Tee alignment

[Tashyboy]

Playing with a guy today who has been in the mechanical dept all his life. Anyway his Tee for when he is driving. He has drilled a hole and glued in a nail. So it makes it easier to stick in frozen ground. He has also put a Ty wrap around the tee so when it goes flying it is easier to spot. Ironically he ended up losing it ?
But on one hole I noticed the Ty wrap was pointing directly forward in a straight line. The line he was hitting through. I mentioned this could be classes as an “aid” in helping him. He said not and that it was no different to a line on a ball. He also mentioned that it was a coincidence that it was straight and he had not noticed.
Thoughts please.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Do tee designs have to go through any form of compliance check? I don’t know the answer to that question but if they do then what your mate has done with the Ty wrap may make his tee non-compliant.

 

[doublebogey7]

No problem with having a ty attached to the tee, but if he was to use it as an alignment aid, there would be a penalty.

 

[Imurg]

There are rules on tees but I think it's more about length than anything else......
The Ty Wrap......if he's deliberately using it as an alignment aid the he's being a bad boy......

 

[doublebogey7]

Do tee designs have to go through any form of compliance check? I don’t know the answer to that question but if they do then what your mate has done with the Ty wrap may make his tee non-compliant.

There is no list of conformng tees as there is with clubs and ball. though there is a height limit.

 

[Colin L]

There are rules on tees but I think it's more about length than anything else......

Length plus not being designed to influence the flight of the ball in any way - which renders tees which claim to correct a slice or a hook non-conforming. Like these:

 

[rulefan]

As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

 

[Colin L]

As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

Like these:

 

[Tashyboy]

As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

played again yesterday and another guy had done exactly the same as another PP I played with last week. A ty wrap around his tee. “ makes it easier to find “. Really a pink tee on green grass. Again I noticed that the Ty wrap always pointed in the direction the club head should be hitting through.

 

[rulie]

played again yesterday and another guy had done exactly the same as another PP I played with last week. A ty wrap around his tee. “ makes it easier to find “. Really a pink tee on green grass. Again I noticed that the Ty wrap always pointed in the direction the club head should be hitting through.

Then it's time to say something about the potential breach of the Rules!

 

[Tashyboy]

Then it's time to say something about the potential breach of the Rules!

I have done and they have poo pooed it.

 

[Alan Clifford]

I wanted to use a tee with a string tied to it with a lead fishing weight at the other end. I was told by the R&A that it it was illegal as the string could be used as an alignment device. An exception is made for those winter tees. All totally illogical to my mind.

 

[doublebogey7]

I wanted to use a tee with a string tied to it with a lead fishing weight at the other end. I was told by the R&A that it it was illegal as the string could be used as an alignment device. An exception is made for those winter tees. All totally illogical to my mind.

Be interested to see the correspondences had with the R&A given that is not what their rules say.

 

[Colin L]

I wanted to use a tee with a string tied to it with a lead fishing weight at the other end. I was told by the R&A that it it was illegal as the string could be used as an alignment device. An exception is made for those winter tees. All totally illogical to my mind.

That is indeed very odd. As already quoted above, the Equipment Rules makes it clear that tees tethered together are acceptable provided they're not used for alignment purposes:

As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke. [Equipment Rules, Rule 6.2]

There's no mention of a particular type of tee or time of year.

 

[Alan Clifford]

Correspondence is attached. The ruling is totally nutty; the string is the problem but if I remove the weight and attached another tee, suddenly the string is no longer a problem. But it's golf rules; it's the sort of thing I have come to expect and accept.

 

[Colin L]

I see it now. It's not really the string that's the problem; it's what the string is attached to.

 

[salfordlad]

These words were published on 1/1/2020, so post date the written ruling so throw out that old ruling. The published words clearly say there can be an anchor. Rulings evolve, sometimes more than folk realize.

Note: As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered
together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that
the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could
indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

 

[rulie]

I agree with the conclusion of tethering a tee or an anchor, but where is the definition of "difficult turf conditions" and why is that important? One of the reported purposes of tethering is to minimize loss of tees (maybe not strange for invented in Scotland!).

 

[Colin L]

These words were published on 1/1/2020, so post date the written ruling so throw out that old ruling. The published words clearly say there can be an anchor. Rulings evolve, sometimes more than folk realize.

Note: As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered
together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that
the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could
indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

An anchor is something that would be stuck in the ground whereas Alan's lead fishing weight would be loose. Do you think that would exclude the weight from the exception?

 

[rulie]

An anchor is something that would be stuck in the ground whereas Alan's lead fishing weight would be loose. Do you think that would exclude the weight from the exception?

My opinion (I know you didn’t ask) is that an anchor is just a weight object and does not need to be “stuck” in the ground, it could be just resting on the ground.