Your drive hits a tee marker and finishes behind you. Can you re-tee it?
You’ve probably seen footage of pro golfers smashing tee markers after hitting poor shots. Brooks Koepka’s assault on one at the LIV Golf Dallas tournament last June comes to mind. So does Rory McIlroy’s treatment of one during the US Open at Oakmont. What doesn’t happen as often (though it certainly does happen!) is when a golfer hits a worm-burner that caroms off a tee marker and comes blazing back at the group. Another Saturday-morning tradition at courses across the country is smacking one off a nearby tree only to have it rebound and scream past you like a missile.
What happens when you hit a shot that ends up behind the spot from where you just hit? You might think you have to play from that new location (provided it’s in play). That is an option, sure, but what if the ball ended up in a less-than-ideal lie, perhaps even in an unplayable situation in your opinion? If you want to take stroke-and-distance relief and replay from your previous spot, you would be closer to the hole than where the ball lies. You might recall that most drops are required to be “no closer to the hole”. So can you?
Let’s take the scenario in this article’s sub-heading and walk through how this can play out. Say you hit a tee shot that clanks off a tee marker and comes to rest behind the teeing area. You could play from this position if it’s in bounds, or you could re-tee taking stroke-and-distance relief (and the penalty stroke).
You read that right. Rule 19.2a/1 says you can take stroke-and-distance relief even if the previous stroke was nearer the hole than where the ball lies. That’s a pretty big deal if you think about it. Hitting 3 from the tee would probably put you in a lot better shape than if your ball was resting on a sidehill lie by the tee and your only shot is to advance the ball a few paces.
Another scenario where it might be better to declare a ball unplayable and play from a previous position closer to the hole is when you putt off a green. Say you had a reasonable chance at an eagle putt on a par 5, but you get too aggressive and it rolls off the green and into a bunker or back down the fairway. You could try to get up and down to save par but it might not be as easy as re-putting (since you already know the speed and break). Sure, you’re putting for par, but it could be the higher-percentage play.
Speaking of unplayable-ball relief, you should also know that your ball may be dropped in any area of the course – even on the putting green as long as it’s within the legal drop zone (Rule 19.2/2). Where things could get interesting is if the place you want to drop would then get you free relief (and possibly a better lie). It’s well within the rules to take an unplayable drop in no-play zones, ground under repair or even the wrong green. And if you do, you then must proceed under the rules governing what happens when a ball comes to rest in those locations – all three examples here come with free relief.
Whether it’s a drop into a better lie after taking an unplayable or going with stroke-and-distance relief closer to the hole, these are great examples of how understanding the Rules of Golf can be a great help in salvaging a round.
Photograph by iStockPhoto.com/Denis Shevchuk
