Have you ever played in a 36 or 54 hole event scheduled to be played from the black tees in round one and from the blue tees in round two; only to forget and tee it up from the black tees again in round two without noticing the change? Or how about a shotgun start where you start on the seventh hole and you sail right by number ten after playing the ninth and stripe it down the middle of the fairway on the hole number one; suddenly the agony of realizing you should have gone to number ten instead hits home.

In either one of these cases the ruling is basically the same. You’ve played from either outside the teeing ground (Rule 11-4) or from a wrong teeing ground (Rule 11-5).

In match play, there is no penalty, but the opponent may immediately require the player to cancel the stroke and play a ball from within the teeing ground. In this case the word immediately means before any player plays another stroke.

In stroke play, the penalty is quite a bit different. If the competitor plays a stroke from outside the teeing ground, he incurs a penalty of two strokes and must then play a ball from within the teeing ground.

There is a “statute of limitations” on when he must correct his error by playing a ball from within the correct teeing ground. He must correct it before he tees off from the next teeing ground or in the case of the last hole by declaring his intention to correct his error before leaving the last putting green.

For example, I tee off the first tee when I should have played from the tenth. I hit two more shots before my ball comes to rest on the green. I hole the putt for a four and record my score on the marker strip when I notice the tenth is a par five and I know I didn’t make birdie. I then realize I played the wrong hole.

As long as I haven’t played from a next teeing ground or in the case of the last hole, left the putting green, I can still correct my error by playing a ball from within the correct teeing ground. The stroke from outside of or from the wrong teeing ground and any subsequent strokes I played on the hole prior to my correction of the mistake do not count in my score. Just add the two penalty strokes to the next hole I’m supposed to play.

If I fail to correct my mistake and go ahead and play from the next teeing ground or in the case of the last hole scheduled to be played leave the putting green, I am disqualified.

Remember, knowing and following the Rules of Golf can assist you in avoiding unnecessary penalties and help you to enjoy this great game of golf even more.

And by the way, I know you think this rarely happens. But unfortunately it happened at the Two-Man Shoot-Out last week and they did properly correct their error if you were wondering!