Mowers forgot to reset the tees-what to do?

[huskydawg]

It's happened more than once in my lifetime only on casual rounds, but what are we supposed to do in this case?  The tees are grouped together a couple inches apart off to the side of the teeing ground.

[sui generis]

Your good deed for the day would be to position them properly. Aim them to the landing area and as the Rule book, in Committee Procedures, advises:

 

2B Teeing Areas, The Committee should always attempt to position the tee-markers far enough forward so that players can use the entire two club-lengths permitted.

 

There are no restrictions on the width of the teeing area, but it is good practice to place the two tee-markers 5 to 7 paces apart. Placing them further apart than this makes it more difficult for a player to determine if the ball has been teed within the teeing area and can result in divot holes covering a much larger area on par-3 holes.

 

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=cp&section=rule&rulenum=2&subrulenum=2

 

 

[phil75070]

At the courses I have belonged to, if the tees are set off to the side that tee box hasn't been mowed yet. Once mowed, the worker typically then sets the tees for the day. To set the tees up on one's own slows down the maintenance process. We just tee it up where we perceive it to be even or behind the tee markers were they placed properly across the tee box at that point. 

 

The reality is, no matter where the group places them, they could be moved up or back considerably by maintenance when they finally come through so us estimating where to hit from seems sufficient.

[rogolf]

We would typically play from the permanent marker for the set of tees we are playing.

[Mr. Bean]

4 hours ago, rogolf said:

We would typically play from the permanent marker for the set of tees we are playing.

This gets my vote. At least you are not very wrong.

 

[TerpFangolfer]

This happened yesterday...got to 18, and blue tees were nowhere to be seen. White, then next tee back was gold.

We looked for them on the ground along the edge of the tee, no go.

It was just a "fun" round anyway, so we teed off ~15 yds back of the whites, which is the difference listed on the card. If it would have been a comp not sure what we would have done. 

[596]

If you find a set of markers that have not been replaced on the tee box after the mower has been through, feel free to set them up for the guy on the mower that forgot.  Set them where they are, 5 to 7 paces apart.   Most people ahead of you have probably teed off from the spot where they are off the side of the tee box.   It will be appreciated not only by the mower but also all the groups behind you.  It really is no big deal and not rocket science.  Don't overthink the situation..........move them onto the tee box.     

 

There may also be times when the markers are intentionally left off the tee box to the side.  If the crew is working on the tee box, mowers hasn't been there yet, etc.  Just tee off where the marker sits off to the side. 

 

[James the Hogan Fan]

If it is a competition, I would file this as "do not do anything without finding a representative of the committee and solving it" 

 

In a casual round I'd play from, in this order:

 

-Where they should be, if the spot is obvious. 

-From the permanent marker if there is one

-From either one tee up or one tee back of where I had been playing that day

 

 

[golfortennis]

I played in a tournament once, was out in the first group, and we came to the 16th or 17th or whatever, and the tees were not set.  We weren't sure but we didn't tee off.  Someone got the greenkeeper to come out, and he was so embarrassed.  It was at another club, so I don't know the guy, but he has a pretty good reputation around the area, which made it all the more strange.  But, hey, crap happens.

Edited May 9, 2021 by golfortennis

[Newby]

As a referee I used to be responsible for setting the tee positions for major amateur competitions. I would also often visit the course to check out potential problem areas and discuss hole positions etc

At one course I hadn't previously visited, well before the 1st group teed off, the head greenkeeper suggested he drove me around the course as he knew all the shortcuts. 

I had finished and was having a welcome coffee when I got a radio message from the 5th tee saying there were no tee markers. I rushed out and found that the adjacent 7th tee was also deficient. The greenkeeper had missed a small diversion.

Since then I have always followed the course as numbered and we have now got our own numbered tee markers.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Newby

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, Newby said:

As a referee I used to be responsible for setting the tee positions for major amateur competitions. I would also often visit the course to check out potential problem areas and discuss hole positions etc

At one course I hadn't previously visited, well before the 1st group teed off, the head greenkeeper suggested he drove me around the course as he knew all the shortcuts. 

I had finished and was having a welcome coffee when I got a radio message from the 5th tee saying there were no tee markers. I rushed out and found that the adjacent 7th tee was also deficient. The greenkeeper had missed a small diversion.

Since then I have always followed the course as numbered and we have now got our own numbered tee markers.

When I'm doing course set-up (tee markers and hole locations) in the morning, I first try to always go in the order of the holes and also keep a checklist of the holes that I've done (on that day's hole location sheet).  I dislike not doing them in order because it makes me uneasy and leads to mistakes.

[Mr. Bean]

1 hour ago, rogolf said:

When I'm doing course set-up (tee markers and hole locations) in the morning, I first try to always go in the order of the holes and also keep a checklist of the holes that I've done (on that day's hole location sheet).  I dislike not doing them in order because it makes me uneasy and leads to mistakes.

 

Seems to be a very personal thing. I always take a score card with me and tick the box when I have set the tees. That way I make no mistakes and can take the tees in any order. Hole locations I tend to do from 1 to 18 so I can keep the balance better.

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Seems to be a very personal thing. I always take a score card with me and tick the box when I have set the tees. That way I make no mistakes and can take the tees in any order. Hole locations I tend to do from 1 to 18 so I can keep the balance better.

Every referee doing set-up has their own reliable method to meet the objectives (which includes no mistakes).  I also keep track of the hole locations selected for the next day on my work sheet, using a code like 10L4, which means 10 on, 4 from the left.

[jdl]

At one course I play, we ended up playing nearly 3 weeks without any tee markers. Showed up to play on a Sunday morning and there were no tee markers, because "we're closing for the season tomorrow". Oh. So the middle of a weekend was the best time to do this? But then we got an unexpected run of nice weather so they stayed open but apparently it was just too much trouble to put those markers back out, so we just went without. Fortunately they did leave the pins in the greens and still did all the course maintenance. People that run golf courses never cease to amaze with some of their decisions.

Edited May 10, 2021 by jdl

[huskydawg]

Thanks for the advice everyone!  I was leaning toward an answer for comps.  I think we just set them back up since they were casual rounds.  Will let the committee know if the situation ever comes up in a tournament, thanks.

[DaveLeeNC]

I ran into an interesting scenario related to this a number of years ago. It was an early season (April) round but in the Dallas area - so not that early. It was a nice course but they were doing some tee box maintenance and they had the back 3 tee markers all moved up to the same place (most forward of the longest 3 sets of tees -  at least that is what I think - I did not know the course). 

 

That presented a most interesting choice when deciding to post a score - which tees? Sometimes you just have to use common sense when making a choice. I am not sure what handicapping rule applies here, but maybe there is one. I am used to cases where (for whatever reason) a set of tees is moved on a single hole (I ignore that regardless of the direction of the movement when I post). This was different.

 

dave

[Newby]

6 hours ago, DaveLeeNC said:

I ran into an interesting scenario related to this a number of years ago. It was an early season (April) round but in the Dallas area - so not that early. It was a nice course but they were doing some tee box maintenance and they had the back 3 tee markers all moved up to the same place (most forward of the longest 3 sets of tees -  at least that is what I think - I did not know the course). 

 

That presented a most interesting choice when deciding to post a score - which tees? Sometimes you just have to use common sense when making a choice. I am not sure what handicapping rule applies here, but maybe there is one. I am used to cases where (for whatever reason) a set of tees is moved on a single hole (I ignore that regardless of the direction of the movement when I post). This was different.

 

dave

If I've understood the situation see the table in Appendix G of the handicapping rules

[llewol007]

Jokingly, they trust you swinging a golf club. 😂 If you have played the course before, then set them out the way you remembered them being. It is not rocket science. 

[DaveLeeNC]

4 hours ago, Newby said:

If I've understood the situation see the table in Appendix G of the handicapping rules

 

Newby, I referenced 2 situations. One is where 3 sets of tees are all in the same place on every hole. I am not sure what to do with Appendix G in that case. 

 

The other was a set of tee markers moved up or back on a single hole. Since it would be most rare for that to result in movement of 100 yards (the lower end of the table in Appendix G), I guess applying those tables in that case just says 'make no changes' (which is the norm at our club for that case). And it is interesting that the distance range over which you apply 0.5 strokes of rating and 1 point of slope (100-120 yards vs. 100-110 meters) is different by roughly a factor of 2. Not sure why that is the  case. 

 

 

dave

[caniac6]

We used to play early, and the set up guy would remove the markers in front of the mowers. Sometimes, we would ask him to leave the blue tees, and we would remove them after hitting. Usually, if the tees were gone, we’d just hit from the middle of the tee box.

[BHI 99]

Little trick if you happen to be “lucky” and set forgotten markers (there’s usually only 144 on the course!🤣)

 

Stand between them and point your left hand at the left marker, right hand at the right marker. Square your body then bring your hands together in front of you.....they should be pointing to the middle of the landing area. 

 

It happens....😉