Play a ball from anywhere inside the teeing area, they say. But what if you don’t know where that is? What if you get to the tee and there is a golf tee marker missing?
What if it’s even worse and both of them are nowhere to be found?
I’ve seen this one for myself out on the course – just check out the picture. So given the teeing area is defined by the two tee markers set, what happens if they’re not there to guide you?
Golf tee markers: What should you do if they’re missing?
Get help, and if you can’t do that, guess. That’s the answer in a nutshell, and it’s probably obvious if you think about it. But there’s one other thing you need to consider.
In the 2023 Rules of Golf, Rule 6.2b (4) says if a player finds one or both tee markers missing, they should seek help from the committee.
“But if the committee is not available within a reasonable time, the player should use their reasonable judgement to estimate the location of the teeing area.”
All straightforward so far. But what if someone later complains that you were being a bit fast and loose in where you decided to play the ball from? After all, a tee can be quite wide space of grass.
Here’s where ‘reasonable judgement’ becomes key.
Rule 1.3b (2) says that determinations about location often cannot be precise but, “so long as the player does what can be reasonably expected under the circumstances to make an accurate determination”, their reasonable judgement will be accepted.
That’s the case even if it later turns out to be wrong.
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.
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What do you think about these missing golf tee marker rules? How did you solve the problem? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
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