See below for the quiz questions for the "Ball in Motion Stopped or Deflected" edition (Round 2) of the Short Course on the Rules. The first 9 questions (the "front nine") are easier questions and the second 9 questions (the "back nine") are more difficult. If you would like these questions in PDF form, they are available below.
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THE FRONT NINE
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1) True or False: You may move another player’s golf bag so that a ball in motion will not hit it.
(a) True
(b) False
2) You slice your tee shot into the trees and in trying to play back out to the fairway, your second shot hits a tree, bounces back and hits your body after being unable to move out of the way. The ball comes to rest in the rough. What is the ruling?
(a) There is no penalty and you must play the ball as it lies.
(b) There is no penalty, but your stroke does not count and must be replayed.
(c) You get one penalty stroke and must play the ball as it lies.
3) True or False: If you place your foot in a position to stop another player’s ball from rolling off the front of the putting green, you are penalized whether or not the ball hits your foot.
(a) True
(b) False
4) You play your ball from the putting green, and the ball in motion accidentally hits a towel dropped on the putting green by the caddie of another player. What is the ruling?
(a) There is no penalty to anyone, and the ball is played as it lies.
(b) There is no penalty to anyone. Your stroke does not count, and the original ball or another ball must be replaced on its original spot.
(c) There is no penalty to anyone. You have the option to play the ball as it lies or replay the stroke.
(d) The player whose caddie dropped the towel gets the general penalty since the ball hit the towel. Your stroke does not count, and the original ball or another ball must be replaced on its original spot.
5) True or False: If your ball played from the putting green is deflected by a leaf being blown by the wind, the stroke does not count.
(a) True
(b) False
6) While a ball played from the putting green is in motion, which one of the following may not be moved to prevent the ball from hitting it?
(a) A ball at rest on the putting green
(b) A flagstick that has been removed and lies on the putting green
(c) A twig
7) When it is known or virtually certain that your ball in motion was deliberately stopped or deflected by a person, which one of the following is true?
(a) If your stroke was made from off the putting green, you may play the ball from the spot where it comes to rest.
(b) If your stroke was made from on the putting green, your stroke does not count and you must replace the original ball or another ball on its original spot.
(c) Regardless of where your stroke was made, you must estimate the spot where the ball would have come to rest and play a ball from that location.
8) While your ball is in motion after a stroke, another player, who is not aware that your ball was in motion, lifts a rake to rake the bunker from where the other player had just played. Your ball rolls through the area from where the rake was lifted. What is the ruling?
(a) Neither player gets a penalty.
(b) You get the general penalty.
(c) The player who lifted the rake gets the general penalty.
9) In stroke play, you hit your third shot into a par-5 green but it goes too far and over the green toward a red penalty area. Your caddie, who had walked ahead and was near the penalty area, intentionally stopped the ball before it could go into the penalty area. Seeing this happen, you estimate the spot where the ball would have come to rest in the penalty area. Based on that spot, you decide to take penalty area relief. After correctly dropping a ball, you hole out in two more strokes. What is your score for the hole?
(a) 6
(b) 7
(c) 8
THE BACK NINE
10) Your ball and a practice ball from the nearby practice area are both at rest on the putting green. You putt, and your ball accidentally hits the practice ball on the putting green. What is the ruling in stroke play?
(a) There is no penalty and you must play your ball as it lies.
(b) There is no penalty. Your stroke does not count and the original ball or another must be replaced on its original spot.
(c) You get two penalty strokes and must play the ball as it lies.
(d) You get two penalty strokes. Your stroke does not count and the original ball or another must be replaced on its original spot.
11) In which one of the following do you not get a penalty for lifting the branch while a ball is in motion?
(a) You lift a branch to prevent the ball from hitting it, but the ball stops short of where the branch had been at rest.
(b) You lift a branch to prevent the ball from hitting it and the ball rolls over the spot where the branch had been at rest.
(c) In preparing to make your next stroke, you lift a branch so it’s not on your line of play. Another player’s ball rolls over the spot where the branch had been at rest.
12) True or False: You make a stroke from a deep greenside bunker to an elevated green. Although you can no longer see your ball, you assume it came to rest on the putting green. However, while retrieving a rake from just outside the bunker, your ball starts to roll back toward you. Another player alerts you to this and, to prevent the ball from rolling back into the bunker, you place the rake down on the ground in the path of the ball. The ball bounces over the rake without hitting it, and comes to rest back in the bunker. You get the general penalty for putting the rake down on the ground to try to deflect or stop your ball in motion.
(a) True
(b) False
13) In playing from above the hole on a steeply sloped putting green, you hit your putt a little too hard. The ball misses the hole, rolls down the slope and then off the green. The ball bounces off a turtle and comes to rest in the rough. You make the next stroke from where the ball came to rest after the deflection. The original stroke was made 30 feet from the hole, and the stroke after the deflection is made 20 feet from the hole. What is the ruling in stroke play?
(a) You proceeded correctly and get no penalty.
(b) You get two penalty strokes and must continue with the ball that was played 20 feet from the hole.
(c) You get two penalty strokes and, because you should have replayed the stroke, you must make the next stroke from the spot of the original stroke (30 feet from the hole).
14) Your tee shot comes to rest in the pocket of a spectator standing in the general area. Which one of the following is false?
(a) When taking relief, you may drop the original ball or another ball.
(b) The reference point is the point right under where your ball first came to rest in the spectator’s pocket.
(c) You must drop a ball as near as possible to the reference point, but not nearer the hole.
(d) Your relief area is limited to the general area.
15) Which one of the following statements is true about Rule 11.3 (Deliberately Moving Objects or Altering Conditions to Affect Ball in Motion)?
(a) You get a penalty under Rule 11.3 only when the movement of a ball is affected by your prohibited deliberate action.
(b) You get a penalty under Rule 11.3 if you take a prohibited deliberate action to affect a ball in motion.
(c) Rule 11.3 does not apply if your prohibited deliberate action is taken when a ball starts rolling on its own and not as the result of a stroke.
16) Which one of the following scenarios results in you or another player getting a general penalty under Rule 11?
(a) While reading your line of play on the putting green, you place some clubs beyond the hole. Another player informs you that those clubs are in a position to stop your ball from going into an adjacent penalty area if hit too hard. Although you acknowledge that this could happen, you leave your clubs there anyway and make your next stroke. Your ball does end up rolling past the hole, bounces off one of your clubs, and comes to rest in the penalty area.
(b) In determining how to play a downhill putt, you notice the preceding group left a bunker rake in a position just off the green and next to a bunker. Even though you can see this might stop your ball from going into that bunker, you decide to leave it in that position. You make the stroke and your ball is stopped by the rake, likely preventing it from ending up in the bunker.
(c) You place your bag on the opposite side of the green in the rough, and just short of a penalty area. Before playing a chip shot from just off the putting green, you notice that your bag is in a position that could stop your ball from going into that penalty area if you hit it too hard. You make the stroke without moving your bag and, while your ball is in motion, your opponent moves your bag out of the way and your ball comes to rest in the penalty area.
17) You make a stroke and your ball in motion is stopped or deflected. It is estimated that your ball would have come to rest in the hole had it not been deflected. In which one of the following scenarios are you considered to have holed out?
(a) Your stroke from the putting green is in motion and inches from the hole when your opponent, who was not aware you had played, walks across your line and accidentally deflects it.
(b) You and your partner hit good approach shots to the putting green and both have a chance at birdie; yours is from 30 feet and your partner’s is from inside three feet. You make your stroke and while the ball is in motion and inches from the hole, your partner, who is confident of making birdie as well, jokingly stops your ball just before it begins to fall into the hole.
(c) In stroke play, you make a stroke from the putting green at about the same time as another player in your group chips from the fringe. Your ball is on line with and just short of the hole when the other player’s ball strikes yours. The other player’s ball ends up in the hole and yours is deflected and comes to rest a few feet away.
(d) In stroke play, your stroke from the rough just off the putting green is in motion on the putting green and headed directly toward the hole when it is deliberately deflected by another player.
18) In which one of the following do you not get a penalty under Rule 11?
(a) After playing from a greenside bunker, you are raking the sand and see another player in your group chip from the other side of the putting green. Although that ball is coming toward you and the bunker, you don’t think it is traveling fast enough to get to the bunker, so you finish raking. To your surprise, the ball does end up in the bunker and comes to rest in the area that you had just raked.
(b) You have a divot in your hand that you are going to replace when you see another player’s ball coming toward the divot hole, so you quickly replace the divot to make sure the player won’t get a bad lie.
(c) Your chip shot up a steep slope stops just short of the top of the slope and starts rolling back toward you, and you remove the loose divot that you just made to prevent the ball from coming to rest against it.