How many of these can you answer correctly?

Test your knowledge following a major rules overhaul

Golf is undergoing one of its biggest rules overhauls since the 460cc driver limit in 2003. In case you haven’t heard, the R&A is giving the Rules of Golf a massive makeover. Some of the changes under consideration include:

● New three-minute search rule for a lost ball

● Repairing spike marks without penalty

● Dropping the ball from any height

● Scrapping the use of a club length when taking relief

● Emphasising the use of red stakes for water hazards.

The good news is that we’ll have until the start of 2019 to make sense of all the changes. Until that time comes, you will still need to refer to last year’s edition of the Rules of Golf handbook.

To see how much you can remember, see how you’d fare in the R&A level one rules exam by answering these multiple-choice sample questions...

1. A player’s ball comes to rest against a rake. The player moves the rake and his ball moves as a result. Which of the following is true:

A The player is penalised one stroke for causing his ball to move and he must replace the ball.

B There is no penalty and the ball must be replaced. C There is no penalty and the player must drop the ball as near as possible to where it lay, not nearer the hole.

2. The following is always part of an area of ground under repair:

A Any growing thing within the ground under repair.

B Anything overhanging the ground under repair. C A stake defining ground under repair.

3. A player’s ball lies in the semi-rough. Which of the following is a loose impediment: A An embedded stone. B A live worm. C A branch attached to a tree. 4. A player hits his tee shot badly and it lands close to the boundary. A ball is out of bounds when: A All of it is out of bounds. B More than half of it is out of bounds. C Part of it is out of bounds.

5. Before a player makes a stroke with any ball on the teeing ground, the tee-markers are: A Moveable obstructions. B Deemed to be fixed. C Immoveable obstructions.

6. A player’s ball lies in thick rough. As a result, when he plays the stroke he strikes the ball three times. Which of the following statements is correct:

A The stroke counts and the player must add two penalty strokes to his score.

B The stroke counts and the player must add one penalty stroke to his score. C The player must cancel and replay the stroke without penalty.

7. In strokeplay, a player’s ball lies in a bunker and he can’t see his ID mark on it. He decides to play the ball anyway and hits it onto the fairway. At that point he realises the ball is not his. What is the ruling?

A The player is penalised two strokes and must play the ball as it lies.

B The player is penalised two strokes and must correct his mistake. C There is no penalty.

8. If a player’s ball at rest is moved by someone else, the player must: A Play the ball as it lies without penalty. B Replace the ball without penalty. C Replace the ballunder penalty of one stroke.

9. If a player is taking relief from casual water in a bunker, the ball must be: A Dropped. B Dropped or placed, at the choice of the player. C Placed.

10. A player’s ball lies in a bunker near the lip and he deems it unplayable. In proceeding under the unplayable ball rule, the player may: A Drop a balloutside the bunker, keeping the point where the ball lay in line with the hole. B Drop a ball outside the bunker within two club-lengths of where the ball lay. C Drop a ball in the bunker, keeping the point where the ball lay in line with the hole.

● How do you think you’ve got on? See below for the answers.