Question: How far must the ball go before going in on a free hit?
About the article "Field hockey", section "Free hits".

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Free hits are awarded when offences are committed outside the scoring circles (the term 'free hit' is standard usage but the ball need not be hit).
The ball may be hit, pushed or lifted in any direction by the team offended against.
The ball can be lifted from a free hit but not by hitting, you must flick or scoop to lift from a free hit.
(In previous rules versions hits in the area outside the circle in open play have been permitted but lifting one direction from a free hit prohibited).
Opponents must move from the ball when a free hit is awarded.
A free hit must be taken from within playing distance of the place of the offence for which it was awarded and the ball must be stationary when the free-hit is taken.
As mentioned above, a 15 m hit is awarded if an attacking player commits a foul forward of that line, or if the ball passes over the back line off an attacker.
These free hits are taken in line with where the foul was committed (taking a line parallel with the sideline between where the offence was committed, or the ball went out of play).
When an attacking free hit is awarded within 5 m of the circle everyone including the person taking the penalty must be five metres from the circle and everyone apart from the person taking the free hit must be five metres away from the ball.
When taking an attacking free hit the ball may not be hit straight into the circle if you are within your attacking 23 metre area (25 yard area).
It must travel 5 metres before going in.
The definition of leg before wicket (lbw) is currently Law 36 in the Laws of Cricket, written by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Before a batsman can be dismissed lbw, the fielding team must appeal to the umpire.
For the batsman to be adjudged lbw, the ball, if it bounces, must pitch in line with the wickets, or on the off side of the stumps.
Then the ball must strike part of the batsman's body, without first touching his bat, in line with the wickets and have been going on to hit the stumps.
The batsman may also be lbw if, having made no attempt to hit the ball with his bat, he is struck outside the line of off stump by a ball that would have hit the wickets.
The umpire must assume that the ball would have continued on the same trajectory after striking the batsman, even if it would have bounced before hitting the stumps.
However, if the bowler delivers a no ball—an illegal delivery—the batsman cannot be lbw under any circumstances.
A batsman can be out lbw even if the ball did not hit his leg: for example, a batsman struck on the head could be lbw.
However, he cannot be lbw if the ball pitches on the leg side of the stumps ("outside leg stump"), even if the ball would have otherwise hit the wickets.
Similarly, a batsman who has attempted to hit the ball with his bat cannot be lbw if the ball strikes him outside the line of off stump.
However, some shots in cricket, such as the switch hit or reverse sweep, involve the batsman switching between a right- and left-handed stance; this affects the location of the off and leg side, which are determined by the stance.
The law explicitly states that the off side is determined by the batsman's position when the bowler commences his run-up.
According to MCC guidelines for umpires, factors to consider when giving an lbw decision include the angle at which the ball was travelling and whether the ball was swinging through the air.
He must also account for the height of the ball at impact and how far from the wicket the batsman was standing; from this information he must determine if the ball would have passed over the stumps or struck them.
The MCC guidance states that it is easier to make a decision when the ball strikes the batsman without pitching, but that the difficulty increases when the ball has bounced and more so when there is a shorter time between the ball pitching and striking the batsman. 
This game features a simplified type of golf.
The area of the hole is rendered in light green, all areas outside the hole are rendered in a medium blue.
On the larger holes the green is rendered as a dark green hole circle with the hole near the center.
There are several obstacles that can appear, including trees, sand traps, and water features.
On difficulty A, balls that go out of bounds stay there and must be hit back in; on difficulty B, the balls stick to the edge of the area.
Balls hit near the water can soar over it, or if they land into the water, the ball is placed back where the shot was taken.
Balls hit into sand traps will stick to the sides of the traps, and it takes a more powerful swing to free the ball.
The player only uses one club — the amount of time the fire button is held down determines how much power the ball will be hit with, and how far it will go.
The player's golfer can be moved anywhere on the field, with his golf club always facing the ball.
On the larger hole the goal is to hit the ball on to the green.
Once the player reaches the green, the game will zoom in on the green.
The green is rendered as a light green circle, with a black dot as the actual hole.
Once the ball reaches a hole, the player moves on to the next hole. 
One of the things that causes the most confusion for people that are not familiar with the game are the "Holding the ball", "Dropping the Ball", and "Throwing" rules.
Confusion arises because a player being tackled is not allowed to hold onto the ball, but is not allowed to throw it either.
These rules are easily summarised:  Players must always dispose of the ball by either a kick or a handpass.
* A handpass, also called a handball, is performed by punching the ball from one hand with the other fist.
The ball cannot be thrown up (like a volleyball serve) and hit, nor handed to a teammate like an American/Canadian football handoff.
When a player is in possession of the ball, and moving, the ball must be bounced or touched to the ground at least once every 15 metres.
Failure to do so results in a penalty, where a free kick is awarded to the opposing team.
This is sometimes called "running too far" or "travelling", and is signalled by the umpire in the same way as travelling is signalled in basketball.
If the ball carrying player decides to run with the ball or to evade a tackling opponent, he would be deemed to have a "prior opportunity" of being able to dispose of the ball legally, as long as there was a reasonable time for the player to dispose of the ball correctly prior to being tackled.
e.g.
a couple of steps would not normally constitute "prior opportunity".
When a player is in possession of the ball, and is tackled correctly (i.e., above the knees and below the shoulders), he must immediately dispose of the ball by kicking or handpassing.
Failure to do so, when a prior opportunity to dispose of it existed, results in a penalty benefiting the tackling team, which is awarded a free kick.
A free kick is also awarded to the tackler if there was no prior opportunity, but the player in possession of the ball does not dispose of it or attempt to do so within a reasonable time.
This is also called "holding the ball".
Exceptions to this rule include: * Being "bumped", that is, hit side-on by another player or tackled in such a manner that causes the ball to be knocked free or come loose from a player's possession.
* Being tackled with the ball despite gaining possession of it but had no chance of disposing it (no prior opportunity), where the ball is unable to be released.
A ball-up would result to restart play.
If the ball carrier, who had prior opportunity before the tackle, was swung off balance while attempting to dispose the ball but not making contact, a holding the ball decision would be awarded against the ball carrier on the basis of the ball not being legally disposed of whilst tackled.
Where there is no prior opportunity, the umpire will call "play on".
In a recent effort to reduce the amount of unnecessary stoppages, the interpretation of the prior opportunity has widened to include any player who grabs hold of the ball during a ball-up or throw-in situation instead of knocking it away.
In this instance, if the player is then tackled and could not dispose of the ball legally, a holding the ball penalty would be paid against him.
For detailed interpretations, go to Holding the Ball. 
The game has some unique to its ruleset, as well as the usual fouls of billiards games.
All fouls nullify any points the shooter would have earned on the foul shot, and award the opponent free points (which vary depending on the type of foul).
Knocking over pins with the shooter's own cue ball, after having hit the opponent's cue ball—this foul awards the point values of those pins to the opponent.
(In player jargon this is referred to as "drinking" one's points, as they are lost like the contents of an empty glass); opponent does "not" receive .
(Note: Knocking over pins with the red object ball on an otherwise legal shot is not a foul, and has no effect on the score (i.e., provided that the opponent's cue ball was struck first by one's own cue ball, either cue ball can be used to drive the object ball into the pins, provided that both cue balls make initial contact with each other.)
Failure to hit the opponent's cue ball at all with the shooter's own—opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
Hitting the pins directly with the shooter's cue ball before any contact with the opponent's cue ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points (the erstwhile value of the knocked-over pins is not calculated at all).
Hitting the object ball directly with the shooter's cue ball before any contact with the opponent's cue ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
Knocking any ball off the table; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points (the ball is spotted in its starting position, or as close to this position as possible, unless it was the now-incoming opponent's cue ball, which as noted is in-hand).
the cue ball entirely or partially over an interfering ball; opponent receives ball-in-hand plus 2 points.
Standard billiards-wide fouls also apply and yield ball-in-hand plus 2 points (moving balls accidentally, the cue ball, , etc.
Because of the particularity of the first-listed foul above, players watch the game carefully, and tournaments have referees.
Any points earned by the shooter on a foul shot are awarded to the opponent (except when, as noted above, pin value is not calculated).
An "extra" 2 points go to the opponent if the object ball was correctly hit on an otherwise foul stroke (in addition to being awarded the 3 or 4 points the object ball was worth).
Ball-in-hand on fouls is not entirely free; the incoming shooter after a ball-in-hand foul can only place his/her cue ball on the opposite half of the table from the other cue ball, and must shoot from the end (short part) not side of the table.
The cue ball does not have to be placed in the (behind the head string), just within the proper half of the table.