Penalty Strokes

[Bake]

Question? I was playing with a couple of friends this weekend and one of the guys argued about penalty strokes. He tee up his ball on a par 4 and hit his first ball in a marsh area he deemed that the ball was lost. He then re-teed the ball and accidentally knocked the ball off the tee 3 times . I stated that those counted as strokes he contested. He then hit the ball in the marsh again, re-teed his ball again hit the ball in the fairway. He would not count the strokes from when he knocked the ball off the tee. My question is since the ball was considered to be in play after the first tee shot should every time that he knocked the ball off the tee after that be counted as a stroke?

[dkolo]

Knocking a ball off of a tee by accident when you're not making a stroke at it on a tee shot doesn't count as a stroke because it lacks the intent to make a stroke. If you're proceeding under stroke and distance from the tee, I don't believe that makes a difference since you're allowed to re-tee. I believe therefore he was hitting his 6th shot from the fairway. That said, two points for your friend: 1) After the second time you knock it off the tee, you're a schmuck for doing it a third time. 2) I don't know what this particular hole layout looks like or what type of water hazard it was, but you're typically much better off taking your penalty from the hazard than proceeding under stroke and distance. Which is something I often forget myself because I'm frustrated from my screw up.

[David in FL]

Sorry, your friend was right.

A ball on a tee is not considered to be "in play" until a stroke has been made at it, even if a previous tee shot was hit and lost.  He's laying 5 in the fairway.  I imagine you still won that hole!

Decision 11-3/3 applies.

11-3/3

Original Ball Out of Bounds; Ball Played Under Stroke-and-Distance Procedure Falls Off Tee at Address

Q.A player played his original ball out of bounds from the teeing ground. Under Rule 27-1 , he teed up another ball. When addressing the ball, he touched it and it fell off the tee. What is the ruling?

A.There is no penalty, because a teed ball is not in play until a stroke has been made at it (see Definition of "Ball in Play"). The ball may be re-teed (Rule 11-3 ).

Welcome to the site though.  We hope you stick around!

[iacas]

You also can't declare your ball lost.

In this case, he was effectively declaring his ball unplayable, and taking stroke and distance penalties.

1. First shot.

2. Penalty.

3. Second tee shot.

4. Penalty.

5. Third tee shot.

If it's a marshy area, too, it could have been red, so I don't know why he wouldn't have played from up there. Lying 6 in the fairway seems like an awfully steep price to pay.