Red stakes...there's an area on one of the holes where I guess it is a "waste" area to the right side of the fairway near the green, when it rains alot it turns into a marshy area. It has red stakes. When it is dry, however, it is easy to hit out of the area, it is just filled with weeds.
If your fairway shot flies into this area, you are required to replay the shot (taking a stroke) from the original spot on the fairway, correct?

That would be my thinking. Out of bounds it stroke and distance, so you have to play the shot over from where you played the OB shot, and add a stroke to your score.

What happens if it is just a small out of bounds area that your ball bounces in (did not see it go in from original spot). Basically, you hit ball out of bounds, did not see it go out of bounds, drive to the area where the ball was hit, find that it is out of bounds, should you go back and hit the ball from original spot?

Klun, that is the rule, stupid as it is because you waste several minutes going back and forth.
That's why if your shot off the tee "might" be OOB, you can save time by hitting a provisional (of course, saying aloud that it is a provisional) so at least you don't have to travel back to the tee. It's a drag when it's a second shot that goes (potentially) OOB, since you must walk up to where it might be and make sure it is gone before walking back 150 or more yards to where you hit from. *whew*

As Aimee states, that's the way the rule is, so you should go back to where you hit the ball from and replay the shot. In real life, that's not a good idea if you have a group behind you, so just drop a ball next to where your ball went out of bounds, take a stroke, and hit from there. You can hit a provisional ball from the tee, or on your second or third shot, it doesn't matter. Any time you THINK your ball might be lost or OB, you can hit a provisional ball just in case to save time and a walk back to where you hit from.

This would be playing it like a lateral hazard. The problem with this scenario is, an OB is stroke and distance.

Bill, we (who play this course) often say that we think this area is mis-marked, that it really should be a lateral hazard.
How does a course designer make the determination whether it is a simple OOB or lateral hazard when the area in question is fairly small and isolated (ie, not running the length of the fairway)

Did I miss something? I thought the original post said the area was marked Red, not white-staked OB. Red is a lateral hazard so you don't have to take stroke an distance..I dont think you can ground you club in there but you can play it if possible.

Scott, you're correct, I went back and read the original post by Aimee and she is talking about a red staked area.

Aimee, there are several scenarios where a designer, or the green's committee, would determine OB. The border of the property and to stop cutting across another fairway to shorten a hole would be two examples.

Try dropping a club length from point of entry. and taking one penalty shot. Or, play the ball within the hazard, without grounding your club, with no penalty shot.

Assuming it was OB, and not a lateral hazard, and you don't want to go back to where you hit the ball from, then you could drop a ball and take a TWO stroke penality. Since it should be stroke and distance, and you don't want to go back and hold up the group behind you, a two stroke penality would be reasonable. In a tournament, you'd have to go back and replay the shot, but for a normal round of golf, you don't really want to go back and hold up everyone behind you. Especially if you're playing a bit slow in the first place.

Yep, I'll need to double check the color of the stakes.
Since it was dry last time, I did play the ball out of the hazard which leads me to believe it is a lateral hazard and not out of bounds.

I never hurts to carry your own can of red paint so you can re-mark those hazards as needed. The red paint will cover up that white paint with no problem.

Checked on Saturday, that area is red stakes so I have been playing it correctly. Two of my playing partners lost balls in the muddy soup, it wasn't dry on Saturday.