I take your point re: the self-enforcement element of golf, but I still do wonder what I could/should do if I'm playing a competition and my fellow-competitor pulls a long tee out of his sock and then sticks it in the ground so it seems to me like it is a little bit higher than a sanctioned tee. Do I have a ruler in my bag to measure it? Do I have the right to confiscate the possibly non-conforming tee in some sort of “citizen’s arrest?” Or, do we do a full body (including body “cavities”) strip search of all competitors on the first tee looking for offending bits of wood and/or plastic? What do we do in a normal bounce game with our “friends?”
I still really like the “no tee” alternative. To assuage John V’s obsession with fairness, I think the rule could allow you to place the ball on the teeing ground, but not alter that ground (either through a Trevino shuffle or an Auchterlonie mini-sand castle, or whatever). Talk about bringing “shotmaking” back into the game (and making classic courses more competitive in the bargain)!