May Rules of Golf Quiz

1. Your ball comes to rest in a wooded area. As you approach your ball you notice it is surrounded by poison ivy. You are allowed free relief from this dangerous plant condition.

2. Your ball comes to rest in a newly planted flower bed just behind the putting green. If you take a normal stance and swing, your club will hit (and destroy) some of the flowers. There is no Local Rule in effect. You must play the ball as it lies even if your swing destroys some of the flowers.

3. Your ball comes to rest near a pine tree. During your backswing for a stroke that is then made, you knocked down several pinecones, thereby improving your area of intended swing. You are not penalized for knocking down the pinecones.

4. You are playing in the Women’s State Amateur at North Shore CC this summer. On the 18th hole your tee shot comes to rest in the right rough. Right next to and just behind your ball is some dry-looking grass that is affecting your lie and the area of your intended swing. Because you cannot see whether the grass is loose or still attached, you take your hand and move the grass to the side so that you can see if it is loose. If the grass is determined to be attached, you get no penalty provided the grass stays attached and is returned to its original position.

5. Your ball comes to rest in a branch of a tree that is rooted in an area marked as ground under repair. The spot directly under where the ball lies in the tree is outside the ground under repair. Because your ball is not in ground under repair you do not get free relief.

6. You hit your tee shot into the right rough. A 30-foot tree branch, which is no longer attached to its trunk, is lying on the ground. You break off just enough of the branch to give yourself a clear shot to the green. This is permissible.

7. Your ball comes to rest against a pinecone. You are concerned that if you move the pinecone your ball will move. You hold the ball steady with your hand to prevent it from moving as you move the pinecone. You get a penalty even if your ball does not move.

8. You are playing in the State Amateur at Merrill Hills this summer. On the par-3 12th hole your ball comes to rest in the fairway, just short of the putting green. You see that your ball is touching a sod seam. You may take free relief from the sod seam.