Hi Linda,
Your emails are so good – helping to educate us golfers. I had no idea that a ball in play – in the teeing area – accidently moved by the player (his foot or cart) – carries no penalty.
I just want to clarify –
• It’s the teeing area of the hole you are playing – correct? Not a wrong tee – teeing area?
• It’s the teeing area – and not outside the teeing area (tee markers and two club-lengths)?
• The average golfer when looking up a ruling on this – I would have thought – would first go to Rule 9.4 – Ball at rest moved by player. But 9.4 does not include the Exception of moving the ball in play in the Teeing Area.
• 6.2b(6) does say the player may “lift or move the ball without penalty” – but it reads to me like the player can: on purpose lift or move his ball. So I guess that’s where the accidental movement of the ball fits. But it’s not well written.
Kind regards,
Queenstown, New Zealand
Dear Lulu,
The teeing area, which is defined in the Definitions, is the rectangular area from which the player will hit when she starts the hole. This rectangle is defined by the two tee markers, a line drawn at the front edge of the two tee markers, and two club-lengths deep (measured using your longest club). Every other teeing location on the course, including the area outside the rectangular teeing area of the hole you are playing, is referred to as a teeing locationand is part of the general area.
If you look up Teeing Area in the index to your rulebook, it directs you to Rule 6.2. The introduction to this Rule tells you that the new rules regarding what you may do in the teeing area of the hole you are playing are in effect when you start play of the hole, when you have to return to the teeing area to play another shot, or if your ball lies in the teeing area after your shot (e.g., after a whiff or a ricochet off a tree that returns to the teeing area), or after you have taken relief.
Whenever your ball lies in the teeing area (remember this is the rectangular area where you start play of the hole), you may lift or move your ball (whether deliberately or accidentally), play your original or another ball anywhere within the teeing area, and set the ball up on a tee. There is no penalty for any of these actions.
Please review all of Rule 6.2.
Linda
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