A couple of rules questions regarding tee boxes

[Wine&Poker]

#1: If the teeing area is defined as a rectangular area, two club lengths in depth, but the course is set up with no more than 1 club length between the tee markers and the back of the tee box, do you have an option to go further back or are you simply stuck complaining to the golf course superintendent?

#2: If the tee markers are 12 inches long from front to back, does the teeing ground start at the back, middle, or front of those markers?

[Wine&Poker]

Ok...nevermind regarding #2. Clear on that one now.

[iacas]

#1: If the teeing area is defined as a rectangular area, two club lengths in depth, but the course is set up with no more than 1 club length between the tee markers and the back of the tee box, do you have an option to go further back or are you simply stuck complaining to the golf course superintendent?

You can still tee up two clublengths back. In the rough. It's up to you.

No, it's not cool and if it happens a lot I'd mention it to someone, but... eh.

[TourSpoon]

You can still tee up two clublengths back. In the rough. It's up to you.

Or have a severe uphill lie!

[Fourputt]

#1: If the teeing area is defined as a rectangular area, two club lengths in depth, but the course is set up with no more than 1 club length between the tee markers and the back of the tee box, do you have an option to go further back or are you simply stuck complaining to the golf course superintendent?

Sometimes it's simple ignorance on the part of the worker setting the course in the morning, other times it's poor design, creating a tee box which doesn't have enough usable space.

I see this done most often on courses or on holes where they simply failed to make the tee box large enough to support the traffic - that is to allow one area to heal before it has to be used again. This is particularly true of holes where an iron is expected to be the most common tee club. Because of the tendency of players to use only the 1 foot or so right at the markers, there can be about a 5 or 6 foot area at the back of the box which never sees a divot, so they just decide that the way to get maximum use is to move the markers farther back. Most players never notice because they never tee up the ball anyplace except right between the markers. This punishes the player who uses the entire teeing ground to maximize his shot options, but any course which does this is more concerned with maximum utilization (or in some cases the worker who sets the markers is just as ignorant as many players are) than they are with the comfort of the few players who might take advantage of the 2 clublengths. This seems to be what I've noticed anyway... I don't see it a lot though. My home course seems to do a pretty good job, and a couple of times when I have had an issue I've actually moved the markers up a few feet, then informed the shop staff. Our tee boxes are generally large enough that turf recovery isn't a problem, but we don't always do the best job of training a new guy on the mowers. They teach him how to mow, but not how to reset the markers.