Thursday, February 22, 2018

Ask Linda #1705-Place object to align shot

Dear Linda,
1. On the teeing ground, if a player uses the tee peg which is left over by another player on the ground to help him line up the position of his teeing shot, is this a breach of rules?

2. If he uses loose impediment instead of tee peg for the same purpose, is it illegal?

What are the rules applied to this questions?

Regards,
Lou from Thailand

Dear Lou,

The answer to both questions is the same. If the player positions the abandoned tee peg or the loose impediment to help him align his shot, and he leaves either of those moved objects in place when he hits his tee shot, he will incur a penalty of two strokes (loss of hole in match play) under Rule 8-2a. When a player is not on a putting green, he is permitted to place a mark to help with his alignment, provided he removes that mark before he hits his shot. (On the putting green, the player is not permitted to place a mark anywhere to indicate the line of putt–Rule 8-2b.)

If the player does not move the tee peg or loose impediment, but simply uses these objects that happen to be lying on the ground to help him align his shot, there is no penalty. You may find Decisions 8-2a/0.5 and 8-2a/2 helpful.

Linda
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