Foremost apologizes for being somewhat remiss lately in his Rules reports. College Football is upon us and F has been preoccupied lately with his surprising Commodores who have started the season 2-0! This week the Dores play in Atlanta and are 10 point favorites over Georgia! Man, it would be nice to finally kick some Georgia fannies . (Oh, I see it’s Georgia State…). Anyway,

The scoring format in the OEI Men’s Game competition this lovely mountain day was Stroke Play, two net best balls per hole. After an excellent front nine, F’s team had blown up with a slew of bogeys on the relatively easy Par 3 11th Hole, a performance which did not bode well for the Team’s back nine chances.

F had seen enough. He decided it was time to show some leadership, ala Diego Pavia. He raced ahead to the Par 4 12th Hole tee, and as his teammates arrived, banged a drive down the left side of the fairway. Unfortunately, it clipped a tree and ricocheted somewhere unseen…perhaps in a gully marked as a PA, perhaps through the trees onto the steep grassy slope beyond.

“Nice shot”, said team captain, SS. “At least you could have played from the correct tees”, he added. F then realized he had played from the #2 tees rather than his selected and designated #3 tees, a teeing area which appeared to be some 40 yards ahead and considerably down the steep decline to the fairway. Darn! He hated that he had done this to his team!

“Well, he gets a redo from the correct tee box”, said another player. “We shouldn’t have to count it if he played from the wrong tee box. Nobody else would count that.”

F, as F (a personna unknown to his teammates this day), knew this statement was incorrect, and said so. He was unaware of any ROG that allowed a player an inconsequential “redo” after playing from the wrong teeing area, except in a Match Play format when the “redo” was at the option of the opponent. In Stroke Play, F seemed to remember that the penalty for playing from the wrong teeing area was the General Penalty, two strokes.

F did have a sliver of doubt, however, as to whether the wrong teeing area penalty applied if the player had player had played from a back teeing area, and he knew there was a chance that he might find his ball in play in the gully or in the grass beyond the treeline.

Accordingly , F announced that he would play a “provisional”, and he guessed this play should be from the correct teeing area rather than from the incorrect back tee. He played his provisional, never found his original ball, and made a 5, net 4, with this provisional ball, including the stroke and distance penalty. Darn again. It should have been a 3, net eagle 2!

Issues (Note the disparity in Stroke and Match Play issues and results) :

1) In Stroke Play, If one has played from an incorrect teeing area and requires a “provisional”, does he play the provisional from the same spot (the incorrect teeing area), or may he move to the correct teeing area to play the provisional?

2) In Match Play, an opponent most likely will not ask the player to cancel and replay his shot if the initial drive is from the wrong teeing area and appears to be in trouble. (R3.2d(1)). May the player then declare and play his “provisional” from the correct teeing area?

Ruling

By now the Reader may have surmised that F missed on the Rules as well as in his initial selection of his teeing area. His initial instinct was correct. In Stroke Play, play from the wrong teeing area results in the General Penalty, two strokes, with play to be corrected by teeing up from the correct teeing area. (R6.1b(2)). “Provisional” play is not an option.

In Match Play, assuming the opponent did not ask the player to cancel and replay his shot (R6.1b(1)), a player may elect to play a “provisional”, but play of the “provisional” is from a relief area referenced from the same spot (R14.6(b)), rather than from the correct teeing area. Additionally, since the “teeing area” (See, Def.) does not include other teeing locations even on the same hole, the initial wrong teeing area is part of the General Area, and the player must “drop” his ball rather than retee.

So, F declared and played a “Provisional”, when he should have assessed himself the General Penalty and 2-stroke penalty.

But did it matter that F declared and played a “provisional” in Stroke Play? So what? In both cases he played a second ball off the correct tee. In both cases, he would lie 3 in the fairway. Correct?

Well, no. A “provisional” ball is authorized and can only be declared for a ball just played that was in play. (See, Def. “Provisional”). Under R 6.1b(2), cited above, a shot played from the wrong teeing area in Stroke Play is never “in play”. Since a “provisional” ball was not allowed, by playing a declared provisional ball, F never really had a ball in play on the hole! He played a “wrong ball” and is disqualified in Stroke Play unless he completes the hole under the Rules with a ball correctly placed in play before he tees off on the next hole. (R 6.3c(1)).

So, yes it does have consequences if one declares a “provisional” when he should have accepted and played under the General Penalty.

All of this was, frankly, a little more than F could process at the time in this OEI Men’s Game. His usual razor-sharp mind was already drifting to football and the Dores impending Shermanesque march through Georgia and sack of Atlanta!*

As usual, all comments and corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F

* Let”s hope F hasn’t put a hex on his Dores!