THE VIRGINIA GOLFER RULES QUIZ
A club-length in the Rules
is defined as the length of
the longest club of the 14 (or
fewer) clubs the player has
during the round, other than a putter.
In the general area, in taking free relief
from temporary water according to
the abnormal course conditions Rule
(16.1b), a player borrows a club for mea-
suring from another player. He or she
measures the size of the relief area with
the borrowed club, drops a ball in the
relief area and plays it from the relief
area. What is the ruling?
9
13
If you find it this
way, do you have
to fix it?
A. There is no penalty.
B. The player gets the general penalty as
he or she is not allowed to borrow a club.
C. The player gets a penalty unless both the
spot the ball was dropped on and the spot
the ball was played from could have been
reached by using one of the player’s own
clubs other than his or her putter.
A player accidentally hits
his/her ball on the putting
green with a practice stroke.
How many penalty strokes
does the player incur?
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A. There is no penalty.
B. There is a one-stroke penalty.
C. There is a loss-of-hole penalty.
11
Which of the following dam-
age to the putting green may
the player not repair?
A. Old hole plugs, turf plugs, and indenta-
tions from maintenance vehicles.
B. Aeration holes and grooves from vertical
mowing.
C. Animal tracks, hoof indentations and
embedded objects (stones or acorns).
Without the player’s author-
ity, another player removes
the flagstick from the hole
and the player’s ball that was
resting against the flagstick with part of
the ball below the surface of the putting
green moves away from the hole. What
is the ruling?
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A. There is no penalty to anyone; the ball
must be played as it lies away from the hole.
B. The ball was holed as it lay against the
flagstick, the player scores with his or her
last stroke and there is no penalty to anyone.
C. The other player gets the general pen-
alty and the ball must be replaced against
the flagstick; the player may then move or
remove the flagstick.
With his or her ball on the
fringe of the putting green,
a player wishes to leave the
flagstick in the hole for his
or her next shot. Another player tells the
player that the flagstick is not centered
in the hole but resting at an angle tilting
towards the player. Which is correct?
13
A. The player is allowed to gain an advan-
tage by deliberately moving the flagstick
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V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | J U LY / A U G U ST 2 0 1 9
to a position other than centered in
the hole.
B. If the player deliberately moves the flag-
stick to a position other than centered in
the hole, he or she gets the general penalty.
C. The flagstick may be left as it is or cen-
tered in the hole.
In the general area, after
accidentally stepping on and
embedding his or her ball in
the ground (not sand) during
search, the player replaced the ball by
placing it on the nearest spot with a lie
most similar to the original lie (which was
estimated) that is within one club-length
from its original spot (which was estimat-
ed), not nearer the hole and in the general
area and plays it. What is the ruling?
14
A. There is no penalty.
B. There is a penalty of one stroke.
C. There is a penalty of two strokes.
15
In removing loose impedi-
ments near his or her ball
in a penalty area, a player
accidentally touches the ball
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