Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2019/08/14/slick-tee-pads-northwood-blue-cause-spills-penalties-open-women/
PSA: Even if the teepad is slippery as ice and dangerous to tee from, you are NOT allowed to tee from behind the teepad.
Posted by Sarah J Hokom on Tuesday, August 13, 2019
The opening round for the Open Women’s field at 2019 Pro Worlds had some issues with unsafe tee pads that caused both slips and misplay penalties.
Sarah Hokom was given two stroke penalty on her round one score after teeing off from behind the tee pad on hole 6 at Northwood Blue after deeming the teeing surface unsafe.
“I assessed the tee and found it to be unsafe and thought I was within scope of the rules to tee from behind,” Hokom said. “Neither side was designated as available to tee, so I teed from behind the tee so I wouldn’t pull a muscle or slam my knee into the pad. I was assessed a 2-stroke penalty.”
Missy Gannon was filmed slipping on her tee shot on the same hole, and Hailey King reported slipping on the same tee and landing on her knee.
Missy Gannon hole 6 Northwood Blue Tee Pad Slip Pro Worlds
While there were many interpretations of the PDGA rules being discussed online, most often arguing that players should be able to take relief from an unsafe lie, because there was no area designated out side of the tee box or exceptions to the teeing areas designated by the tournament staff1 then the penalty was ultimately correctly given.
The Open field moves to Northwood Park today but the Gold layout uses a different tee pad than Open Women.
802.04 ↩