If you follow golf just enough, you’ll come across many “weird” situations, usually about the Rules of Golf. It’s interesting how many professionals don’t know all the rules, or maybe they do and, better or worse yet, they know how to circumvent the rules to their benefit. We’re told it happens every week on the various professional golf tours.
There have been instances such as when Tiger Woods, playing in the Masters, hit a shot into a water hazard and then, when he dropped a ball to resume play, he dropped it further back than allowed, or at least that’s what we thought and saw on television. He was absolved of any crime. But the conversation about it continues today.
Most recently, there’s the Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson debacle. They were playing in the Hero World Challenge early last month, and, in the final round, they were the first group on the course that day. In other words, they were at the tail end of the tournament leaderboard and had no chance of winning.
After playing the eighth hole, they walked to what they thought was the ninth tee and hit their tee shots. Interesting that Spieth, Stenson, or their caddies did not realized the two were hitting from what was the seventeenth hole tee that round. If you want the details, here’s a link: Spieth, Stenson play from wrong tee!
So, under Rule 6.1 of the R&A and USGA Rules of Golf, the two returned to the correct tee, teed off, completed the hole and each were assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Rule 6.1b Ball Must Be Played from Inside Teeing area: When starting a hole, if you play from outside the teeing area (including from a wrong set of tee markers on the same hole or a different hole), (in) stroke play, you get (two penalty strokes) and must correct the mistake by playing a ball from inside the teeing area.
On the local level, here’s the story behind today’s post: There was a foursome ready to start their round when someone suggested a game of six-six-six. In this format, players A and B compete in match play for the first six holes against players C and D. Then in the middle six holes, players A and C play B and D; in the final six holes, A and D play B and C. The winners of each six hole match win the wager; in this case it was one dollar.
It was a fun round with lots of kibitzing. After the seventeenth hole, the player who was to hit first on the final hole approached the wrong teeing area, actually putting a tee in the ground, when an opponent reminded him the match was using a more forward set of tees. “If you had hit the ball, we were going to give you a two-stroke penalty,” an opponent said with a chuckle.
The opponent, however, was wrong. In match play, there is no penalty for hitting outside the correct teeing area, but two things can happen. The tee shot can be counted and played as found or the opponents can ask that the stroke be replayed. Not the player who committed the crime, but only the opponent can cancel the shot.
Here’s the interesting part: If the stroke played from outside the teeing area is not canceled and the ball is found out of bounds or if it is lost, the player must return to the teeing area and, not re-tee, but drop the ball in the teeing area and play with the stroke and distance penalty.
A DID YOU KNOW: In the Rules of Golf, we are told, a tee is an object used to raise a ball above the ground to play it from the teeing area. It must be no longer than four inches and conform with the Equipment Rules.
QUESTIONS: Are the four inches the overall length of a tee or does this mean the top of the tee can be no more than four inches above the ground? And, what are the Equipment Rules which apply to the tees used to elevate the ball? Inquiring minds want to know! If you know, please use the comments section and tell us.