Good morning Linda,
I spend the winter on Grand Bahama Island and I am a member at a nine hole golf course.
For the ladies and men we have two set of tees. On the first nine ladies play from the ''Red markers'' and the back nine from the ''Yellow markers.”
Sunday, in a team tournament on the back nine, a player made the mistake of hitting her ball from the ''Red marker'' instead of the “Yellow marker,” so the other team gave her a one-stroke penalty.
I am trying to find the rule in the USGA and R&A golf rules on the Internet, no luck. Help please!
In this instance, why not ask the player to re-hit from the correct tee box (sportsmanship)?
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Lulu
Dear Lulu,
How nice to picture other people playing golf as I gaze out on the snow-covered landscape of my native New Jersey!
A player must start play of each hole from the proper teeing ground. That area is a rectangle defined by the two tee markers and extends back a maximum of two club-lengths.
A player who does not tee off from within the teeing ground is in violation of Rule 11-4.
In match play, there is no penalty for playing a ball outside the teeing ground. Her opponent has the choice of ignoring the infraction or requiring the player to cancel the stroke and immediately hit another tee shot from within the teeing ground. If the player is asked to hit a second tee shot, do not count the first one in her score.
The procedure is different in stroke play. The player is penalized two strokes, and she must then hit a tee shot from the proper place. She must correct her mistake before she tees off on the following hole; otherwise, she will be disqualified. Do not count the stroke that she made from outside the teeing ground. When she hits that second tee shot, that is her third shot on the hole (two-stroke penalty + one tee shot = 3).
Good sportsmanship would have been for another player to warn her that she was hitting from the wrong markers before she teed off. Once she hits the ball, she is bound by the rules. I would encourage all players to caution their golfing companions when it becomes apparent that they are about to break a rule. This is good sportsmanship, and is the spirit of golf.
Linda
Copyright © 2010 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
