Winter Golf Tees

Hi everyone,

Im new here and just made a account today.

I have a question that I searched but couldnt find anwser to.

- Are rubber golf tee's legal? With all the different kinds of tee's out I would like to Know.

I have rubber,Brush and normal tees. I only play for fun with family,but would like to know for future use.

Thank you

Do you mean the rubber 'winter' tees connected by strings like these ?

http://www.gamolagolf.co.uk/acatalog/Jumbo_Winter_Rubber_Golf_Tees.html

If so, they are definitely legal in the R&A; jurisdiction. I (and other colleagues) have a ruling from them.

Colleagues in the US have told me that the USGA has declared them non-conforming.

If you mean simple single tees, then the material is irrelevant

My understanding is that R&A; and USGA rules are now synchronized.

Rule 11 talks about the teeing ground:

11-1 . Teeing

When a player is putting a ball into play from the teeing ground , it must be played from within the teeing ground and from the surface of the ground or from a conforming tee (see Appendix IV ) in or on the surface of the ground.

Note the reference to a tee " on the surface of the ground".

Appendix 4 defines a conforming 'tee':

A tee is a device designed to raise the ball off the ground. A tee must not:

• be longer than 4 inches (101.6 mm);

• be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate line of play ;

• unduly influence the movement of the ball; or

• otherwise assist the player in making a stroke or in his play.

Rule 11 seems to permit the kind of rubber tee being referred to and nothing in Appendix 4 appears to prohibit.  Others may know better.

I have both rulings and they are recent. The stance of both bodies has not changed to the best of my knowledge.

My understanding of the R&A; Rules Dept view is that the connected tees are traditional and were widely used before the definition took its present form. But more importantly, each element (ie rubber tee) is a device in its own right and is the thing " designed to raise the ball off the ground"

The USGA Equipment Dept says the whole composition is the device and the string " could indicate l ine of play "

Although the words in the Rules of Golf are exactly the same (except for the odd spelling mistake by the USGA ), the interpretation in this case is different.

The original question was only whether rubber tees are illegal and they clearly are not.

I can see the potential problem if several are joined together by string, though it's a little bizarre a) to imagine someone lining several up with  string to indicate line of play; b) to imagine that would really be much of a help if someone did.

Putters can have extensive alignment aids, but I understand that laying something on the ground is different.

Hi Everyone, Sorry I havent been on. The rubber tee is not connected by a string. Just a Rubber tee. So is that legal, It just raises off ground.

Thank you all for help.

I can now confirm that the USGA have changed their view re tees tied together with string. 

From: Equipment Rules and Conformance.

"The USGA recently adopted the interpretation of the R&A (in an effort to eliminate differences to ensure a common set of Rules and interpretations)."