During a round of golf, one of the less common known situations and common occurrences during a round of golf is when can you re-tee a golf ball or do you have to drop it near the hazard or OB (out of bounds)? The answer is pretty simple, we will go through these scenarios in greater detail below in accordance to the offical rules of golf as of June 2023.
You can re-tee if your ball stays in the teeing area after an intentional golf swing after hitting it. Practice swings can be re-teed if you accidentally hit the ball, even if it goes off the tee box. So if your hungover buddy shows up late and hurries to the first tee and misses it or hits it so poorly that it stays on the tee box, you can re-tee it without penalty.
Give him a hard time and remind him he’s now hitting his second shot. If he had it teed to low or too high, our ultimate golf tee guide will help with getting the correct tee height, correct tee for your game, etc.
If your ball goes out of bounds or is lost, you’ll need to take a penalty stroke and re-tee. If you hit into a hazard (red/yellow stakes), you have several options of relief explained below. There are some exceptions to these rules, so it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the local course rules.
So you can re-tee if:
- Golf ball falls off the tee (even if you are taking practice swings near it)
- You accidentally hit it on a practice swing (no penalty stroke)
- You hit it and it stays on the teebox (original swing counts, no penalty. You would be hitting 2nd shot)
- You hit into a hazard or out of bounds (original swing counts plus penalty, would be hitting 3rd shot off the tee)
- Hit teeshot and can’t find it (original swing counts plus penalty, would be hitting 3rd shot off the tee)
Rules on Teeing the golf Ball
As golfers, we must follow the rules of golf to ensure fair play and maintain the integrity of this great game. In this section, we will discuss the rules related to teeing the ball.
Hitting the tee shot is the start of every hole and it must happen on a defined teebox.
- The ball must be played from within the teeing area, either on a tee or on the ground.
- The teeing area is defined as the area two club-lengths deep from the front of the tee markers.
- The golfer is allowed to stand outside of the teeing area, but the ball and tee must remain inside of the allowable teeing area. You often see pros do this to get the best angle or to help out their draw/fade into the fairway or green.
- If the teed up ball is outside of the teeing area, it is a 2 shot penalty in stroke play. In match play, there is no penalty but your opponent may immediately request you to hit the teeshot again.
These rules ensure that the ball is played from a consistent location on the course and no one gets an unfair advantage of angle to the green or fairway, ideal lie on the teebox, etc.
Teeboxes also help speed the pace of play up, the chances of hitting a good shot go significantly up when hitting off of a tee on a flat teebox versus random unlevel surfaces of the fairway and rough. You should always use a tee, even on par 3s. There is a reason why every pro uses a tee on every tee shot, it gives you the perfect lie.
When Can You Re-tee Golf Ball?
As golfers, we all have been there at some point in our golfing life where we have swung and missed. Or hit it so poorly that the ball remained on the teebox.
Golf Ball Falls off Tee
The golf ball could fall off the tee due to wind, the golf tee is not level, or accidentally hitting the golf ball on your practice swing. One of my guilty habits is taking my practice swings way too close to the ball, so a few times I’ve embarrassingly hit it on my practice swing. Even Masters Champ Zach Johnson did it at Augusta and didn’t know what to do!
If this happens to you, no need to worry. Have a good laugh about it with your buddies, and tee it up again with no penalty.
Golf ball hit but stays on the teebox
Not our proudest moment, but there are times where you can mishit the ball so bad that it stays on the tee box. As embarrassing is that is, at least you don’t get penalized for teeing it back up!
Tee it back up, no penalty stroke when hitting the golf ball but it stays on the teebox. This will be your second shot of course. Play the hole good enough and you may still be able to save par!
Golf Ball hit out of bounds or into a hazard
If you hit into a hazard or OB off the tee, you have several options depending on what color of stakes you hit it past.
Your home course may carry out a new stroke and distance rule that allows you to drop it in the nearest fairway edge no closer to the hole from where the ball crossed out of bounds (white stakes) or from where the ball is likely to be lost in the woods or hazard (red or yellow stakes).
This was created to speed up pace of play, there is no reason the average weekend golfer not tracking their handicap needs to go back to the tee because they can’t find their golf ball or their ball just trickled past the white stakes.
This local rule does not apply for any elite amateur or professional competitions. Check with the course to see if the local rule applies to scores submitted for handicapping purposes.
Golf Ball Hit Past White Stakes
The white stakes are out of bounds, you more than likely only have one option. Take a penalty and tee it up again, so your re tee will be your third shot.
Check with the course to see if the local rule may apply where you can drop it in line in the fairway of where the ball crossed the white stakes no closer to the hole. Your next shot would be your 4th shot.
Golf Ball Hit Past Yellow Stakes
Yellow stakes indicate a water hazard. There are 4 options when your ball is inside the yellow stakes.
- Hit it where it lies – no penalty stroke
- Play the ball from the previous spot (1 penalty stroke)
- Take a penalty and drop the ball behind the hazard as far as you want, in a straight line between from where the ball entered the hazard and the hole. USGA has a great illustration below on where to drop if you hit into yellow stakes.
- Play the golf ball from a drop zone (if available)
Golf Ball hit past Red Stakes
Red stakes indicate a lateral hazard. These are very similar to the yellow stakes except the red stakes run adjacent to the line of play versus across the line of play with yellow stakes. This may be confusing to some, USGA clearly shows below your 4 options from hitting the red stakes.
- Hit it where it lies – no penalty stroke
- Take lateral relief which is 2 club lengths from where the ball entered the hazard (1 penalty stroke)
- Take lateral relief on the opposite side of the hazard the same distance from the hole (1 penalty stroke)
- Play the ball from the previous spot (1 penalty stroke)
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