, you're getting a huge advantage in position, so you must account for all three of those strokes. Therefore:
Thinking "I hit one, I add two" makes it easy to remember. You're now lying three and about to play your fourth.
Once you've identified your relief area, it's time to drop. According to the modern rules, you drop the ball from knee height. Let it go straight down without spinning or throwing it. The ball must land and come to rest inside your two-club-length relief area. Once it’s at rest, it’s in play. Pick your club and hit your fourth shot!
To really appreciate the side carry, it helps to compare it to the traditional options it's designed to replace for pace-of-play purposes.
As covered earlier, the default rule for a lost ball or a ball O.B. is to go back to where you last played from, take a one-stroke penalty, and hit again. From the tee, this means you're re-teeing and hitting 3. From the fairway, it means dropping as near as possible to your previous spot and hitting your next shot. It's fair but famously slow.
A provisional ball is not a penalty, it's a time-saver. If you think your ball might be lost or O.B. (but you aren't sure), you can announce you're hitting a provisional ball. You then go forward and look for your first ball.
Playing a provisional is the proper tournament procedure to save time. The side carry is a casual-play alternative that saves even more time by eliminating the need for a second hit from the original spot altogether.
Because the side carry is not an official, mandatory rule of golf (but rather an optional local rule), its use comes with some simple etiquette.
The goal is to be fair to the game, fair to your playing partners, and kind to the group playing behind you.
The side carry is one of the best recent innovations for making recreational golf faster and more enjoyable. By understanding how to find your reference points, apply the two-stroke penalty, and properly drop your ball, you can confidently use this option to escape the dreaded walk back to the tee and keep your focus on the next shot.
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