A swing and a miss – there’s not one of you reading this who hasn’t suffered the ignominy of a whiff.
You go a bit red, your playing partners are trying to stifle their chuckles, and to make matters worse you’ve barely advanced the ball. If at all.
But what if it wasn’t merely down to a case of the jitters? Cue this week’s email question:
“While playing last Saturday, one of my playing partners began his downswing on the 1st tee when the wind blew his ball off the tee.
“His club head made slight contact with the ball on the way through after it had fallen off, resulting in a ‘drive’ of approximately two inches. After the laughter subsided – and as it was only a friendly game – we allowed him to re‑tee the ball and play again without penalty or counting the stroke.
“Would the same ruling apply in a competitive match, or would he be required to play the ball from where it came to rest?
“I understand that, as the ball remained within the teeing area, he would be allowed to re‑tee it without penalty, but that the original stroke may still count.”
What does happens next? Will the wind prove your nemesis? Or is there something in the big book that can come to your rescue? We’re delving deep into teeing area rules…
Player picks up a golf ball | Source: Adobe Stock
Teeing area rules: What happens now?
Sometimes life is unfair – and the Rules of Golf can occasionally feel like that too. You’d imagine you could just start again as if nothing had happened. After all, you didn’t cause the ball to fall off the tee.
Alas, you cannot. Many of you will know that Rule 6.2b (5) says if a teed ball falls off the tee, or is knocked off, before a player makes a stroke at it then it can be re-teed anywhere in the teeing area without penalty.
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That’s because the ball isn’t in play until that stroke is made. But “if the player makes a stroke at that ball while it is falling or after it has fallen off, there is no penalty, the stroke counts and the ball is in play”.
What is a stroke? It’s defined as the “forward movement of the club made to strike the ball”. That’s what our emailer’s playing partner has done. So to recap, in this case, there is no penalty but it does count as a shot.
However, if you decide during the downswing not to hit the ball – and manage to avoid doing so by either stopping the clubhead for it reaches the ball, or you deliberately miss the ball – then a stroke hasn’t been made.
Moving on, do you now have to play the ball where it lies? It depends on whether the ball – now in play – is in the teeing area after the stroke.
If it is, then you can “lift or move the ball without penalty” and play it, “or another ball”, from anywhere in the teeing area. And yes, that includes from a tee. It’s all in Rule 6.2b (6) if you want to know more.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of these teeing area rules? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at [email protected] or get in touch on X.
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