tee off

tee off

begin a round or hole of golf by playing the ball from a tee (OED)
In golf, when you tee off, you hit the ball from a tee at the start of a hole. (Collins Cobuild)
to hit a golf ball off the tee, or to begin a game of golf by doing this (CALD)
to hit a ball off a tee in golf (MED)
to hit a golf ball from a tee , especially at the start of a match (OALD)

I think the first two dictionaries consider the balls to be particular balls being on a tee, while three other dictionaries consider them as just golf balls, usual countable nouns. Both points of view are correct.
Am I right?
Thank you.

I see no differences among them.

But should be a reason for using "the" or "a"...?
That is, I mean, is my explanation correct?

The tee is implied. One tees off by hitting the ball for the first stroke of the round on tee 1.

The ball is teed up on a tee on the first tee and the player tees off the round by hitting the golf ball off the tee on the first.

GF..

The tee is an area at the start of the hole.. I could go on for some time about golf vocabulary and "bent" Golf-English... It has an etiquette and word use of its own....

I doubt that any of the authors of those sentences gave that a moment of thought. I think the definite and indefinite articles are completely interchangeable, as evidenced from the second example:

In golf, when you tee off, you hit the ball from a tee at the start of a hole.
In golf, when you tee off, you hit a ball from a tee at the start of a hole.
In golf, when you tee off, you hit the ball from the tee at the start of a hole.
In golf, when you tee off, you hit the ball from a tee at the start of the hole.
In golf, when you tee off, you hit a ball from a tee at the start of a hole.
In golf, when you tee off, you hit the ball from the tee at the start of the hole.

I think they're all completely interchangeable in this particular context.

If there was no context I would assume that tee off meant that someone was pretty angry. (See definition #3)

From Farlex on line:

tee off
1. To drive a golf ball from the tee.
2. Slang To start or begin: They teed off the fundraising campaign with a dinner.
3. Slang To make angry or disgusted: The impertinent remarks teed the speaker off.


My example below:

I have a deep and abiding hatred of golf, golfers, and anything to do with golf. The game of golf tees me off.

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It so happens sometimes that you seem to start to understand using articles and it turns out that it's not important which one to use👁 Big Grin :D


Thank you, all.