Scenario:

During the second round of a tournament, a delay was taken for a nice hearty thunderstorm. Upon return to the course, a formerly dry teeing area marked by two flags (not a tee pad) was under a couple inches of casual water. If this was known prior to the tournament/round starting, I would expect the TD to either declare an alternate tee area (or bring in sand bags and a bilge pump:D), but this occurred in the middle of a round. The TD was probably unaware of the condition of the tee area and could not easily be consulted at the time. btw This is not a question of provisionals. Leave em at home.

Two questions:

#1) How far back from the front of the tee could one go back (3m, 5m, 8m)? If this was a tee pad (as opposed to tee area), does this change the answer?

#2) If the TD was aware of the condition of the tee area prior to giving the all clear, should an alternate tee be specified (keep in mind some have already played the hole)? My thoughts on this are that they shouldn't/can't.

I think the relevant rules are 803.02 and 803.05. You should be able to go up to five meters straight back from the back end of the tee. If the tee was marked by flags and not a tee pad, the tee was three meters long from the flags on back, so you would get up to eight meters from the flags if the tee was under water.

tough question. bruce is has a good case, but one could just as easily stick with 3m from the flag, since it is hard to call a designated tee area "casual".

question: did the TD ever play the course after a nice hearty thunderstorm? if so, then sorry but the TD should have provided instructions prior to the re-start. in the absense of instructions, and assuming the TD knew what he was doing, you gotta play no more than 3m back.

Play it from the water, wuss.