Facts

In a scene reminiscent of the 16th Hole at the Scottsdale Stadium Course, bedlam reigned momentarily at the construction-shortened 10th Hole at BMCC.

Foremost’s partner, RGC, led off with a magnificent shot which settled on the lip of the cup. Then, after F chunked a shot off to right , opponents JS and RM threw a couple of darts at the flag with JS’s ball residing only three or four feet below the hole. Rowdy workers emerged from back-hoes and trenches across the grounds to clap and shout and show their appreciation for this remarkable display of golfing talent.

Both JS and RCG made their birdie putts to tie the hole. (Even F could have made RCG’s putt). After the players teed off on the next hole, F breathed a sigh of relief as he knew, that unnoticed by his opponents, partner RCG had teed off from the wrong set of tees. He had been playing from the brown tees, and had moved back and hit from the white tees.

“You know you hit from the wrong set of tees?”, F whispered to his partner.

“I liked the distance better for that club”, responded RCG, who certainly did have his distance down as he had just missed a hole-in-one.

F was relieved that opponents JS and RM completely missed RCG’s errant tee box, and the opportunity under match play to ask RCG to replay his shot from the correct teeing area. F had a premonition that this over-looked transgression, and the resulting halve instead of a loss, might prove decisive as the match proceeded.

F was correct as he and RCG closed the match on 16 with a narrow, but immensely satisfying and profitable 3-2 victory.

F couldn’t help a little dig at his opponents after the match. “You guys missed it on the 10th”, he chortled. “RCG teed off from the wrong tees”.

“No, you missed it”, said RM. “JS teed off on 10 from outside the boxes. We were worried you were going to call that on him. RCG had asked if he could hit from the white tees, and we had given him approval.”

F had, in fact, been sitting in his golf cart during most of this tee box action with his head down in a bowl of chili (a diversion which , also, might explain his chunked shot). He had totally missed the conversation with RCG, and the JS play from outside the box. This omission is uncharacteristic of F and most disturbing, but the chili was excellent.

Issue

So, what is the correct outcome in match play if an opponent tees off from the wrong teeing area or from outside the teeing area?

Ruling

Well, quite honestly, F didn’t have the Rule correct in his own mind anyway. He had confused the timing of the right to cancel a shot for playing from the wrong tee (R6.1b) with the timing of the right to seek a request for a ruling from the Committee on a rules issues. (R20.1b). In the latter case, a player must inform his opponent of his intent to seek a ruling before either party tees off on the next hole.

In the present case, where players teed off from “outside the teeing area (including from a wrong set of tee markers for a different teeing location on the same hole…)”, an opponent may cancel the stroke, but it must be done “promptly” before another player makes a stroke. If the stroke is not cancelled promptly, the stroke counts and the ball must be played as it lies.

RCG’s stroke was thus in play when F hit without a prior cancellation, as was JS’s stroke when followed by the play of RM. F’s concern about making it to the 11th hole and teeing off before the stroke cancellation issue was raised was unwarranted .

Accordingly, F finds that in the absence of either party cancelling a stroke, both the shots of RCG and JS were valid and in play, although both had played from outside the appropriate teeing area.

Unfortunately, F finds another issue which should be addressed … this relates to the polite “agreement” by RM and JS and RCG to allow RCG to play from the wrong tee box upon his request. Under R 6.1b, a player “must” start each hole from inside the “teeing area”, which in the case of RCG specifically applied, by his own selection, to the brown tees.

By agreeing to allow RCG to play from outside the appropriate teeing area (an intentional rather than careless act) F reluctantly finds that the three players conspired to, and did in fact, agree to circumvent the Rule of Golf requiring play to begin on each hole from the teeing area. “If two or more players deliberately agree to ignore any Rule…they know applies…they are disqualified.” R1.3b.

F was disappointed to read further that a “Side” is disqualified when a partner gets a penalty of disqualification under R 1.3 for not “Playing by the Rules”. Both sides were, therefore, disqualified even though F was the only innocent participant in this whole sordid affair.

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,

F