If you return a scorecard with a wrong score for a hole; the score you entered stands if it was higher than your actual score. However, you are disqualified if you return a score that is lower than your actual score or if you fail to return a score for a hole. Putting down a lower score is considered a serious breach of the rules and results in disqualification, unless an unknown penalty was the cause. Some professional tours have adopted a rule that gives players a 15-minute window to correct an incorrect score after leaving the scoring area.
This rule was implemented to minimise disqualifications due to scorecard errors. Unfortunately, this rule came too late for Jordan Spieth in 2024 when he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard at The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club on the Friday of the tournament. Spieth wrote down a 3 at the par-3 fourth hole and a second-round 72, when in fact he made 4 on the hole. This 15-minute rule does not apply for local non-professional competitions.
Teeing off outside the tee box markers incurs penalties of a two-stroke penalty and a requirement to correct the mistake in stroke play, but offers the opponent the choice to cancel the stroke without penalty in match play. The core rule is that your ball must be teed within the defined teeing area, which is a rectangle extending two club-lengths back from the markers. Failing to correct the error in stroke play (by re-teeing from the correct area) and playing the next hole will result in disqualification.
Out of bounds: Here’s a couple of quotes that may force a smile: “I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father” — Greg Norman and from Boxer Alan Minter “Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing — but none of them serious.”