Round 3, Question 4 – Penalty Area Regression

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: In stroke play, a player’s tee shot comes to rest within the edge of a red penalty area but not in the water. The player makes a stroke at the ball and it dribbles down the bank into the water and cannot be played. He drops another ball on the bank within the penalty area in the proper relief for Rule 17.1d(1). He decides not to play again from that lie and drops a third ball within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than the estimated point where his original ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area. He plays on from there. For this series of events, how many penalty strokes has the player gotten?