Hi Linda,
We had a social Stableford tournament with a shotgun start on a nine-hole course played twice from different-coloured tees. We had a group teeing off on each of the 9 tees. We advised the players to ensure they followed the holes in numerical order – if you start on blue tees on 8 you then play blue tees on 9 then go to red tees on 10. When you finish 18 you go back to blue tees for holes 1 to 7. First time this happened in a tournament it was reported by another group who had watched those behind play from the wrong tee. We checked the penalty for it in the Rules, realised they had not corrected their mistake before playing from the next tee and therefore had no option but to DQ them. As it was a social tournament it felt quite harsh but we did it anyway. In the tournament this weekend a group of four made the same mistake and they were good enough to come and tell us themselves that they had made the mistake. We felt we had no option but to DQ them as we had a precedent for it. Is there any other way of resolving this that you are aware of? The group involved was very gracious about it.
One of the complicating factors is that we have long drive contests on a couple of holes and nearest-to-the-pin contests, which of course adds to the confusion if a group gets mixed up.
We would be interested in your answer and appreciate your advice.
Lou from Auckland, New Zealand
Dear Lou,
The disqualification in Rule 6.1b(2) for starting play of a hole from the wrong set of tees and failing to correct that mistake before playing from the next hole does not apply to Stablefords. Instead of disqualification, the player who breaches Rule 6.1b(2) in a Stableford gets zero points for every hole where the breach happened [Rule 21.1c(2)].
In the example you gave of a player correctly playing from the blue tee markers for holes 8 and 9, and incorrectly playing from the blue markers for holes 10–18 and the red markers for holes 1–7, the only holes where this player could earn Stableford points would be holes 8 and 9. This would almost certainly preclude the player from winning any prize except a possible win for longest drive or closest to the pin, were those contests in effect on holes 8 or 9.
The Committee should try to do all within its power to make sure players understand which tee markers to use. I have four suggestions that might help, and I would recommend that you implement all of them:
1. In the written Terms of the Competition, be very clear in your explanation of which tees must be used and when.
2. On each player’s scorecard, indicate next to his starting hole which set of tee markers to start on. Highlight the tenth hole (or the first, if the player is starting on the “back” nine), and note that the player must now play from the other set of tees.
3. When the starter addresses the group, he should bring everyone’s attention to the reminders on the scorecard, and state emphatically that the penalty for playing from the wrong set of tees is zero points on the hole.
4. Place a sign on the first/tenth hole reminding players to change to the other set of tees.
Linda
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