December Rules Quiz: “It’s About Time”

As Dr. Seuss once wrote, “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon.  December is here before it’s June.  My goodness how the time has flewn.  How did it get so late so soon?”  We are now less than one month away from officially implementing the new Rules of Golf that come into effect on January 1, 2019.  If you have been diligently studying the new Rules, then this True–False quiz should be a “piece of cake” for you; if not, then it’s probably time for you to start burning the midnight oil and finding out what’s in the new Rules book!

1. A ball is always treated as lying in only one area of the course.If part of the ball is in two specific areas of the course, it is treated as lying in the specific area that comes first in this order: putting green, bunker, penalty area.

2. If a conforming club is damaged during a round, the damaged club is treated as conforming for the rest of the round regardless of the nature or cause of the damage, and the player may continue to make strokes with the damaged club for the rest of the round.

3. If you change the performance characteristics of a club, e.g., the loft, using an adjustable feature during a round, you will not be penalized so long as you adjust the feature back as nearly as possible to its original position prior to making a stroke with the club.

4. In stroke play, if you play a wrong ball during the final hole of the round, in order to avoid the penalty of disqualification, you must indicate before leaving the putting green of the final hole that you will be correcting your mistake.

5. Any time your ball in play is within the teeing area, you are permitted to move the ball to another spot within the teeing area, including playing it from a tee, without penalty.

6. If you move a boundary stake out of the way because it interferes with your intended backswing, you cannot avoid the penalty for improving the area of your intended swing by replacing the stake before playing your next stroke.

7. After having marked, lifted and replaced your ball on the putting green, if a gust of wind then moves your ball, you must play the ball from its new position.

8. If your ball in motion ricochets off a nearby tree and accidentally strikes your golf cart, there is no penalty.

ANSWERS

1. False     See new Rule 2.2c [Determining Area of Course Where Ball Lies] which indicates that, if the ball is in two specific areas of the course, it is treated as lying in the specific area that comes first in this order: penalty area, bunker, putting green.

2. True     See new Rule 4.1a(2) [Use or Repair of Club Damaged During Round].      

3. True     See the Exception [Adjustable Club Restored to Original Position] to Rule 4.1a(3) [Deliberately Changing Club’s Performance Characteristics During Round].

4. False    Per new Rule 6.3c [Wrong Ball], if you play a wrong ball during the final hole of your round in stroke play, the deadline for correcting your mistake to avoid being disqualified is when you return your scorecard.

5. True     New Rule 6.2b(6) [When Ball in Play Lies in Teeing Area] states, “If the player’s ball in play is in the teeing area after a stroke (such as a teed ball after a stroke that missed the ball) or after taking relief, the player may …(l)ift or move the ball without penalty … and (p)lay that ball or another ball from anywhere in the teeing area from a tee or the ground … including playing the ball as it lies.”

6. False     New Rule 8.1c(1) [How to Restore Conditions Improved by Moving, Bending or Breaking Object] advises, in part, “Before making the stroke, the player may avoid penalty for breach of Rule 8.1a(1) by restoring the original object as nearly as possible to its original position so that the improvement created by the breach is eliminated, such as by … (r)eplacing a boundary object (such as a boundary stake) that had been removed ….”

7. False     See the Exception [Ball on Putting Green Must Be Replaced If It Moves After Having Already Been Lifted and Replaced] to new Rule 9.3 [Ball Moved by Natural Forces].

8. True     See new Rule 11.1 [Ball in Motion Accidentally Hits Person or Outside Influence].