Standing on the first tee, there are a few people watching and you’re feeling a little nervous. You manage to get the tee in the ground and the ball to sit still on top of it, despite your shaking hand. All is well. But, as you move your driver in behind the ball to address it, you accidentally nudge it so it topples off the tee peg. One of your “humorous” playing partners gleefully announces the, inevitable, “One!”
Are they right? Does that count as a shot? What do you do next? Do you face a penalty for your clumsiness?
Well, fortunately, the answer for you here is – no. There is no penalty. In fact, not only is there no penalty, effectively according to The Rules, nothing has occurred and you can simply replace the ball and start again.
That’s thanks to Rule 6.2b(5) which deals with Teeing Area Rules. It says that the ball is not in play until a stroke is made. So, when your ball is in the teeing area for a hole, on a tee or lying on the ground, the ball is not in play until you have actually taken a swing at it. You can move it, lift it, cause it to fall off the tee, do whatever you like with it until you’ve had a go at hitting it.
If you do knock the ball off the tee accidentally, you can either put it back on the tee where it is, or you can move to another part of the teeing ground and start again from there, without penalty.
But, if you do have a swing at the ball, attempt to hit it and it falls off the tee during your swing, owing to your action or not, there is no penalty but the stroke counts and the ball is now in play. You’re now playing two.
Important to note, if the ball has fallen off the tee during your swing and you have missed it or clipped it but the ball is still within the teeing area, you will be playing two, but you can still lift the ball, move it, even tee it up (but only as long as it’s still in the teeing area!)
If you accidentally move your ball anywhere else on the course other than the putting green or in the teeing area, Rule 9.4b applies and you must replace the ball on its original spot and add a one-stroke penalty. So, if you are addressing a ball in the fairway and you nudge it with your club so it moves off its spot, you’re penalised a shot and you must replace it. If you don’t replace it, you will incur the General Penalty of two shots for playing from a wrong place.
In answer again then to the main question – Is there a penalty if you accidentally knock your ball off a tee? No – You simply put the ball back on the tee, attempt to carry on as if nothing had happened and do your best to put that sarcastic comment of “One!” out of your head!
