teeing ground ruling requested

[Ed Coleman]

Here is the senario.

A player tee's up his ball and addresses it.
The swing (club) hit's the ground behind the ball, but does not strike the ball.
The ball falls off the tee (4 inches in front of the tee), but is still in the tee box.

Can the ball be re-tee'd or must it be played
where it lies?

[Gary Hill]

I assume the player was attempting to hit the ball from your description.

The stroke counts.
The ball is in play.
The ball must not be touched or reteed.

A ball on the tee is in play as soon as the player has made a stroke at it. It is irrelevant whether the ball is actually hit or how far it goes.