There are many ways to tell that you are a true golfer, such as how you cannot see a stretch of rolling landscape without wondering what kind of golf holes you might design over it or that every pair of trousers you own has either tees or a ball marker, or both, in the pockets.

But there are also things no self-respecting golfer would not know the answer to. There are lots of courses named the Old Course in the world, but to say the Old Course you just know that means St Andrews if you are a golfer.

You know also that the modern style of golf course has developed from this layout. You don’t think to question how the Old Course has become a template when it is quirky, and unlike modern courses, in so many ways.

For example, it has only two par 3s, and two par 5s whereas the typical par-72 layout has four of each. It has seven sprawling double greens, when it is rare to find even one on other courses. But it is why the oldest Major in the world is played over 18 holes.

Below are ten multiple choice questions. if you cannot answer them correctly, you’ll have to question yourself as to whether you can truly call yourself a golfer.

10 Questions To Determine Whether You Can Call Yourself A True Golfer

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But, if you get the answer right to the last of our questions we think you can reasonably call yourself a golf badger!

But not all the questions are as obscure as that one. After all, Albert Einstein explained that he didn’t play golf because it was too complicated. If he couldn’t understand it, what hope do the rest of us have?

Or maybe that is the wrong way to look at it? Perhaps that a die-hard golfer does understand the game, whereas Einstein freely admitted he could not, makes that person more intelligent than Albert Einstein?

But then again, PG Wodehouse described golf as “The Great Mystery” and marvelled how “men capable of governing empires fail to control a small white ball, which presents no difficulties whatever to others with one ounce more brain than a cuckoo clock.”

Fancy finding out whether you are cleverer than Einstein? We have 15 questions for you to do so.

15 Questions Every Die-hard Golfer Should Know The Answer To

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That is even before you get to some of the rules involved. We mean the actual rules of golf as laid down by The R&A and USGA.

But it gets ever more complicated when you add in some of the extra rules that some clubs introduce, such as you can only wear long socks with shorts if the socks are white and the shorts are no more than two inches above the knee except on Thursdays in June in a leap year, when the socks must be light blue unless you are left handed.

But there are some things everyone who plays the game, or who follows it, should be reasonably expected to know.

If you are playing, the basic rules of the game is a must, such as where you tee off from, how many clubs you are allowed to carry, what to do if you think you may have lost a ball.

Here are 10 multiple choice questions we believe every golfer would, or should, know.

10 questions every golfer should know the answer to

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• How Well Do You Know Arnold Palmer?

Mark McCormack, for many years Palmer’s agent, said five factors contributed to the appeal of the man nicknamed The King.

Prime among these were his good looks and his affability and that he came from a modest background – President Obama said that "as the face of golf around the globe, Palmer was the American dream come to life".

Added to these personal attributes was Palmer’s swashbuckling style of play and that he was involved in some exciting finishes in the early days of golf being televised. Palmer garnered a devoted set of supporters who would cheer him on at tournaments and who were dubbed Arnie’s Army.

Palmer’s popularity lead to many endorsements. He was also an entrepreneur, involved in owning businesses as diverse as golf courses and course design, car dealerships and wine companies. He even had a drink named after him.

When Palmer died in 2016 Martin Slumbers, the then chief executive of The R&A, called Palmer "a true gentleman, one of the greatest ever to play the game and a truly iconic figure in sport."

The following 15 multiple choice questions test how much you know about ‘The King’.

Arnold Palmer quiz

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This is a considerable advance of the 7.5 million golfers in Europe that there were reckoned to be in 2012. Golf’s increasing popularity in this continent is also shown by the figure of more than 21.1m adults in Europe “engaging with golf.”

The countries of Europe vary enormously in terms of population from Russia’s 145 million to the nine countries with populations of fewer than a million, the smallest of which, Vatican City, has only about 500 people.

The number of golf courses that a country has and its population are often not in correlation. There are 3,000 golfers in Lichtenstein even though that country has no golf courses; Georgia has four courses yet only 500 golfers.

So, can you figure out what are the 10 European countries with the most golfers living in them? You have three minutes to name them all. The number of golfers is as stated in the R&A Global Golf Participation Report for 2023.

Which European countries have the most golfers?

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For example, he introduced tee boxes – previously golfers had teed off within two club lengths of the previous hole cup, putting strain on the turf of certain parts of the course.

He also pioneered the use of fertilisers to maintain playing surfaces and introduced top dressing for greens. It was said that this was after he had spilt a barrow load of sand on a green and swept as much of it up as he could. He later noticed that this area of the green had grown better than the rest.

He believed that bunkers should be maintained whereas the style has been simply to leave them alone. He also deployed hazards as strategic challenges whereas previously they had been mainly viewed as something to trap wayward shots or as an obstacle to hit over.

As a golf course architect, he laid out or remodelled many courses, including several Open venues, and helped to standardise the length of a course at 18 holes.

How well do you think you know Old Tom Morris’ life and career? We have 15 multiple choice questions to test you.

Old Tom Morris quiz

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Size matters when guessing the answers to this quiz. In four European countries at least a tenth of the population play golf, but one of these four countries does not get into the top 10 for most golf courses.

The R&A, the governing body for golf in Europe, notes that “Europe has many countries with a relatively high concentration of golf courses.” However the European country with the most courses only comes fourth in the world for the number of golf courses.

If you fancy having a stab at naming the top 3, why not tackle our quiz on the Countries With The Most Golf Courses. Four European countries appear in this world top 10.

But what are the 10 European countries with the most courses? You have three minutes to name them all. The number of courses is as per the R&A Global Golf Participation Report for 2023.

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The event, which is the PGA Tour's flagship tournament, moved to TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course in 1982 and is now a much-loved fixture of the golfing calendar.

Winners through the years include plenty of Major champions and World No.1s who have tackled the iconic island 17th green as well as the sweeping dogleg-left par-4 18th before lifting the trophy.

Jack Nicklaus triumphed at the first ever Players Championship and he is the only man to have won the tournament three times, with his victories coming pre-TPC Sawgrass in 1974, 1976 and 1978.

But what about more recently? Test your knowledge of the winners since 2000, which include some of the most famous names in golf from all corners of the world.

Take the quiz below, where you'll have 10 minutes to name as many as you can...

Quiz: Name every Players Championship winner since 2000

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It's now one of the PGA Tour's big money Signature Events, featuring an elite, limited-field headlined by the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy this week who will compete for the huge $20m prize fund.

The event dates back to 1979 and boasts an all-star cast of past champions, including eight-time winner Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Fred Couples as well as a series of other Major winners and World No.1s.

Over the past decade, big names from both the USA and Europe have triumphed at Arnie's Place, but how many do you remember?

Test your recent Arnold Palmer Invitational knowledge with this quiz where you've got 5 minutes to try and recall the last 10 winners of the event...

Quiz: Name the last 10 Arnold Palmer Invitational winners

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In 2016 at the Travelers Championship one golfer went one better, shooting a 58 in the final round. In going round in 12 under par on the on the final day, he jumped from 70th place to a tie for fifth.

Someone with good mathematical skills, or perhaps just far too much time on their hands, calculated that there had been 1.5 million rounds played on the PGA Tour by the time that 46-year-old became the first and, to date, only man to shoot a 58 on the PGA Tour.

He achieved this at TPC River Highlands, on a par-70, layout. The first three rounds of 59 on the PGA Tour were all made on par-72 layouts, but since then only the CareerBuilder Challenge at La Quinta Country Club has been played over a par-72 layout which has yielded a 59. Four were achieved on par 71s, and five on par-70 courses.

Two 58s have also been made on the Japan Golf Tour, by Ryo Ishikawa, in 2010, and Kim Seong-hyeon in 2021, while Cristobal Del Solar shot a 57 on the Korn Ferry Tour this year.

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Fred Daly, who won at Royal Liverpool in 1947, was the first. Daly’s winning score was 27 over par, a record highest score to par to win any Open champion since par scoring records began in 1938.

Darren Clarke was the second, at Royal St Georges in 2011, three shots clear of runners up Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

Rory McIlroy was born on 4 May 1989 in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He is an only child and his father, Gerry, was a scratch golfer. Rory joined Holywood Golf Club aged 7 and was coached there by the club pro, Michael Bannon. Bannon remains his coach to this day,

Rory’s talent for golf was clear from a young age, and he won the World Championship for the 9–10 age group bracket at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, Florida.

When the World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A in January 2007, Richie Ramsey was the No.1 ranked player for its first two weeks. Then Rory McIlroy supplanted him; but his time at the top was brief – that solitary week. Jamie Moul replaced him, and remained there for the next 17 weeks.

So how well do you think you know Rory McIlroy's life and career? We have 15 multiple choice questions to test you.

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Tiger won his first Major when he was 21 years old. At that stage of his career he had just three professional victories, two of which were via playoffs, having completed an amateur career that included three successive US Amateur Championship wins.

When Tiger won that Major by a staggering 12 shots over second-placed Tom Kite, the golfing world realised that here was one special talent. Moreover, Tiger had achieved this win despite playing the first nine holes in 40 shots. But he played the back nine in 30 shots, to post a 2-under par first round. He then followed this with rounds of 66, 65 and 69.

His career goal was always to overtake Jack Nicklaus’ Major record, but ultimately he has come up short. In having 15 Major titles, he is tied with Patty Berg, the most successful Major winner in the women’s game.

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Beman was the second person to be commissioner of the PGA Tour, holding office from 1974 to 1994. His idea was that the tour itself would own and run some of the venues at which it played.

This could ensure that the venues were designed specifically to host big tournaments, both in terms of the course itself and practice facilities but also in being able to cope with large crowds and provide good spectator vantage points. His vision was to create stadium courses.

A further advantage was that the tour would not have to pay rent to host these tournaments.

Subsequently the PGA Tour has sold some of these clubs, but they still retain the TPC name under licence.

On a 415-acre area of Florida swampland in February 1979 ground was broken on what would become the first TPC course. This course, with it iconic island green 17th hole, hosts the Players Championship.

Some of the other TPC courses have also become well known worldwide as the PGA Tour is televised in more than 200 countries and territories via 44 broadcast and digital partners. How many can you name?

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The format of the FedEx Cup has changed over the years, but the basic concept has always been that the best performers from the regular season qualify for the Playoffs and the number of players gets whittled down further after each Playoff event.

Points are awarded based on finishing positions in all PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments and the leading points scorers go through to the Playoffs where they earn even more points. The number of Playoff tournaments was originally four, but from 2019 it has dropped to three.

The 70 leading points scorers go through to the FedEx St. Jude Championship, then the leading 50 points scorers after this tournament play the BMW Championship, and the leading 30 after that go through to the Tour Championship and the winner of that event wins the FedEx Cup.

The Tour Championship is played under a handicap system which reflects the players’ points tallies going into the event. For example, the leading points scorer starts at 10-under par, and the players in 26th–30th spot start at even par.

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The legendary lefty is the oldest man to win a Major, and his 45 wins on the PGA Tour have been spread over nearly 31 years, which means that Mickelson has been a winner on Tour for longer than anyone else.

To some, he is the down-to-earth everyman hero, the chap who frequently stops to have a word with fans and to sign autographs; to others, he is less popular after playing in key role in getting LIV Golf off the ground and starting golf's fracture.

He has perhaps had the misfortune that his best years coincided with Tiger Woods’ domination of the sport. Or maybe not. Like many others, he has benefited from the increased prize money Tiger Woods’ involvement in the game brought forth – and Mickelson has won more than most.

But with Mickelson the money has often gone out almost as fast as it came in. He has been open about his gambling addition – which is said to lost him $100 million – but he is renown as a generous tipper, capable of leaving $1,000 tips for those who have served him well, with story of him also having left a $100 tip at a children’s lemonade stand.

So how well do you think you know Phil Mickelson's life and career? We have 18 multiple-choice questions to test you...

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The top professionals are lucky enough to almost always have a qualified Rules official on hand if they encounter a scenario in which they’re uncertain on how to proceed. We amateurs don’t have that luxury so it’s even more crucial that we have a good grasp of what do to when we find our ball in an unusual spot, or when we encounter an obstacle or ground condition that makes it difficult to play a normal shot.

In this quiz, we’re going to see how good your general knowledge is on the Rules. We’ll be testing you on, what to do when you’d like to change the loft of your driver midway through a round, what you can do if you find footprints in a bunker, free drops in fourball play and what you can do if your swing is obstructed by a bush. See how you get on.

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The R&A’s Global Golf Participation Report for 2023 found that in those 146 countries affiliated to the R&A (so excluding the USA for starters) 61.2 million adults were engaged with golf in some way, 39.6m of whom played 9- or 18-hole golf.

The worldwide figure for the number of on-course golfers is around 68 million and, if counting all those who have hit a golf ball in whatever setting, the figure is more than 106 million.

The number of golfers in a country does not always correlate to the number of courses that country has. Liechtenstein, for example, has a population of 39,039 of whom 1,444 are registered golfers and 3,000 play golf. But Liechtenstein has no golf courses. The Falkland Islands has one course, but 27% of the islands' population play golf.

Getting a tee-time in Myanmar, on the face it, looks easier than in Iran. Myanmar has an average of two registered golfers per course; Iran has 1,965.

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At one stage the PGA Tour had 20 members who had each won at least $10m in prize money from that Tour alone, without ever winning an actual tournament on the PGA Tour. To put this figure in context, Jack Nicklaus, he of 18 Majors, won $5,734,031 in his whole PGA Tour career.

One of these 20 did actually win the first-placed prize money at a tournament – but for finishing second. As amateur Nick Dunlap won the 2024 American Express, the prize money to the first-placed professional went to the player who came second, Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

So what would a combined PGA Tour/LIV Golf prize money list for 2024 look like? Well we have drawn it up but, being mean, if you want to see it, we’re going to make you guess at it first.

We have used only the official prize money figure earned either on the PGA Tour or the LIV Golf. Thus we have excluded bonuses, such as the $25m for winning the FedEx Cup, or money some PGA Tour members won on the DP World Tour, as well as money some LIV Golfers won on other tours and in Majors.

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The winner of the FedEx Cup got a $25 million bonus. The player coming second got $12.5 million. Various ways were found to pour more money in to the pockets of the top players.

In December the PGA of America announced that they would be paying their golfers to play in the Ryder Cup, with $200,000 stipends confirmed and $300,000 charitable donations included.

On course, Scottie Scheffler dominated the men’s game, and Nelly Korda cut swathes through the women’s game. Rory McIlroy found yet another way to avoid adding to his Major tally, which has stuck at four for a long time now, and Bryson DeChambeau turned himself from villain to hero.

But how much can you remember of what went on in 2024 in the golfing world?

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The World Handicapping System (WHS) was brought in, so the R&A and the United States Golf Association state, to “enable golfers of different abilities to play and compete on a fair and equal basis, in any format, on any course, anywhere around the world.”

No system of handicapping is going to be perfect, and each is likely to be imperfect in different ways. But that the WHS means that all golfers are now playing to the same handicapping rules has to be a bonus when playing in cross-border matches, or even in club matches on another course of differing difficulty to your own one.

The governing bodies also go on to state that the WHS is “easy to understand”.

Are they right? Well you can find out by answering the 15 questions in our quiz...

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Each Major is run by a different organisation and each determines its own rules for its competition. But each has a cut after 36 holes whereby only those on the upper reaches on the leaderboard go on to play the third and fourth rounds.

At the Masters, which had a field of 92, it was the top 50 players and ties who went on to play the third and fourth rounds. All the other Majors had fields of 156 and at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship the cut line was the top 70 and ties; at the US Open it was the top 60 and ties.

The thirteen who made all four cuts had varying successes in the final reckoning. For example, one of them did not finish outside of the top eight in any of the Majors; another one of them, and the sole LIV golfer among the 13, did not finish inside the top 25 in any of them. Another pro’s average finishing position was 48th.

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Although “The Hawk,” as he was known, turned professional in 1930, he didn’t enjoy immediate success and spent the first decade of his pro career working at the club level. It wasn’t until 1940 that he started to win as an individual. But after he claimed his first victory, the floodgates opened. He won four times in 1940, five in 1941 then six in 1942. After the Second World War, he really started to dominate. He won an amazing 13 times in 1946.

Hogan enjoyed a great rivalry with fellow Americans Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. The three players dominated professional golf through the 1940s.

Hogan continued to play and to win into the late 1950s but then injury started to take its toll and his competitive schedule became more limited through the 1960s. He continued to play in the majors though and enjoyed a last hurrah in the 1967 Masters when he fired a 30 on the back nine in the third round to put himself right in contention.

Hogan was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 and received a string of honours and distinctions including the Bob Jones award in 1976. At Augusta National, the Hogan Bridge leads to the green on the iconic 12^th hole.

Ben Hogan died in 1997.

Take our Ben Hogan quiz:

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Over the years, even the top professionals have come unstuck by not properly adhering to the Rules, remember Ian Woosnam accidentally carrying one too many clubs in an Open Championship at Royal Lytham in 2001 and being handed a two-shot penalty? Or Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik being disqualified from The Open in 2003 for failing to exchange cards and signing for incorrect scores?

Many established golfers think they have a good understanding of the Rules but often there are subtleties that can be overlooked and, remember, the Rules are constantly being revised and things change. It might have been the correct ruling 25 years ago, but it may no longer be correct today.

In this golf quiz, we’re going to see how good your general Rules knowledge is. We’re going to ask you questions on building a stance, holing out, accidentally touching your ball, free drop protocol, out of bounds stakes, sand on the green and care of the course. Have a go and see how you get on.

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Talking tactics to tackle this tough, terribly taxing task? Tempted to try those tackling Troon, Trump Turnberry, Tulsa, Torrey, Toledo, TPCs?

From one of the greatest players of all time to a man who, pictured in the lead image, took down a modern great to lift the Claret Jug after being listed at 500-1 at the start of the week. Another is an eight-time Major champion who boasts the second-most Open wins of all time (5). That's enough clues.

Test your knowledge of male golf Major winners with first names beginning with 'T' - you have 5 minutes to try and name them all...

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The top three in the initial rankings were all European. The highest of the five Americans in the top ten was in fourth place. (If you wish to have a stab at naming all the top 10, we have a quiz on the First Official World Golf Ranking.)

However American national golfing pride was restored when 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus, who had been ranked 33rd on that initial listing and who had only won twice on Tour since his last Major in 1980, won that Masters.

From 1968 to 1985 Mark McCormack had published a world ranking in his World of Professional Golf Annual. His rankings considered performances in the preceding three-year period.

But Tony Greer, a civil engineer, had been working on his own system of ranking, principally for his own amusement which Mark McCormack’s International Management Group picked up on. It joined forces with the R&A, who wanted a method for determining qualifiers for The Open, to establish an official world ranking.

In all, 25 golfers have been the men’s World No.1, and 10 of these golfers have come from Europe. Can you name them all against the clock?

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Walter Hagen transformed professional golf on both sides of the Atlantic. Not only did he set new playing standards but also, by accruing wealth and connections, he demanded to be treated on a level with anybody, regardless of class or standing. He was a pioneer of social rights as well as sporting excellence.

He was a flamboyant showman who made friends with film stars and even the Prince of Wales. He enjoyed the highlife and famously said, “I never wanted to be a millionaire, I just wanted to live like one.”

The greatest ever amateur golfer, Jones’ brief playing career was one of glittering brilliance. In 1930 he won the US and British Amateurs as well as the US and British Opens, a feat referred to as the “impregnable quadrilateral” and one that will surely never be replicated.

Jones was a lawyer by profession and he moved in esteemed circles. He remained a hugely influential figure within the game after his competitive career had ended, and perhaps his most tangible contribution to the sport was his co-founding of Augusta National Golf Club and establishment of The Masters Tournament. See how you get on in this golf quiz about these two golfing greats of the 1920s…

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But since then, the USA has been the dominant nation in the oldest Major. Players from the US have won no fewer than 47 titles, with 32 different champions over the last 104 years.

The USA is now the most successful nation in The Open. The country has six more wins than the next most successful, Scotland. It should be noted that 39 of the 41 Scottish victories came between 1860 and 1920.

England sits third on the all-time list with 22 wins, then come Australia and South Africa, both with 10. Aside from the USA and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, there are only 10 other nations that can claim an Open champion as one of their own. They are – Australia, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, Argentina, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden and Zimbabwe. Bonus points if you can name their respective winners!

Seven American champions have won multiple instalments of The Open Championship, with the most successful US competitor tied second on the all-time victory list with five. Only Harry Vardon with six titles has been more successful.

In the 21^st Century, the USA has won half of The Open Championships contested, 12 of 24. Players from the US have won three of the last four.

The following golf quiz gives you a chance to name all 32 of the American golfers to win The Open Championship. Some are pretty obvious but there are a few lesser-known players that might be trickier to identify. See how many you can get...

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Even experienced golfers will fall foul of Rules mistakes and whether you’re a novice golfer or grizzled veteran, it’s a key part of the game to have a strong understanding of what you can and can’t do within the Rules. Not only is important for you so you make the right call in Rules situations, but it’s also important so you can assist others to follow the correct procedures and avoid penalty strokes.

We’ve put together a fun, multiple-choice golf quiz to see if you would know what to do in a variety of scenarios. We consider, a damaged golf ball, touching balls, a topped tee shot, a staked tree, bunker trouble, out of bounds, unfair assistance and penalty areas.

Give it a try and see how you get on. We’ll explain the reason behind each answer and the Rule that applies, so if you do get one wrong, you’ll know for next time.

More golf quizzes:

• Rules Quiz: How Would You Deal With These 4 Scenarios?
• Rules Quiz: Relief From Bridges, Leaves and Rangefinders
• Which Countries Have The Most Golf Courses?
• The Top 10 US States With The Most Courses

When golf first came to the country it was seen as primarily the preserve of British expats and the American elite. But now it has been widely embraced across the country – in 2023, it was estimated that 26.6 million people played golf on a course, and a further 18.4 million took part in off-course golf activities such as at driving range, or on a golf simulator.

The National Golf Foundation reckon that over a third of the US population over the age of five either played golf, on- or off-course, watched it on television, read about it or listened to a golf podcast.

The are approximately 39,000 golf courses in the world and 16,000 of them are in the United States – so about two-fifths of the world’s golf courses are in the US. Moreover, two US states between them account for about 5.5% of the world’s golf courses.

The top 10 states on this list host about a fifth of the world’s courses. Can you name them all? Course counts are from the National Golf Foundation and as at January 2024.

More golf quizzes:

• Countries With The Most Golf Courses
• Male World No.1 Golfers
• Hole In One Stats And Facts
• The Top 10 Women's Major Winners
• Jack Nicklaus' Life And Career

He was one of 14 first-time winners on the PGA Tour. One of these first-time winners, the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, won on only his second start on the Tour.

This season also saw the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour. He was one of two first-time winners who were playing their first full season as Tour members having won membership through the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. The other one of this pair won twice, including on home soil.

At the other end of the spectrum, one of this year’s winners was someone who racked up their 26th PGA Tour victory.

But one man was dominant on the Tour this year, becoming the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six times before July. His triumphant process may have been arrested somewhat, but he still won again on Tour as well as winning the Olympic gold medal in August.

And by 'regular' season winners, we mean the events from January up until August and the FedEx Cup conclusion, so not including the FedEx Cup Fall events from September to November. We have also included this year's four Majors as they feature on the PGA Tour schedule and offer FedEx Cup points.

How many can you name?

More golf quizzes:

• Countries With The Most Golf Courses
• Tiger Woods' Life And Career
• Jack Nicklaus' Life And Career
• Hole In One Stats And Facts
• The Top 10 Women's Major Winners

Nicklaus will always be associated with Majors, not only for his record number of titles, but because he was seemingly omnipresent at these events. Nicklaus teed it up in every men’s Major from the 1962 Masters through to the 1998 US Open, a record run of 146 consecutive Majors.

From 1962 through 1980, he finished in the top-three 41 times – 54 percent of the Majors contested in that span. He is the only man to have a first-, second- and third-place finish in each of the four Major championships.

His first and last Major victories – the 1962 US Open and the 1986 Masters – were 24 years apart. This is the longest span of anyone Major-winning years. Only Tiger Woods’ 22 years (bookended by his Masters wins of 1997 and 2019) comes close.

Nicklaus also won in each of his first 17 seasons on the PGA Tour, a record that has only been equalled by Arnold Palmer.

So how well do you think you know Jack Nicklaus’ life and career? We have 15 multiple choice questions to test you.

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• Countries With The Most Golf Courses
• Tiger Woods' Life And Career
• Hole In One Stats And Facts
• Golfers With The Most PGA Tour Wins
• The Top 10 Women's Major Winners

LIV began in 2022 as the LIV Invitational Series before changing its name to the LIV Golf League in 2023. At first, there were no teams and only players who had largely left the PGA Tour for large sums of money before - eventually - 13 different sides were created to add another element to each tournament.

Jon Rahm's Legion XIII were the final squad to come into existence (at time of writing) with Bubba Watson's Niblicks GC changing their name to RangeGoats GC in season two.

Backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, LIV offers significant amounts of money to its players just for competing in the no-cut events, with life-changing sums available to those who win each week and season.

Several different countries have hosted a LIV tournament so far, with the United States of America serving as its predominant home through the first few years. However, more and more countries are hosting events as LIV tries to increase its global footprint.

But how much do you know about the LIV Golf League? How much can you remember about it since the first event? Take our quiz and find out!

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Or is it the pinnacle of golfing achievement? In theory it should be; but in practice? Do people judge Major wins as more important than ascending to World No.1 spot? Or is it that a Major is more memorable and visible, a sporting event watched and followed by millions around the world. There are not millions tuning in on a Monday to watch the latest Official Golf World Rankings be published.

Golfers know they will be remembered by Majors. Greg Norman at times seems almost desperate to want people to judge his playing career through his aggregate of 331 weeks as World No.1, a total only Tiger Woods has exceeded, not for his patchy Major record – two wins and some unhappy experiences when he appeared to choke.

Ian Woosnam, who has been both a Major winner and a World No.1, says being World No.1 means more to him than his Major, and was always his prime goal. But Tiger has always focused on Jack Nicklaus’ Majors record.

So, how well do you remember those who became World No 1? This quiz will tell you.

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• Golfers With The Most PGA Tour Wins
• Every Winner Of The PGA Championship This Century
• Tiger Woods' Life And Career
• The Top 10 Women's Major Winners
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Officially known as the European Tour, changing to the DP World Tour as a result of sponsorship, one of the biggest circuits in professional golf has long provided opportunities for players from across the planet to make their way in the game.

Firstly a rival to the PGA Tour and now working in conjunction via co-sanctioned tournaments and cards for golfers who gain or lose status, the DP World Tour is a truly global circuit which takes in a notable selection of courses and countries from the United States to Australia - and several places in between.

It takes place almost all-year round with over 40 events per season - plus the playoffs - and more than 100 members fighting to either cash in at the end of the year or retain their full-time cards

While operating as the platform for solo golf careers, the DP World Tour has also helped to launch many a successful Ryder Cup campaign, too, with the majority of Team Europe having honed their craft there before taking on the mighty USA.

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With millions of weekly TV viewers and thousands of fans attending each of its events across the world, the PGA Tour showcases the very best of men's golf across North America and a handful of other countries.

Many of the game's most famous faces have - at one time or anther - graced the PGA Tour and become inspirations for people of all walks of life to take up the game. Plus, several world-famous courses have the PGA Tour to thank for their fame and status as a bucket-list destination for any number of amateur players.

But, for the pros who compete on them regularly, the PGA Tour's regular season is contested between January and August and encompasses all four Major championships - making way for an extended batch of tournaments which can offer golfers the chance to retain status or improve their position in the standings.

So, how much do you really know about the history of the circuit or the iconic players who have battled it out over the years? Take our quiz and find out!

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According to the National Golf Foundation, golf is now played in 206 out of the 251 countries.

This also means there are some countries which have no golf courses, 45 of them apparently.

Enthusiasm for the game is not always matched by local provision of golf courses. For example, Lichtenstein has 3,000 golfers, but no courses.

Within the nations affiliated to The R&A, there are now 39.6 million golfers playing on 9- and 18-hole courses according to the R&A Global Golf Participation Report 2023, a 15% increase on the figure in 2020, and a 34% rise on that from 2016.

So where is most of this golf going on? Well you can exclude some countries from consideration for this top 10. These would include Afghanistan, Armenia, The Gambia, Malta, Iran, Israel and Kyrgyzstan as, according to the report, each of these countries only has one course.

More golf quizzes:

• Golfers With The Most PGA Tour Wins
• All The Male Golfers Who Have Been World No.1
• Every Major Winner Of This Century
• Hole In One Stats And Facts
• The Top 10 Women's Major Winners

The USA currently leads the series with 27 wins to GB, Ireland and Europe’s 15. There have been two tied matches in 1969 and 1985.

The first five Ryder Cup matches were won by the home sides until the USA broke that run in 1937, triumphing at Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club in Lancashire, England by 8-4. The US side that was the first to win away from home was captained by Walter Hagen. In fact, “The Haig” was captain of the first six US Ryder Cup teams.

The US enjoyed a dominant spell in the Cup after that win in 1937. They didn’t have to hand the trophy back until 1957 when Dai Rees led the British to victory at Lindrick Golf Club in England.

Normal service was resumed after that blip and the USA won 12 of the next 13 contests. The only glimmer for the Brits was a tie at Birkdale in 1969 when Jack Nicklaus famously conceded a putt on the final green to Tony Jacklin that meant, not only a half in their singles match, but also a half in the entire contest.

European golfers entered the fray from 1979 and in 1985 they finally got an outright victory at The Belfry. Since then, the matches have been far more closely fought. The USA has won only six of the 18 Ryder Cups contested since 1985.

The great biennial competition has been hosted at iconic venues over the years. Some of the great links and heathland courses of the UK have been used, plus some fabulous European courses in more recent years. Many famous courses have been used in the USA too. No fewer than 22 US venues have welcomed the Ryder Cup. In the quiz below, you can have a go at naming them. If you get all 22, well done to you!

Test yourself with more golf quizzes on the Golf Monthly Quiz Homepage

Or try one of these:

Can you name every Masters winner of the 1980s and 90s?

Can you name every major winner with a Z in their name?

Can you name every British and Irish major winner since the Second World War?

Until the First World War, players from Britain continued to dominate both The Open Championship and the US Open, which was first played in 1895.

After The First World War though, players from the USA started to come to the fore. Greats of the game likes of Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen made it increasingly difficult for British and Irish players to get a look in. The 1930s saw a good run of English Open Championship winners though – six in a row between 1934 and 1939.

In total, since 1860, players from Scotland have won 55 majors, the second most successful nation on the list after the USA. But only three of those Scottish titles have come in the last 75 years.

English players have won 36 majors, Northern Irish players have secured seven, the Irish have four, Wales has one and Jersey has nine, thanks to Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. A total of 112 men’s majors have been won by golfers from Britain and Ireland.

But only 28 of those major titles have come since the Second World War and 16 men are responsible for those successes. The quiz below asks you to name every British and Irish winner of a men’s major since 1945. The more recent champions should be relatively easy to identify, but there might be a couple in there that you struggle to remember. See how you get on.

Test yourself with more golf quizzes on the Golf Monthly Quiz Homepage

Or try one of these:

Can you name every Masters winner of the 1980s and 90s?

Can you name every major winner with a Z in their name?

The results from The Masters in the 1980s and 90s reflected the growing globalisation of men’s professional golf as players from six different countries took victories during this period.

It was an era of transition with old favourites enjoying their last hurrahs as talented newcomers lived up to their potential before a new star emerged to shine more brightly than all who had come before. That should give a pretty big clue to one of the winners!

In a pre-internet age, when coverage of the Masters didn’t begin until the back nine, the 1980s and 90s saw some of the most thrilling finishes the tournament has ever produced. There were four playoffs and 10 events in which the winning margin was just one or two strokes. There was one tournament where the winning margin was 12 strokes. As if you needed another clue for that particular winner!

See how you get on in the quiz below – can you name every Masters champion on the 1980s and 90s?

If you enjoyed this quiz check out these others

Can you name every player to win as an amateur on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour since 1945?

Name every player to win a men's major with a Z in their name...

Can you name every men's major winner from Australia or New Zealand?

Norman von Nida, another Aussie, was a regular winner on the British PGA circuit before and after the Second World War and he was often a fixture in The Open Championship.

A New Zealander many will not know but a great amateur golfer nonetheless was Arthur Duncan. He won the New Zealand Amateur Championship 10 times between 1899 and 1926.

The first major title for a male golfer from Australia or New Zealand came in 1947 and men from those two countries have been consistent victors in the big events in men’s golf since then. In total, 20 Major titles have been won by Aussie and Kiwi men and 14 different players have claimed big titles.

In the quiz below, we ask if you can name every player from Australia or New Zealand to have won a men’s major. Some of them should come pretty easily for most golf fans but a few names will be a little less well known. See how you get on.

If you enjoyed that quiz, why not try one of these others?

Can you name every player to win as an amateur on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour since 1945?

Name every player to win a men's major with a Z in their name...

In the early years of major golf, amateur players enjoyed a good deal of success with one man standing out. Bobby Jones won seven major titles in just a seven-year stretch. Between 1923 and 1930, Jones won four US Open titles and three Open Championships.

He wasn’t the first man to win a major as an amateur though. That honour goes to John Ball who won the 1890 Open Championship at Prestwick. Another Royal Liverpool man, and the first editor Golf Monthly, Harold Hilton, was a two-time Open Champion, at Muirfield in 1892 and then at his home club in 1897.

Francis Ouimet won the US Open as a 21-year-old at Brookline, famously beating Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff. Jerome Travers, Chick Evans and Johnny Goodman also won the US Open as amateurs.

No amateur has won a major since Goodman in 1933 but unpaid golfers have enjoyed victories on the main professional circuits. Since 1945, 11 players have won events on either the PGA Tour or DP World Tour as amateurs. Here below is a chance for you to see if you can name them. There are some clues to help you out. See how you get on…

If you enjoyed this quiz, try one of the others below:

Name every player to win a men's Major with a z in their name...

Name every major winner of this century...

The US Open was first contested in 1895 and was won by England’s Horace Rawlins.

Arnaud Massy became the first non-British winner of a Major when he claimed the 1907 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. John McDermott was the first US born golfer to win a Major when he triumphed in the 1911 US Open at the Chicago Golf Club.

The PGA Championship began life in 1916 and was won by Jim Barnes, an Englishman who had moved to the USA in 1906.

The most recent of the four men’s Majors was the Masters Tournament which was established in 1934 and was won in its first year by Horton Smith.

To this point in time, 470 men’s majors have been contested and no fewer than 233 different men have won major titles. Only 89 of those men have won multiple majors. Jack Nicklaus has won the most with 18, then Tiger Woods with 15 and Walter Hagen has 11.

Only 12 of the 233 men to have won a major have a z in their names – either first or last names. Some of those men are household names, one or two are a little less well known and there’s one that only a very few knowledgeable golfing historians will be able to identify. Have a go at our quiz below and see how many major winning golfers with a z in their name you can get.

If you enjoyed this quiz, why don't you try out one of the others below:

Can you name every major winner of this century?

Can you name every LIV Team?

But LIV Golf boasts many past Major champions in its ranks. In some cases the player’s Major win was a long while in the past. This reflected LIV’s initial strategy of targeting for recruitment some lower-hanging fruit of those players who were a name in golf, but who were finding it harder to be competitive on the main golf tours and so may be tempted by oodles of cash, less onerous competition and generous prize money even when coming last. The 2016 Open Champion had not won on either of the main tours for six years, joined LIV Golf and won on his LIV Golf debut.

He is one of four Open champions now plying their trade on the LIV Golf Tour. There are also four previous US Open champions in the LIV Golf League. Seven LIV Golfers have in the past won the Masters, with nine Green Jackets between them, and three have won the PGA Championship. In all, 14 LIV members have won a Major. Can you name them all?

If you enjoyed this quiz, why not try your hand at some of our other ones such as:

LIV Team Names

Every Major Winner Of This Century

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The first LIV Golf event was LIV Golf London, played at the Centurion Club in June 2022. The field comprised only 48 players, spread across 12 four-man teams, and yet still had to include four players whose world ranking ranged from 1,324th to 1,731st in the world to get all the 48 entry slots filled.

With all due respect to these players, I doubt many expected them to be challenging for the top of the leaderboard. (Spoiler alert: none of the four even made the top half of the leaderboard, and they finished between 14 and 31 shots behind the winner.) But, by including a team competition and making their scores relevant to that, this element could potentially give interest to the scores of those otherwise make-weight players.

Since that first event, LIV Golf has been able to attract better-quality players – for example, by the time of the second tournament Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed had signed up to LIV - and the number of competitors has also been expanded. So, too, as result has the number of teams, up from 12 to 13.

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When, in 1930, Bobby Jones won The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, The Amateur Championship at St Andrews, the US Open at Interlachen and the US Amateur at Merion, he had won the four most prestigious golf tournaments of the year. His triumph is now described as the Grand Slam. At the time people talked of major golf tournaments, but the word was used as an adjective – the concept of a “Major” did not exist.

With prize money rising, and the social status of the professional golfer increasing, the best golfers were almost invariably pros. (Johnny Goodman, in 1933, was the last amateur to win the US Open and Jones’ 1930 Open victory was the last time that tournament was won by an amateur.) As a result, the Amateur Championship and the US Amateur were no longer considered as among the top four tournaments.

Arnold Palmer and journalist Bob Drum, travelling to the British Isles in 1960, were chatting about Jones’ Grand Slam and wondering what the modern equivalent would be. The Open and US Open remained, but what would be the other two events? Palmer suggested The Masters, as that event that year had offered the most prize money of any tournament, ­and also the PGA Championship in the USA.

Palmer had already won the Masters and the US Open that year. Americans rarely competed in The Open at that time due to logistics and the event’s modest prize money, and Palmer, aged 30 and with 19 PGA Tour titles, was playing in it for the first time. So Drum wrote about how Palmer was going to St Andrews in quest of a modern Grand Slam. Palmer later recalled: “Drum got me all excited about it. He got the British press all excited about it. Everybody picked up on it.”

Despite Palmer finishing runner up at St Andrews, so ending his quest for a modern Grand Slam, the concept of golf having four modern Majors had been born.

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The captains in 2023 were Luke Donald for the hosts and Zach Johnson for the USA. Henrik Stenson had originally been named European captain, but when he joined LIV Golf he was replaced. Each side was made up of six automatic qualifiers and six captain’s picks.

The top three in the European points list qualified, and then the top three, excluding those who had already qualified through the European list, qualified from the World Points list.

The USA used the same qualification process as in the previous Ryder Cup, with the six automatic qualifiers coming from their Ryder Cup points list. In the end, all of the USA side, including the half dozen captain’s picks, were in the top-15 in this list.

Luke Donald went to Rome with all the top 10 in the World Points list in his side. The exceptions were one golfer who came 60th in the world list and 58th on the European one, and another who finished 16th in the world one and 25th in the European version.

All of the top 13 in the Official World Golf Rankings played. This was the first time, since the rankings were introduced in 1986, that the entire top 10 had played in the same Ryder Cup.

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To be a member of the European side, a golfer had to be a European national and a current member of the Ladies European Tour (LET). The European side was made up of eight automatic qualifiers and four captain’s picks. The automatic qualifiers were the top two players from the LET Solheim Cup standings and then the top six LET members on the Women's World Golf Rankings who had not already qualified from the Solheim Cup standings.

To qualify for the United States team a golfer had to be a member of the LPGA Tour and be an American citizen either by birth, or by naturalisation before they were aged 18, or by adoption before they were 13.

Team USA had nine automatic qualifiers, which were the top seven players from the LPGA Solheim Cup points rankings followed by the two highest-ranked players in the Women's World Golf Rankings who had not already qualified. The team was completed by three captain's picks.

Both sides had two rookies, and it both cases they were one qualifier and one captain’s pick.

Can you name all 24 golfers who took part in the 2024 Solheim Cup? You have ten minutes to do so.

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In the first of his Open wins, at Royal St George’s, he went round in a then-record 65 in the second round, which brought about the Dunlop 65 ball. Aged 80, in 1987, he accepted a knighthood, but he died on December 22 before the award was officially announced in the 1980 New Year's Day Honours list.

Sir Henry had originally determined the winner of the Rookie of the Year. But now it is adjudicated by a panel comprising DP World Tour Executives and members of the DP World Tour’s Tournament Committee.

The award was first presented in 1960, and so predates the start of the tour in 1972, but the tour nevertheless counts the awards before 1972 as being Tour awards. Before the European Tour existed, the award was for the best rookie on the British PGA circuit. The first winner received £100, the equivalent of £3,040 in modern-day prices.

It was not until 1986 that someone other than an Englishman, Scot or Welshman won. That year a Spaniard won. The next time a non-Brit won was in 1991, when the winner came from Sweden, as did the next non-British winner, in 1996. This century has seen 13 different nationalities win the award.

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A sub-committee of the Professional Golfers' Association comprising of Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and James Braid had picked the British team for that contest, with Abe Mitchell later made captain. But Mitchell fell ill – and was eventually operated on for appendicitis – and so Ted Ray took over as captain. Both captains, unlike nowadays, played in the contest.

There were nine players on each side, but one player on each side sat out each session as the format was four 36-hole foursomes matches on the Friday and eight 36-hole singles on the Saturday. For Britain, George Gadd missed out both times. He was never picked for another Ryder Cup side. For the USA, Al Espinosa did not play on either day, but he, however, did play in the next two Ryder Cups.

George Gadd appears in the official lists of Ryder Cup player for his, um ‘appearance’ in 1927. He was the first of a handful of unfortunate players who only got picked for only one Ryder Cup but did not actually play any matches.

For the next Ryder Cup, in 1929, 10 players were chosen on either side. In 1969 the size of each team was increased to 12, by which time it well-established that the captain did not play in any of the matches. The last playing captain had been Arnold Palmer in 1963. The first non-playing captain had had been in 1933, for Great Britain. The USA had had its first non-playing captain in 1937.

Up until 1979 only British and Irish players had been eligible to play for USA’s opponent, and this team was known as either Great Britain or Great Britain and Ireland. But in 1979 European golfers would also become eligible, and the name of the team was therefore changed to Europe.

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Up until then it was Great Britain, later styled as Great Britain and Ireland, which had taken on the USA. Although the change in name to include Ireland was only made in 1973, the Great Britain side had previously included players from both Northern and Southern Ireland. Fred Daly, in 1947, had become the first Northern Irishman to take part in the contest, and Harry Bradshaw, in 1953, became the first Ryder Cupper from south of the border.

These matches between GB and USA were one-sided. The GB side won only three of the 22 Ryder Cups in which it took part. The 1957 Ryder Cup was tied, but USA, as holders, retained the Ryder Cup.

But since Europe has taken over the fixture, results have changed. Not immediately: USA maintained its winnings ways in its first three encounters with Europe. But as Europe’s pool of golfers got stronger, with more top Continental players coming to the fore, Europe has gained the upper hand. Overall, since that 1979 change, Europe has won 12 to USA’s 9. In addition, the 1989 match at The Belfry was tied, which resulted in Europe retaining the Ryder Cup as holders.

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