Artificial Aid or Not!

[3offTheTee]

Played with a guy in a Comp yesterday and he had a pink and grey tee tied together with a piece of string.

Foe every drive he had the string and other tee peg at 90 degrees i.e the string was facing towards the hole. Would this be classed as an artificial aid. After 18 holes I asked him whether anyone had ever queried it.

His reply was no and he only did it so as not to lose the tee. If that was the case there was no need to have it at 90 degrees
What do you think other than a little tight!

 

[JT77]

If he using it as an alignment aid then surely it can't be legal, how can you prove it? Maybe ask your club pro for advice.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

If he was deliberately lining the string up and standing accordingly then I'd say it was definitely an artificial aid. Definitely one to be queried especially if he does it in comps

 

[Bratty]

Artificial aid, I would say. And it could be argued that any angle could aid though - takeaway, squaring shoulders, top of backswing, etc. It's not just about pointing out the line.

That is REALLY tight though. I don't lose that many tees for it to warrant stringing them together. Now, balls on the other hand... is elastic legal?

 

[Richie13]

Artificial aid, I would say. And it could be argued that any angle could aid though - takeaway, squaring shoulders, top of backswing, etc. It's not just about pointing out the line.

That is REALLY tight though. I don't lose that many tees for it to warrant stringing them together. Now, balls on the other hand... is elastic legal?

what will do do when u hit a arrow strait 275 drive and it comes right back lol

 

[Bratty]

HAHA! I never suffer from that problem, Richie!

 

[Monty_Brown]

If he's worried about losing the tee, he can tie the other end round his.... ankle.

That reason smells like BS to me any way.

 

[3offTheTee]

If he using it as an alignment aid then surely it can't be legal, how can you prove it? Maybe ask your club pro for advice.

I can prove it because on every tee shot he line the string/tee peg at 90 degrees. He did not just place the peg in at say 30 or 60 degrees. He was meticulous and almost lined it up as you would a putt!

 

[Mongoose]

Thats an aid, and not allowed. Its also bloody ridiculous!

 

[MashieNiblick]

If it was done to assist with lining up I think this could well be regarded as an artificial aid or unusual use of equipment by the player to assist in his play which would constitute a breach of Rule 14-3 or alternatively it might be a breach of Rule 8-2a - which states that

"Except on the putting green, a player may have the line of play indicated to him by anyone, but no one may be positioned by the player on or close to the line or an extension of the line beyond the hole while the stroke is being made. Any mark placed by the player or with his knowledge to indicate the line must be removed before the stroke is made.
Exception: Flagstick attended or held up – see Rule 17-1."

"PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE
Match play – Loss of hole; Stroke play – Two strokes."

 

[Region3]

According to what I've been told, it's illegal as a possible alignment aid whether or not it's used as such.

 

[Region3]

Just found this on the R&A site in the definitions section.

A "tee" is a device designed to raise the ball off the ground. It must not be longer than 4 inches (101.6 mm) and it must not be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate the line of play or influence the movement of the ball.

 

[sev112]

So, why then if you go into any golf shop/pro Shop that sells any of the "Masters" brand golf accessories/tees etc, do they sell 3 rubber tees (usually Red , Blue and Yellow) all connected by string. Used to be excellent in those days when you played off winter tees.
Pros would not be selling something that was illegal as soon as you put it down on the first tee ???

Using it to set out a line sounds very dubious, but just having 3 tees tied together cannot surely be illegal ?

 

[JT77]

suggest a word with the club pro about it, if you know the chap well then just tell him he cant do it, if you dont, then maybe just approach him again and say to him it could be classed as an alignment tool, even if he claims to not use it as such, or get the pro or handicap secretary to speak to him.

 

[sev112]

Interesting aside

My dad told me that many yeasr ago, when tees were almost as expensive as they are now, he got fed up of losing tees and breaking tees.

So he machined up a few aluminium tees, and then drilled a hole through them and tied a nice colourful wool knot.
So he teed on off Hole 1, and because of eth nice coloured wool knot, he always found it, and because it was aluminium it never broke.

Success all round.


Until about Hole 6 when he found the nice permanent groove in the bottom of his Driver !!

Back to losing / breaking wooden tees

 

[Mightymoose]

Interesting aside

My dad told me that many yeasr ago, when tees were almost as expensive as they are now, he got fed up of losing tees and breaking tees.

So he machined up a few aluminium tees, and then drilled a hole through them and tied a nice colourful wool knot.
So he teed on off Hole 1, and because of eth nice coloured wool knot, he always found it, and because it was aluminium it never broke.

Success all round.


Until about Hole 6 when he found the nice permanent groove in the bottom of his Driver !!

Back to losing / breaking wooden tees

 

[Mungoscorner]

So, why then if you go into any golf shop/pro Shop that sells any of the "Masters" brand golf accessories/tees etc, do they sell 3 rubber tees (usually Red , Blue and Yellow) all connected by string. Used to be excellent in those days when you played off winter tees.
Pros would not be selling something that was illegal as soon as you put it down on the first tee ???

Using it to set out a line sounds very dubious, but just having 3 tees tied together cannot surely be illegal ?

Took the words from my mouth.
I thought exactly the same thing,as we used to use them at my old club in winter.Proper tee's were closed from November - March and we had to play from mats,which is why we used the rubber tee's.

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

 

[palindromicbob]

The rubber tees are "winter" tees. Handy when ground is frozen and you can't get the tee in or off matts.

They are tied together because they would fly due to not being stuck in the ground. This stops them being lost easily.

Using one and setting the others to the side is fine. No aid. But to position the unused ones in front to indicate line would be against the rules. The guy in the OP account is breaking the rules as he must be using it to indicate the line otherwise he could just put it to the side. Obviously knows it as well because his reason is absolute BS. If you can't afford to break or lose a tee then you can't afford to play golf.

 

[Region3]

Don't know. It's an interesting one.

It's against the rules to use my iPhone even though I don't use the compass on it.

 

[palindromicbob]

Don't know. It's an interesting one.

It's against the rules to use my iPhone even though I don't use the compass on it.

Only if you use it for measuring distance (as a gps). You can still text and make/receive calls on it while on the course although this may attract negative attention regardless of the rules.