Golfers attending our golf instruction sessions usually know it’s a two-stroke penalty for grounding your club in a bunker. But few know any of the other rules covering bunker play. That’s not surprising. The topic isn’t normally covered in golf lessons unless someone asks about it. So golfers have to learn them on their own. If you want to be tak-en seriously as a golfer, know the rules covering bunker play and the penalties for violat-ing them.
The penalty strokes incurred for breaking a bunker rule won’t probably impact golf handicap, but they do have consequences. They can cost you a hole in match play or the match itself. They can also prevent you from breaking 80 or achieving a performance milestone. Needless to say, it’s good to know the rules if you play regularly. The golf tips below cover some of the things you can and can’t do in a bunker. Keep them in mind next time you tee off.
Grounding The Club
Golf’s Rule 13-4b governs the grounding of a club in a bunker. According to this rule, you can’t touch the sand in a bunker with your club or your hand. You can, however, ground your club in a waste area. Waste areas are usually massive bunker-like regions of firm, unkept sand that aren’t hazards. How do you know the difference between a bunker and a waste area? Courses often make these areas known to golfers. But if you’re not sure, check for rakes. If there are none nearby, it’s probably a waste area.
Touching The Sand
Digging in your feet in the sand when hitting from a bunker is okay. You can also leave the bunker, get a new club, come back, and dig in your feet again. What you can’t do is touch the sand. You also can’t draw lines in the sand like an instructor might do in a golf instruction session as a teaching aid. You also can’t slam your club against the sand after a poor shot if the ball hasn’t left the bunker. Each infraction costs you two strokes.
Handling Casual Water
If your ball is in casual water you can take a drop in the bunker at the nearest point of re-lief, no closer to the hole, without a penalty. But taking relief outside the bunker is a one-stroke penalty. Also, the drop must be taken behind the bunker in line with the hole and where the ball originally lay, as far back as you want.
Raking Regulations
Golf instruction sessions on bunker play don’t usually cover raking. But it’s good to know these rules as well. You can rake after hitting a bunker shot, even if your ball never left the bunker. But you can’t disturb your new lie, the area of your stance or swing, or the new line of play for your next shot. You also can’t rake your footprint trail behind you as you walk to your lie. You’d be penalized two strokes for testing the sand’s condi-tion.
Searching For Your Ball
You may move the sand in the bunker to find your ball. If you accidentally move it or re-move too much sand during the search, you must re-create the lie minus enough sand so you can see the ball. There’s also a time limit on how long you can search for the ball: 5 minutes. If the ball is declared lost, you can play from where the previous shot was played, but you incur a one-stroke penalty.
Taking An Unplayable Lie
If you have an unplayable lie in a bunker, you may replay your previous shot and take a one-stroke penalty. Or, if you don’t want to go back to your previous shot, take a drop in the bunker within two club lengths of the ball. You can also drop on an imaginary line made by the flag and ball, no closer to the hole.
These golf tips won’t help you whittle down your golf handicap or hit a bomb off the tee. But they’ll help in other areas. Incurring penalty strokes in match play can cost you the hole and maybe the match. They can also stop you from breaking 80 or achieving an-other performance milestone.
