Rules Of Golf That Apply In The Teeing Area

Golf Monthly rules expert Jezz Ellwood explains what you can and can't do on the tee under the rules of golf.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm on the 14th tee on the international course at the London Club.

00:09It's 179 yard par 3 playing in that direction and we're here to talk about the teeing area.

00:14The teeing area is one of the specifically defined parts of the golf course from which

00:18we start every hole, obviously.

00:21But it can be a variety of sizes because it depends how far the tee marks are set apart

00:26as to how wide or narrow an area you get to tee off from.

00:29Regardless of how wide it is, it always extends back two club lengths from the frontmost and

00:35outermost extremities of whatever tee markers are being used on the day.

00:40The ball has to be wholly outside the defined teeing area for you to be deemed to be playing

00:44from outside the teeing area, so if even just a tiny part of the ball is within that area

00:49I've specified, then you're okay.

00:51You can also stand outside the teeing area to play a ball that is within the teeing area.

00:56So what are the penalties if you tee off from outside the teeing area, either inadvertently

01:01or perhaps you play from the wrong set of tees, you wander over to the yellows by mistake

01:05when you're not concentrating?

01:07Well the penalties are the same and in match play there actually is no penalty.

01:12You're not penalised for playing from outside the teeing area, however, what can happen

01:17is that your opponent may ask for the stroke to be cancelled and for you to replay from

01:22within the teeing area, so it will probably depend how well you've struck that first ball

01:26as to whether you get asked to play again.

01:28In stroke play it's a very different story, it's a two-stroke penalty straight away and

01:33then you must take further action to remedy the situation before you tee off on the next

01:38hole, make a stroke at the next hole or before you return your scorecard if it's your last

01:42hole and you must go back and play the hole again from within the teeing area.

01:48So the bad news is it's a two-stroke penalty, the good news is that none of the strokes

01:52made with the ball played from outside the teeing area count and if you don't rectify

01:57the mistake in that time frame specified, then I'm afraid the penalty will escalate

02:02to disqualification.

02:03A couple of other things to mention on the teeing area, the first is because the ball

02:07is not in play you're allowed to do things here that you're not allowed to do elsewhere

02:11on the course, so you can make a dent with your club to put the ball on if you want to,

02:16you can stand down anything, you can remove dew, frost, water, you can break grass if

02:23you want to tee off in a certain place and there's a tuft of grass just behind your ball

02:27you can break that grass off before you tee off.

02:30And the other thing that's worth mentioning and I'm not sure how many people know this

02:33is that any time your ball is within the teeing area of the hole being played you can re-tee

02:38it.

02:39Now that might seem a bit notional because that's not going to happen very often but

02:43it does mean that if you're playing foursomes and your partner happens to whiff it or barely

02:47move it you can tee the ball back up and play it from any part of the teeing area you wish

02:53if it had remained within the teeing area.

02:55Just a handy little one to know to perhaps limit the damage when things are already going

02:59a little bit wrong.