Friday, April 14, 2017

Ask Linda #1510-Tee shot moves short distance, player re-tees

Linda,
My sister flubbed her tee shot and it went about 3 inches. She picked it up and put it back on the tee and hit it down the fairway. She said she wasn't thinking. As soon as she did it she wasn't sure if that was OK. Her playing partners weren't sure either. She told her playing partners she was taking a 1-stroke penalty, so now she would be laying 3 in the fairway. I told her if she declared the ball unplayable she could have re-teed and yes that would be 3 into the fairway. Is that correct? Also, when can you re-tee and when can't you re-tee?
Thanks.
Love your blog!
Lulu from Hemet, California

Dear Lulu,

When your sister picked up her ball and re-teed it, she played under penalty of stroke and distance [Rule 27-1a]. She incurred a one-stroke penalty, and her second tee shot was her third stroke on the hole. She scored the hole correctly.

She could have called the ball unplayable, since one of the relief options for an unplayable ball is to play a ball under stroke and distance [Rule 28a]. It did not matter that she could not name her procedure, since she came up with the correct score.

Whenever a player chooses or is required to return to the teeing ground to hit another ball, she may re-tee the ball [Rule 20-5a].

Linda
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