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Golf · Level 9: Master · Sub-level 9.2

Clubs, Balls and the Rules Through Time

4 tests · 40 facts · updated 13 October 2026 · markdown

How the equipment, the Rules and the courses changed: balls, clubs, landmark rulings, and how courses were kept.

Each test below is ten questions on Insporta. The list under a test is what the questions check: one fact per question, with the source it was written from. Read it before the test, or come back from a wrong answer.

Test 1The golf ballTake a test

  1. It soon replaced the feathery.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  2. It softens in hot water and sets hard.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  3. Makers began hammering patterns on new balls.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  4. With Bertram Work of the B.F. Goodrich company.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  5. It flew farther than the gutty.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  6. He switched to it just before the championship.

    Source: The Open Championship records (The R&A) · recall

  7. The smaller British ball was retired.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  8. Each one flew farther than the last.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

  9. About 1848, 1898 and 1990.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  10. Gutta-percha balls were cheap to make.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

Test 2ClubsTake a test

  1. Long, shallow heads suited the feathery.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  2. Persimmon stayed in drivers until the 1980s.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  3. A feathery could split when struck with iron.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  4. Numbered sets spread in the 1930s.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  5. The most lofted iron of its day.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  6. Titanium followed in the 1990s.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  7. A steel head shaped like a wooden one.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  8. Titanium from the 1990s.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

  9. Roughly a 1-iron, a 5-iron and a 9-iron.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  10. Common in the feathery era.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

Test 3The RulesTake a test

  1. Before then the two codes differed.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  2. After a dispute over who was US champion.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  3. The blocking ball could not be lifted.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  4. Hitting it carries no penalty now.

    Source: The R&A and USGA, Rules of Golf 2023, Rule 13.2 · recall

  5. Shoulder height had been the rule before.

    Source: The R&A and USGA, Rules of Golf 2023, Rule 14.3 · recall

  6. The R&A ban lasted until 1952.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  7. Aimed at spin from the rough.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  8. 1744, 1894, 1952 and 2019.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  9. About 1910, 1929 and 2010.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  10. Abolished in 1952.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

Test 4Courses and their careTake a test

  1. Links land was common grazing.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  2. Patented by Edwin Budding in England.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  3. Slow, skilled work done by hand.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  4. The wind then scoured out the sand.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  5. The size came from an older tool.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  6. Dated to 1829.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  7. Separate teeing grounds came later.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  8. Robots are the newest.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

  9. 1829, then 1891.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · recall

  10. Links land was shared grazing.

    Source: Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories) · applied

Sources

Golf histories and museum records (R&A, USGA, World Golf Hall of Fame), Open and major championship records, PGA Tour and LPGA records; only settled facts used as keys; original questions authored, nothing reproduced.

  • Golf histories (R&A and USGA museums; World Golf Hall of Fame; club histories)37
  • The Open Championship records (The R&A)1
  • The R&A and USGA, Rules of Golf 2023, Rule 13.21
  • The R&A and USGA, Rules of Golf 2023, Rule 14.31