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Tsk, Tsk Trivia Quiz

You have been invited to a round of golf at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Your rules knowledge however is not quite up to par - or at least that's what you gather from your host's polite "Tsk, tsk" that you hear every now and then... (2012 edition)

A multiple-choice quiz by WesleyCrusher. Estimated time: 9 mins.

Author
WesleyCrusher

Time
9 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
357,326

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
432

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Your troubles begin on the very first tee. Your host has checked in with the starter at the course, so you proceed to the teeing ground, politely shake hands with the host, tee up your ball, take a practice swing well away from the ball and then drive the ball neatly down the fairway when you hear "Tsk, tsk" from her. You embarrassed yourself right on the first stroke - what should you have done differently? Hint

Check with your host who is first to play

Drop your ball instead of teeing up

Take your practice swing while lined up with the ball

Avoid touching each other on the teeing ground

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. After losing the first hole by one stroke, you let your host tee off on the second hole, then play your own tee shot. It is a beautiful, long shot that veers just left of the fairway but comes to rest in what looks to be a well playable position. Getting closer, you however notice it lying mere inches behind a line specially marking off a section of ground. As you approach the ball to play your second shot as it lies, you again hear the "Tsk, tsk". Which color(s) of lines would put you in a rules violation by playing the ball now if there are no local rules in force at the course? Hint

White or yellow

Yellow or red

White or blue

White only

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Your bad luck streak continues - your second shot on the third hole finds a lateral water hazard. After a brief search, you locate a ball embedded in the mud, pick it up, wipe off some mud to ascertain the ball is really yours, then drop it back into the hazard as close as possible to its original position and play a good shot to the green. "Tsk, tsk."

What have you done wrong this time? Hint

You should have replaced the ball instead of dropping

You should have played the ball and identified it only after the stroke

You should not have cleaned the ball

You should have played a provisional ball before going forward

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Being down 3 holes, you make a daring choice on the next hole: Instead of playing around the dogleg, you decide to play through a group of trees onto a neighboring hole and then play from there towards your green, shaving a hundred yards off the distance. Your tee shot is picture perfect - it does not touch any trees and comes to rest on the other hole's putting green. You pick up your 7 iron and address the ball for your second shot, when you hear it again: "Tsk, tsk."

What should be your correct course of action? Hint

Use your putter to play the ball from the green and only then play the iron shot

Pick up your ball and drop it at the nearest point of relief without penalty

Take a stroke and distance penalty - this is considered out of bounds

Putt the ball on the wrong green, aiming for the hole

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. You tee off on the sixth hole, a par 3. Your ball veers to the right and hits a tree in the area of the green. You play a provisional ball which lands on the green, then go searching for your original ball which you fail to find. You putt out with two more strokes and proceed to the hole where you not only find your provisional but also your original ball. You mutter a mild curse but proceed to mark your score as a double-bogey 5 and lost hole (remember you're in match play). You can guess what happens next - "Tsk, tsk."

What should you have marked instead? Hint

2: 1 stroke + 1 stroke penalty for not finding the ball in time

1: Your play of the hole was over the second the ball went in

3: 1 stroke + 2 strokes penalty for playing a wrong ball

No score, you automatically lost the hole for playing a wrong ball

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. You halve the next three holes, so you are still one down. At the tee of the tenth hole, it's up to you, for once, to say "Tsk, tsk", after you take a brief look at your host's clubs: She obviously had not changed her bag's contents from the last time she had used the driving range and there are three different models of driver in it, bringing her total to 16 clubs. You also remember she has used two of the drivers this round already. How do you proceed and what is the score? Hint

You are now one up, she must choose and remove two clubs not yet used

You are now three up, you may choose two of her clubs to be removed from play

You are now nine up, she may remove any two clubs she wants

You are now all square, she must remove the two excess drivers

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. The next "Tsk, tsk" happens while you are still on the tenth hole. Your host has played her ball into the bunker and, without a sand wedge available, she spends some time deciding what club to use. In the meantime, you have picked up the rake and are removing some footprints left by the party in front of you, a good distance away from her ball. She "tsk"s you for that, claiming you have lost the hole by modifying the hazard before she could take her stroke.

Is she correct? Hint

No, you were acting within the rules

No, but she may now pick up her ball and play from outside the hazard

No, you incur a one-stroke penalty instead

Yes, you lost the hole

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. At the end of the tenth hole, a club official approaches you, asking you to play holes 15 to 17 first and then return to play holes 11 to 14 because of some urgent ground-keeping work. Your host puts forth her slightly indignant "Tsk, tsk", expressing her dissatisfaction at the official. By the rules of golf, is the club manager within his rights in modifying your round? Hint

Yes, and you are required to follow his instructions

No, he could only impose such a change on players who have not started their round yet

Yes, he can offer you to make the change, but you could decline and wait out the work instead

No, a golf round is only played correctly if you play the holes in numerical order

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. You continue your play for several holes without incident. Then, however, bad luck strikes you again: Hitting your ball out of a bunker, you strike slightly too high and your sand wedge literally slices your ball in half. One half flies onto the green, coming to rest an inch from the hole, the other flies to another greenside bunker. You walk up to the half on the green, pick it up, declare it unfit for play and place a new ball in its place, ready to putt. There it is again - "Tsk, tsk."

What should you have done instead? Hint

Mark the hole as lost - it was your fault that the ball broke apart

Place a new ball in the bunker from where you played the shot, then replay it without penalty

Continue playing with either half of the ball (your choice), replacing it only after finishing the hole

Place the new ball in the second bunker, where the worst-placed fragment lies

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Still one down on the green of the 18th hole, you hit your birdie putt and win the hole. You mark the score, bringing the match to all square and proceed towards the first tee to begin the playoff for the win at which point you promptly hear one last "Tsk, tsk". What is her reason for "tsk"ing you now? Hint

The match is over and tied - by default there is no playoff

You need to announce your playoff to the starter and request to be given a new tee time before proceeding

The playoff uses the 18th hole and then goes backwards

Etiquette would have required you to sign score cards and exchange thanks before proceeding to the playoff

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: Check with your host who is first to play

According to rule 10-1 and 10-2, tee-off order is either determined by the order of the draw (which will typically apply only to a tournament) or, if there is no draw, by drawing lots. By simply playing first, you have not only violated golf etiquette, but an actual rule.

You realize your mistake and apologize. Your host is quick to forgive and she does not require you to replay the stroke - she could have asked you to do so in a match play round.

Answer: White only

A white line marks an "out of bounds" area (rule 27). There is no choice involved in an out of bounds situation - you may not play your ball as it lies but must take a stroke and distance penalty. Yellow and red lines mark water hazards (rule 26) from which you may play the ball. Blue lines signify ground under repair (rule 25). A local rule may prohibit playing from such ground, but since there was none in effect, you could have played your ball.

Your only choice is to quickly head back to the tee and play your third stroke - in an ideal case, of course, your host, knowing the course well, would have informed you about the possibility of your ball being out of bounds and you should have played a provisional ball right away to speed up the game.

Answer: You should have replaced the ball instead of dropping

While you may lift and clean a ball to the extent necessary to identify it (rules 12-2 and 21), you must replace that ball in its original position and condition, as exactly as possible. This would in your case mean putting it back in its original position, covering it with as much mud as originally was there and then playing your stroke. Playing a provisional ball is not allowed when you are certain that a possibly lost ball is in a water hazard (rule 27-2).

Answer: Pick up your ball and drop it at the nearest point of relief without penalty

In order to protect the putting surface from pitch marks, you may not play a full-swing stroke off a green. It is rare for a ball to wind up on a wrong putting green, but if it does, you need to find the nearest point of relief and then drop your ball within one club length and no closer to the hole you are actually playing towards (rule 27-3).

After dropping the ball on the fairway, you take your second shot and actually win the hole for a change.

Answer: 1: Your play of the hole was over the second the ball went in

Rule 1-1 provides for the best possible result for you and everyone else on the course (since by custom, you will now need to spring a round of drinks for everyone): Your play on the hole ends when the ball is in the hole. Thus, for rules purposes, your playing of a provisional ball, searching for the allowed five minutes, declaring your original ball lost and putting out all never happened. Your hole in one stands and you're now only one hole down.

Answer: You are now one up, she must choose and remove two clubs not yet used

Rule 4-4 provides for a penalty of "lost hole" to be applied for any hole that a player was carrying excess clubs, but for no more than two holes total. These are not applied to any specific holes, so they will not neutralize any holes you are already lost. You go from one down to one up. Your opponent will need to bring her number of clubs down to the allowed fourteen, by removing two clubs she has not yet used. If that's not possible and she has already used fifteen different clubs, she would lose the match.

Grudgingly, your host ties a ribbon around her third, still unused, driver and another around her sand wedge to neutralize them from play (she is of course not required to physically leave them behind in a friendly round; in a tournament, she'd hand them in to an official).

Answer: No, you were acting within the rules

In one of the more relevant changes of the 2012 edition (rule 13-4), the golf rules now stipulate that work done on a hazard just with the intent of caring for the course and not likely to affect play is allowed (and etiquette actually encourages it). You have used the time she needed to think to do something etiquette would have required one of you to do after her stroke anyway. Of course, she is entitled to ask you to stop raking at any time if your doing so interferes with the preparation for her shot.

By pre-2012 rules, you would have been in the wrong and would have lost the hole.

She finally picks her 9 iron and, having a decent lie, gets the ball out of the bunker and on the green. The hole ends in halved score.

Answer: Yes, and you are required to follow his instructions

By the definitions section, a "stipulated round" of golf consists of playing 18 holes, in the order provided. However, the tournament committee or, in the absence of a tournament, the management of the course you are playing on, has the right to modify this round if such is mandated to ensure the best flow of play. At a busy course like the Royal and Ancient, delaying play for an hour to make urgent repairs would likely mean that some players could not finish their rounds - by changing hole order for the rest of the day, play keeps flowing.

Of course, being a courteous member of the Royal and Ancient, your host knew this - her indignation was not at a rules violation but rather at the fact that she's not used to "her" course being so severely damaged that it needs emergency repairs. In this case, it was however not the fault of course management, but damage by an emergency vehicle that needed to cross the course that required the immediate repair.

Answer: Place a new ball in the bunker from where you played the shot, then replay it without penalty

A ball unfit for play may be substituted without penalty where it lies (rule 5-3), but that requires that the ball is still in one piece. If the ball breaks into multiple pieces as a result of a stroke, its location becomes undefined and you need to retake that stroke with a new ball. Counting the stroke and using the location of one of the fragments is not allowable, not even if you use the worst placed one, neither may you play a fragment of a ball that has fallen apart. If an unplayable ball remains in one piece, you may, however, continue playing with it for the rest of the round if you want to, even if it no longer conforms to the specifications.

Answer: The match is over and tied - by default there is no playoff

In tournaments, tied matches often need to be extended because the tournament format does not allow for a tie score (e.g. in single-elimination competition). However, this is an option that needs to be invoked by officials - rule 2 does not provide for any tie-breaking playoff nor do the golf rules allow for the players to agree on a conditional length for a round. Of course your green-fee was also paid only for 18 holes and there may not even be room between other parties to put in a playoff, so you should be happy with your tied match - and who knows, it may just be the reason that will get you invited for another round when you visit Scotland again the next year!

Source: Author WesleyCrusher

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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