Reteeing

Question
Hi Michael, 2 questions.
Player A tees off and goes 20 feet ahead, ball remains inside the teeing ground, can he re-tee the ball from the original position with a 1 stroke penalty hitting 3? Player B tees off and hits a rock 40 yards ahead, ball rebounds and ends up 30 yeards behind the tee in the rough. Can Player B come back to the tee, re-tee the ball and count 1 stroke, hitting 3?
Many thanks.

Answer
Ewan,

Player A can re-tee (hitting his third shot) according to the unplayable lie rule which states as follows; FROM THE USGA.ORG WEB SITE The player may deem his ball unplayable at any place on the
course, except when the ball is in a water hazard. The player is
the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable.
If the player deems his ball to be unplayable, he must, under
penalty of one stroke:
a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which
the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5);

Rule 20-5 states that if a player goes to the original position and that is the teeing area, the ball may be teed.

Player B cannot re-tee because he would be in violation of moving closer to the hole.

Hope this helps and thanks for the question.

Michael Hoffman
PGA Professional