From Brent Kelley,
Your Guide to Golf.
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4. Teeing Off
On the teeing ground, you must place your ball between the tee markers, either even with them or up to two club lengths behind them. Never in front of them. Tee markers are usually small, colored cones or stones or some other similar indicator. For example, if you're playing from the white tees, look for markers painted white.
FAQ: Which set of tees should I use?

As for who tees off first ...

5. Honors, Away and Ready Play
The player who has "honors" tees off first. On the first tee, this can be decided randomly (draw straws, play paper-rock-scissors, whatever). On ensuing tees, the player with the best score on the preceding hole goes first, the second-best score goes second, and so on. Ties carry over to the next tee box, so you keep your place in the rotation until you beat someone on a hole.

"Honors" determines who tees off first; what about the order of play on shots from the fairway? He who is "away" (or "out") leads the way. The player who is farthest from the hole always plays first, from any position on the golf course other than the tee box. The exception is when all members of the group have agreed to play "ready golf," meaning hit-when-ready. Ready golf can be played when a group is trying to speed up the round.

6. Play It As It Lies
One of the most fundamental principles of golf - an idea that much of the Rules of Golf is built around - is "play it as it lies." What that means is pretty simple - don't move or touch the ball! Where it comes to rest, whatever state it is in, you most likely have to play it as is.

There are exceptions spelled out in the Rules of Golf, but if you want to play by the rules, a good rule of thumb is this: Don't move the ball, don't touch it, don't pick it up unless you are certain that you are allowed to do so under the Rules.

One exception that is always in place: You are allowed to pick up and clean the ball when it's on the putting green (place a ballmarker just behind the ball before picking it up on the putting green).

7. Out of Bounds & Lost Balls
Out-of-bounds should be clearly marked around the golf course, usually through the use of white stakes or white lines. The penalty for OB is stroke-plus-distance; that is, add one stroke to your score, then go back to where you hit the shot from and hit it again. Of course, that takes time. At busy golf courses you won't have that time because there is likely to be a group behind yours waiting to play. So when you think you've hit a ball out of bounds, you'll need to play a second ball (called a "provisional ball") off the tee so you won't have to retrace your steps if the first ball really is OB.

Make sure to announce to your playing partners that you are hitting a provisional, then re-tee after everyone else has hit and play your provisional tee ball. If you find your first ball and it is actually in bounds, then you play the first ball. If you can't find your first ball, or find it out of bounds, then play your provisional ball (in which case your provisional ball off the tee counts as your third stroke, so your next shot will be your fourth).

The same applies to lost balls. If your shot goes deep into the woods, the penalty for a lost ball is stroke-plus-distance, so hit a provisional. (Balls hit into water are treated diffrently, see No. 9.)

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