Rules Quiz #1 - Easy

Started by thinking I was above being one of the culprits in Oldshanker's comment from another thread: "oldshanker wrote:
I have seen a number of rules broken in my time, but mostly by people who were ignorant of the myriad of rules that threaten to overwhelm the game."

So I went to the R&A rules site and took the Easy quiz they offered of the 3 (+ Moderate and Difficult). I thought I'd breeze through but took a triple bogey by missing 3 of 10! Maybe I should be banned from the course for a month or so until I get my rules act together. But Oldshanker's insinuation is well taken.

Let's see how others do. Here's the quiz. Answer true or false. The correct answers will follow in a few days:

1. Dew is not casual water.

2. The penalty for agreeing to exclude the operation of any Rule is disqualification.

3. A ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified by the player within five minutes of searching for it.

4. A stipulated round is a minimum of 18 holes.

5. The flagstick may be non-circular in cross-section.

6. A chipper can have more than one striking face.

7. Wind and water are outside agencies.

8. The "line of play" is the direct line to the hole.

9. A burrowing animal is one which makes a hole for habitation or shelter.

10. All ground and water within the margin of a lateral water hazard are part of the lateral water hazard.

No offense or disrespect to you venice, as I know you are only reproducing from the R+A quiz, but I suspect that even though these are marked as "easy", there is a little trickery or obfuscation in the wording of some of the questions!

I'll play along and give my answers below but I suspect that many (most?) will be wrong as I'm perhaps answering them a little too literally, which I'm sure is what they are getting at

1. Dew is not casual water. - TRUE

2. The penalty for agreeing to exclude the operation of any Rule is disqualification. - FALSE

3. A ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified by the player within five minutes of searching for it. - FALSE

4. A stipulated round is a minimum of 18 holes. - FALSE

5. The flagstick may be non-circular in cross-section. - TRUE

6. A chipper can have more than one striking face. - FALSE

7. Wind and water are outside agencies. - FALSE

8. The "line of play" is the direct line to the hole. - FALSE

9. A burrowing animal is one which makes a hole for habitation or shelter. - TRUE

10. All ground and water within the margin of a lateral water hazard are part of the lateral water hazard. - TRUE

In particular, 10 worries me as I'm sure there's a catch in there somewhere!

Are you thinking of a bridge over a water hazard, Davie?

Davie, good call about the R&A trickery. You also got 7 of 10 answers correct.

What are the difficult ones like?
1. Dew is not casual water. - True
2. The penalty for agreeing to exclude the operation of any Rule is disqualification. - True
3. A ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified by the player within five minutes of searching for it. - True
4. A stipulated round is a minimum of 18 holes. - False
5. The flagstick may be non-circular in cross-section. - False
6. A chipper can have more than one striking face. - True
7. Wind and water are outside agencies. - False
8. The "line of play" is the direct line to the hole. - False
9. A burrowing animal is one which makes a hole for habitation or shelter. - True
10. All ground and water within the margin of a lateral water hazard are part of the lateral water hazard. - True

Good throw at the board, hogie. You hit nine of ten.

This is why I believe they are tricky questions. Take #2 for example. I think the key words are "any rule". It is true that to agree to break the rules is a DQ offense - but I'm sure there are some situations that are allowed - order of play in strokeplay for example

Here's my effort Venice:

1. Dew is not casual water. - True
2. The penalty for agreeing to exclude the operation of any Rule is disqualification. - True
3. A ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified by the player within five minutes of searching for it. - True
4. A stipulated round is a minimum of 18 holes. - False
5. The flagstick may be non-circular in cross-section. - False
6. A chipper can have more than one striking face. - True
7. Wind and water are outside agencies. - False
8. The "line of play" is the direct line to the hole. - True
9. A burrowing animal is one which makes a hole for habitation or shelter. - True
10. All ground and water within the margin of a lateral water hazard are part of the lateral water hazard. - True

Hi Yads,
You're one stroke behind hogie with 8 out 10 correct.

so by a process of elimination:-

1. Dew is not casual water. - True
2. The penalty for agreeing to exclude the operation of any Rule is disqualification. - True
3. A ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified by the player within five minutes of searching for it. - True
4. A stipulated round is a minimum of 18 holes. - False
5. The flagstick may be non-circular in cross-section. - False
6. A chipper can have more than one striking face. - False
7. Wind and water are outside agencies. - False
8. The "line of play" is the direct line to the hole. - False
9. A burrowing animal is one which makes a hole for habitation or shelter. - True
10. All ground and water within the margin of a lateral water hazard are part of the lateral water hazard. - True

Or maybe not.

A well designed process you have there o_s.

Bullseye! 10 out of 10!

Reading up on the rules regarding the first statement about casual water lead to interesting thoughts about surface testing in - Rules 16. The Putting Green:

16-1d. Testing Surface:
During the stipulated round, a player must not test the surface of any putting green by rolling a ball or roughening or scraping the surface.
Exception: Between the play of two holes, a player may test the surface of any practice putting green and the putting green of the hole last played, unless the Committee has prohibited such action (see Note 2 to Rule 7-2).

And under FAQs:
1. May a player clean his ball by rubbing it on the putting green?
Yes, provided the act is not for the purpose of testing the surface of the putting green (Rule 16-1d). It is recommended that a ball be cleaned in other ways to eliminate any question as to the player's intentions.

16-1a/9 Brushing Loose Impediments Off Line of Putt with Palm of Hand:
Q. A player, with about one dozen strokes with the whole palm of his hand, attempted to remove small leaves, which are difficult to remove by any method, from his line of putt. Is this permissible?
A. Yes, provided the player did not press anything down (Rule 16-1a(i)) and, if the surface were roughened, he did not do so with the intention of testing the surface of the putting green (Rule 16-1d). Given the nature of his acts, any doubt as to whether he pressed anything down should be resolved against the player. (Revised)

How many have ever had to call a violation on questionable testing of the greens? I've never paid that close attention to others regarding this but who knows how many times it's happened. Also never realized one can clean a ball using the surface of the green or about the exception to the rule about testing the green of the hole last played.

venice

I'm sure the act of cleaning your ball on the green has been changed. Didn't this used to be a penalty?
Also, how anyone can 'test' the surface by wiping mud off your ball on the putting surface is beyond me.

drive4show wrote:venice

I'm sure the act of cleaning your ball on the green has been changed. Didn't this used to be a penalty?
Also, how anyone can 'test' the surface by wiping mud off your ball on the putting surface is beyond me.

That's beyond me. Maybe I'll test my buddies' patience and nerves next time out and do the 'wash the ball' test while hovering my other hand over the line of my putt pretending to brush the loose impediments for a number of holes.

Do that for 18 holes and it could be 2 shot penalty per hole for cleaning your ball and another 2 shots per hole for testing the putting surface.

Shoot the lights out and you might break 150!

venice1 wrote:Reading up on the rules regarding the first statement about casual water lead to interesting thoughts about surface testing in - Rules 16. The Putting Green:

16-1d. Testing Surface:
During the stipulated round, a player must not test the surface of any putting green by rolling a ball or roughening or scraping the surface.
Exception: Between the play of two holes, a player may test the surface of any practice putting green and the putting green of the hole last played, unless the Committee has prohibited such action (see Note 2 to Rule 7-2).

I think this links to the exception to the 'no practising on the course rule' which players in a strokeplay competition to practise putting or chipping close to the green just played or the next teeing ground.

I have had three experiences of this rule in action, one very serious, one unfortunate and one very funny.

The first one was in a stableford competition at a previous club. One of our regulars couldn't make it so we were joined by a committee man who did have something of a reputation for flexible interpretation of the rules shall we say. On one hole he had miraculously found his ball in the deep clart then holed out with what was clearly a brand new ball; we politely checked with him that he was certain it was his ball and he insisted it was so we had to let it lie. On the next hole he again fired it deep into the rubbish and headed off after it. After a few minutes searching he gave up and announced that he couldn't score on the hole but would hit one from the fairway to the green 'to try to get his swing back'. We pointed out that this was against the rules but he did it anyway so at the end of the round his marker refused to sign his card. A massive row ensued with the competition secretary asking me to sign it and when I refused did so himself.

The second occasion was walkin down the 18th which borders the driving range. One of our group had hit his ball down the left so was looking for it in the rough with his wedge in his hand. Frustrated I suspect by the number of range balls that he kept mistaking for his own he began firing them back over the fence. I can't remember what the outcome was but I guess that technically he should have been DQ'd.

The third was in a bounce game with a couple of workmates at a neighbouring club. One of the lads had a bit of a nightmare on one hole and when he finally got the ball in the hole dropped it and swiped it on the half volley deep into the jungle. As he stood on the next tee with steam coming out of his ears we casually informed him of the two shot penalty for practising on the course. Needless to say his tee shot followed the first into the jungle followed by two more and finally his driver. He didn't win the money!

OldShanker

Jethro wrote: On the next hole he again fired it deep into the rubbish and headed off after it. After a few minutes searching he gave up and announced that he couldn't score on the hole but would hit one from the fairway to the green 'to try to get his swing back'. We pointed out that this was against the rules but he did it anyway so at the end of the round his marker refused to sign his card. A massive row ensued with the competition secretary asking me to sign it and when I refused did so himself.

I'm just wondering why you thought this was against the rules as decision 7-2/1.7 suggests it is not against the rules:

7-2/1.7  Explanation of "Strokes Played in Continuing the Play of a Hole"

Q. Rule 7-2 states that "strokes played in continuing the play of a hole", the result of which has been decided, are not practice strokes. What is meant by "continuing the play of a hole"?

A. This phrase covers situations in which a player plays the remainder of the hole with one ball in play. Its interpretation is not restricted to continuing the play of the hole in accordance with the Rules and includes, for example, situations where a player plays a ball from a spot close to where his original ball went out of bounds or in the area where it was lost.

As far as I am aware, cleaning the ball on the green has never been against the rules. I tend to do it all the time, if the ball needs it, when checking my line.

Still think there are far too many rules in this game and even after 50 years of playing the game, I'm sure there are a number that I have still not heard of!