In the final round of the 2021 Hero World Challenge, Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson were both penalized on the ninth hole for hitting from the wrong tee box.
The players were trying to play the ninth hole, but the teeing ground for the ninth hole -- which crosses paths with the 17th hole -- had been moved for the final round from the position earlier in the week. Instead, that prior teeing position was now used for -- and pointed to -- the 17th hole, in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, the two players and their two caddies didn't remember and teed off from the wrong ground.
The pair were alerted to the error as they were making their way to their tee shots at the ninth. The pair returned to the correct tee and played from there, with penalty.
What is the penalty in golf for hitting from the wrong tee box location?
There's a severe penalty for teeing the ball up outisde of the tee box. The penalty is two strokes and then the player is required to play a ball from what's officially dubbed the teeing ground. If the player doesn't remedy the problem by playing the hole from the correct tee box, and then they hole out and go to the next hole, the penalty is immediate disqualification.
In golf, the size of the tee box is an imaginary rectangle. The width of the tee box is the space between the two tee markers. You can't tee the ball in front of them, and you can't tee the ball up outside of them.
The depth of the rectangle is created by taking two full clublengths (up to the longest club in the bag, which is almost always driver) from behind the tee marker.
So, it doesn't matter if you tee it up outside of the tee box by an inch or 100 yards, the penalty and the remedy are the same.
