Placing tee behind marked ball on the green

Kace · 08-02-2011 11:16PM #1

Saw an unusual one in Barry Rhodes rules email today re placing a tee behind your ball marker on the green. I have never seen anyone anywhere doing this - yet it seems that 70% of players on LPGA do it :eek:

Is there some sort of ladies eyesight problem out there on the links that I haven't heard about

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There was an unusual Rules incident last Saturday, at the ISPS Handa Women´s Australian Open at the Commonwealth Golf Club, Melbourne, which rather strangely is a Ladies European Tour event. Karrie Webb, Australia’s top-ranked player, was apparently asked by a Golf Australia Rules Official to explain why she had lined up a tee behind her ball marker on the putting greens. When she asked them what Rule they thought that she might be breaching they could not tell her, so naturally she wasn’t very happy at their handling of the situation. The obvious implication was that they thought that she was cheating in some way.

''I think it was really badly handled, actually,'' Webb said. ''They didn't check at first. They told me I'd breached a rule but they couldn't tell me which rule I'd breached. Then, after I came in and finished my playing partner's scorecard, they asked me why I do it. That's why it was handled poorly. I was trying to get what ruling I could have breached. They couldn't tell me what ruling because it wasn't in the Decisions book and it wasn't in the Rules of Golf.

'They said they called the R&A, and then I asked [playing partner] Christina Kim how many people on the LPGA put a tee behind the ball, and she said: 'About 70 per cent.' That was the end the issue. I don't know why Christina Kim's word was taken more than mine.''

So, why does Karrie sometimes lay a tee behind her ball-marker on the greens?

''It is for pace of play. My marker is not all that shiny, and sometimes it sits quite flush to the green, so it's hard to see on the other side of the hole.”

There is nothing in the Rules that disallows this practice, providing the tee is removed before the putt is made. Rule 8-2b states;

When the player's ball is on the putting green, the player, his partner or either of their caddies may, before but not during the stroke, point out a line for putting, but in so doing the putting green must not be touched. A mark must not be placed anywhere to indicate a line for putting.
The line of putt is the line that the player wishes his ball to take after a stroke on the putting green, so it starts at the point where the ball is at rest, or has been marked. Therefore a tee laid behind the ball-marker (i.e. farther from the hole) does not touch the putting green on the line of putt.

Despite her upset at the end of the third round, the popular Queenslander, a seven-time major championship winner, finished the tournament at five-under-par, tied for seventh place.

Corkblowin · 09-02-2011 12:17AM

Yeah I've done this on occasion when lining up a putt from the other side of the hole - particularly when its not my turn. There are times when slopes or light levels can make it hard to spot your marker and some playing partners can find another ball on the green distracting when putting, so its a bit less obtrusive.

Apparently its also useful in wet weather so that rather than leave your ball get covered in raindrops you can simply put it down when its your turn to putt - however if that really made a difference at my level I wouldn't be posting here but would be preparing for this weeks tour event

Placing tee behind marked ball on the green

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