1: You’re playing a four-ball match today and it’s time to tee off, but your partner hasn’t shown up. A coin flip determines that you are away. What should you do?

a. Take a loss-of-hole penalty and hope your opponent shows up on the next hole.
b. Take a two-stroke penalty and play your opponents by yourself.
c. Play your opponents by yourself, no penalty.
d. Request a 10-minute delay of the tee time and let another foursome go ahead of your group.

2: The late-arriving teammate debacle aside, it’s your turn to play and you hit your tee shot toward a penalty area on the right side of the hole. You don’t see it splash, but everyone hears something like a splash and a group of ducks in the water scatter as you hear the sound. What should you do?

a. Since you’re not 100 per cent sure it’s in the water, call for a provisional ball and play it until you can find the original.
b. Since your partner has yet to arrive, you’re entitled to play two balls against your opponents and you hit another in the fairway.
c. Search for your ball, you’ve got five minutes to find it before it’s considered lost.
d. There’s enough evidence to consider it in the water, so add a stroke to your score and take a drop estimating the relief by where it likely last crossed over the margin of the penalty area.

3: One of your opponents looks a little nervous. After taking a few practice swings on the first tee, he’s ready to go, but his first stroke is a whiff. The gust is strong enough to make the ball fall off the tee, but it stays behind the tee markers. What should he do?

a. Count the stroke and play the ball as it lies.
b. Re-tee the ball, no penalty.
c. Count the stroke and re-tee the ball.
d. Don’t count the stroke but play it as it lies.

4: After your opponents get off the tee, you walk to your balls only to look back at the tee and see your partner is trying to get your attention. Since he’s less than five minutes late for the tee time, he’d like to tee off and join the competition. What should he do?

a. Take a two-stroke penalty for arriving late and join the competition mid-hole.
b. Pick up his ball and move out to the fairway to give you advice on how to beat your opponents now that it’s 2-on-1.
c. Tee off and join the competition on the first hole, no penalty.
d. Although his score doesn’t count, tee off and play the hole anyway as a warm-up for the next hole.

5: One of your opponent’s tee shots embedded in mud in the rough just off the fairway. He claims he’s entitled to lift, clean and move the ball out of the pitch mark without penalty. What should he do?

a. Lift, clean and replace the ball in the relief area that is no closer to the hole than the spot where it is embedded. No penalty is applied.
b. Lift the ball, but don’t clean it, before taking penalty-free relief.
c. Take an unplayable lie, add a penalty stroke, and play on from the proper relief area.
d. Since it’s in the rough, and not embedded in turf that is fairway height or less, there’s no relief. Play it as it lies.

6: After advancing the ball from near the penalty area, you’re ready to hit your next shot when you notice that between you and hole, only five yards away, is an irrigation control box. You’re worried you might hit it. What should you do?

a. Consider it an immovable obstruction and take relief to get clear of the irrigation control box, no penalty.
b. Play it as it lies.
c. Play two balls, one with free relief, and one without, and let the committee decide after the match.

7: Your opponent is about to hit his approach shot but he can’t see the green. His partner goes in front of him and stands on a hill near the green, indicating his line of play. What should happen next?

a. The partner should stay at that spot until the teammate’s stroke is completed.
b. The partner should move before his teammate hits.
c. The partner is not allowed to indicate the line of play until the putting green. They should be penalized.
d. The partner should move before his teammate hits, but he can leave a club or another marker on the spot to give the teammate something to aim at.

8: You’re in position to hit the green with your next shot and your opponent has a similar lie from a similar distance. After you knock it on the green, pin-high, you walk back to put the club in your bag and your opponent comes over and watches you replace the club to determine how to play his next shot. What should happen next?

a. Your opponent is out of the hole for trying to obtain advice on how to play the next shot.
b. Your opponent gets a two-stroke penalty for spying on your club selection.
c. There is no penalty, and your opponent plays his next shot with the newfound information from your club selection.
d. To avoid disqualification, your opponent is required to announce that he committed a rules violation by spying on your club selection.

9: You reach the green and are standing over a putt to win the hole. You’re a touch nervous and when making a practice stroke, you accidentally hit your ball. What should you do?

a. Add a stroke to your score and play your next stroke from the new position.\
b. Add a stroke to your score and play your next stroke from the original position.
c. Play the ball as it now lies, no penalty.
d. Replace the ball in its original position, no penalty.

10: You’re on the green 20 feet from the hole. Both your opponents are in greenside rough, short-sided, about 15 feet from the hole. What should you do?

a. Wait for both your opponents to play onto the green before putting.\
b. Wait for one of your opponents to play before taking your turn.
c. Hit your putt.
d. Offer for your opponents to play first to save time.

ANSWERS

1. c (Rule 23.4)

2. d (Rule 17.1c)

3. a (Rule 6.2b(5))

4. b (Rule 23.4)

5. a (Rule 16.3, Rule 14.1c)

6. b (Rule 16.1a)

7. b (Rule 23.5, Rule 10.2b)

8. c (Rule 10.2a)

9. d (Rule 13.1d)

10. c or d (Rule 6.4a)

Main image: Wavebreakmedia

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The answers, with some context to jog your memory, come after the questions. No Googling or complaining that “You can’t wait to leave” if you’re having trouble. Keep it straight and take an honest swing.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas became just the 11th and 12th players in PGA Tour history to do what?
A) Cross $50 million career earnings
B) Go undefeated at the Presidents Cup
C) Win at least 2 majors and 15 PGA Tour events before 30
D) Log at least one top-5 major finish in seven straight seasons
Answer: A. Spieth reached the milestone first with his win at the RBC Heritage, while Thomas — who captured his second Wanamaker at the PGA Championship — joined him later that summer.

Which player was hit with a slow-play fine moments after a gut-wrenching finish at a major championship?
A) Lexi Thompson
B) Mito Pereira
C) Will Zalatoris
D) In Gee Chun
Answer: A. After blowing a two-shot lead with three holes to play, allowing Chun to win the KPMG Women’s PGA, Thompson and Hye-Jin Choi were informed by LPGA officials that they’d been fined for slow play. The group was put on the clock with two holes remaining during the final round, a round that took nearly six hours to complete.

What iconic club manufacturer shut down operations this year?
A) Wilson
B) Ben Hogan
C) MacGregor
D) Ram
Answer: B. After a revival in 2015, the Ben Hogan Company closed this July. Former president and CEO Scott White told Golf Digest supply and financial constraints due to the pandemic were to blame.

Which player asked a Masters official if the tournament would be playing preferred lies?
A) Dustin Johnson
B) Daniel Berger
C) Talor Gooch
D) Sergio Garcia
Answer: B. Following heavy rain in the area — and perhaps a nod to the PGA Tour’s penchant for lift, clean and place — Berger wondered if the field would be playing the ball up at Augusta National, unaware that the club considers the practice sacrilegious. “He was kind of shocked that I even asked the question,” Berger recounted after shooting a solid one-under-par 71 to be tied for 10th after the first round. “It was a lot of water, so it was worth the question.”

Cameron Smith set a record at the Open Championship for …
A) Most one-putts made in single round
B) Most feet of putts made in single round
C) Most birdie putts of at least 30-feet made in single round
D) Most broken hearts from win for single tournament
Answer: B. Smith made an unofficial 253 feet during his second round at St Andrews, topping the mark of Brent Geiberger at the 2006 Booz Allen Classic. However, we’ll also accept “D” as a correct answer.

What historic clubhouse was victim to a massive fire?
A) Chicago
B) Oakland Hills
C) Merion
D) Olympic
Answer: B. The clubhouse at Oakland Hills Country Club, site of more than a dozen major championships, suffered extensive damage after being engulfed in flames in February. In March the USGA announced a strategic partnership with the iconic Detroit-area facility that features a slate of eight championships, including the US Open in 2034 and 2051.

Which of the following is not a LIV Golf team name?
A) Majesticks
B) Torque
C) Iron Heads
D) Roughnecks
Answer: D. At least for the moment. Word is the LIV names may be undergoing rebranding.

The LPGA said goodbye to which site in 2022?
A) Pebble Beach
B) Pine Needles
C) Mission Hills
D) Inverness
Answer: C. Jennifer Kupcho was the last player to make the leap into Poppie’s Pond, as a new sponsor is bringing the former Dinah Shore event to Houston next year.

For just the second time in the past 10 years Bernhard Langer did not lead the PGA Tour Champions’ money list. Who did?
A) Steven Alker
B) Pádraig Harrington
C) Steve Stricker
D) Scott McCarron
Answer: A. Alker won four times on the senior circuit, highlighted by his first major at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods caused a stir by wearing ___ at Augusta National.
A) An ivy cap
B) Non-Nike shoes
C) Aviators
D) A buttoned-down shirt
Answer: B. Woods wore FootJoy golf shoes in his return to professional golf, ultimately making the cut at the Masters.

What tournament turned down Greg Norman’s request for a playing exemption?
A) Open Championship
B) Australian Open
C) PGA Championship
D) Scottish Open
Answer. A. Past Open champions are no longer invited to play after age 60, putting Norman, 67, on the outside. Then again, Norman was also told he was not welcome to the Open’s 150th celebrations, a nod to his role at LIV Golf.

Who was named the youngest US captain in Solheim Cup history?
A) Michelle Wie West
B) Stacy Lewis
C) Morgan Pressel
D) Lizette Salas
Answer: B. Lewis, who was tabbed as head of the American team in February, will be 38 when next year’s match takes place in Spain.

Which LIV Golf member was not part of the original antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour?
A) Phil Mickelson
B) Bryson DeChambeau
C) Brooks Koepka
D) Pat Perez
Answer: C. Out of the 11 players that filed suit, only three remain — Dechambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein. Conversely, LIV Golf has joined as a plaintiff.

The USGA and R&A created what modified local rule for next season?
A) The option for tournaments not to disqualify players for failing to sign a scorecard
B) Allowing a ball in a fairway divot to be moved
C) Turning out-of-bounds into a lateral hazard
D) Allowing preferred lies at all times in fairways
Answer: A. Model Local Rule L-1 reduces the penalty for players who fail to sign their card (certify their score in rules parlance) from disqualification to two strokes added to the last hole of the round.

Which player was disqualified from the Memorial for using a non-conforming club?
A) Billy Horschel
B) Hideki Matsuyama
C) James Piot
D) David Lingmerth
Answer: B. Tournament officials discovered early in the first round that Matsuyama’s 3-wood — with a face that had been covered in white paint — was in possible violation of the rules for applying foreign substance to the club. Under the new Rules of Golf, had Matsuyama not used the club before being notified, he could have continued on. However, Matsuyama used the 3-wood on his opening tee shot, leading to the DQ.

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