The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
Hypothetical question: How many penalty strokes could a player get from hitting one tee shot? My thought: He’s late for his tee time, asks his opponent what club he used, tees it up in front of the marker, has too many clubs in his bag, uses an illegal club or ball, and then hits it out of bounds. Your thoughts? —Todd Sherstad, via email
First thought: Rules Guy needs more coffee to tackle this convoluted theoretical, but then sufficient caffeine kicked in.
In 2023, Rule 1.3c(4) was designed to help limit the number of penalty strokes players could accumulate between strokes, so long as they were unaware of the breaches at the time. Thus, theoretically, absent that awareness, a player should only be able to rack up three penalty strokes in one shot — two for a breach and one for stroke and distance after hitting it out of bounds.
That said, given the list that you’ve provided, Todd, there is an even easier answer, and it involves letters rather than numbers, specifically “DQ,” as disqualified is what one would be for using a nonconforming club or ball to make a stroke under Rule 4.1a.
For more penalty guidance from our guru, read on …
On a trip to Myrtle Beach, we were part of a large outing on a course called Kings North. The group behind us teed off on the correct hole, the fifth, but played in the wrong direction, to the fairway of the wrong hole, the sixth. Once they figured out their mistake, they picked up their balls and returned to the tee box, re-teeing without penalty (and plenty of delay for other on-course groups). I believe they should have been hitting 3 off the tee, although since there wasn’t OB I’m thinking they could have played the hole as an 800-yard par 4. What does Rules Guy say? —RJ Sulli, via email
Interesting, RJ, very interesting! It’s a matter of geometry as to which Rule applies, but both amount to the same result. First off, if these discombobulated golfers got turned around and played the wrong way, the likelihood is that they teed their balls up on the wrong side of the tee markers. In that case, they played from outside the teeing area, got two penalty strokes, and were indeed required — as you noted — to re-tee (correctly), hitting 3, because the stroke from outside the teeing area doesn’t count.
That said, if somehow they’d managed to play from within the correct rectangle of the teeing area, then going back and playing from the tee again would indeed be playing under stroke and distance, hitting 3. Or, as you suggested, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, they could have played it as an 800-yard par 4 — without, one prays, hitting anyone along the way.
