Virginia Golfer July / August 2015 | Page 15

d. All three players receive twostroke penalties for failing to start at the scheduled time. A competitor makes a stroke from the teeing ground and the ball comes to rest near a tree. He starts the backswing for his second stroke and in the process strikes a branch and breaks it, improving his area of intended swing. When the branch breaks, he discontinues his swing. After repositioning himself, he makes a stroke, hits the ball onto the putting green, and two putts. What is his score for the hole? a. 4 b. 5 c. 6 d. 7 5 In stroke play, Player A asks Player B to attend the flagstick while he putts. B unintentionally fails to remove the flagstick after A putts and the ball strikes the flagstick and falls into the hole. What is the penalty? a. Player B incurs a two-stroke penalty and the ball is holed. b. Player A and Player B incur two-stroke penalties and the ball is holed. c. Player A incurs a two stroke penalty and the ball is holed. d. Player B is disqualified and the stroke must be replayed. 6 A player’s ball is visible when play is suspended for severe weather and not found when play is resumed. What is the ruling? a. The player’s ball is lost and he must proceed under Rule 27-1 (stroke and distance). b. The player must drop a ball as near as possible to the place where the original ball lay, without penalty. c. The player must place a ball on the spot (or estimated spot) from which his ball was moved, without penalty. d. The player must drop a ball as near as possible to the place where the original ball lay, but incurs a two stroke penalty for incorrectly substituting a ball. 8 A competitor’s ball lies through the green. She takes a practice swing about five yards behind the ball, extracting a large divot which flies forward and moves his ball a few inches. 9 She then plays the ball from its new position onto the putting green, putts out, and tees off from the next teeing ground. What is the ruling? a. The competitor incurs no penalty strokes. b. The competitor incurs one penalty stroke. c. The competitor incurs two penalty strokes. d. The competitor is disqualified. player’s ball is at rest in 10 Aa water hazard. Without penalty, which of the following cannot be removed by the player from the water hazard prior to his next stroke? a. Stake defining the margin of the water hazard. b. Leaf. c. Water bottle. d. All of the above may be removed without penalty. Which of the following is considered a player’s equipment? 11 a. A c o i n m a r k i n g t h e position of a ball on the putting green. b. A b a l l t h a t h a s b e e n marked and lifted during play of a hole. c. A tee used to mark an area in which a ball is to be dropped. d. A shared golf cart that is being moved by a fellowcompetitor. While searching for her ball in tall grass through the green, a player finds a ball, but can’t see her identification mark. Without announcing her intention to her fellowcompetitor and without marking the ball, she separates the grass and picks up the ball to identify it. The player identifies the ball as hers, cleans the ball and replaces it. How many penalty strokes, if any, does the player incur? a. 0 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3 12 6 A competitor hits his tee shot into the rough, but has interference from a sprinkler head. He correctly determines the nearest point of relief from the sprinkler head, removes a pine cone, and drops the ball in the area prescribed under Rule 24-2. How many penalty strokes, if any, does the player incur? a. 0 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3 VSGA STAFF 7 w w w. v s g a . o r g J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 5 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R 13