We’ve got a bother in a bunker to consider. I’ve had about a million lessons on how to play from bunkers and am still none the wiser.
How much better could I be if I could just manage the occasional up and down? Anyhow, I promise I’m much better when it comes to sorting out thorny rules issues in the sand.
So this email conundrum was right up my street…
“Recently, my ball landed in a depression which had sand in it. The depression may or may not have been in a bunker – it was right at the back edge of the bunker (i.e. the edge nearest the green) and the bunker was poorly maintained so it was difficult to see where the boundaries were between the bunker and the general area.
“I believed the depression was in the bunker and was caused by an animal scraping. I took free relief by dropping my ball on the fairway two club lengths back from the front edge of the bunker (i.e. the edge nearest the tee).
“My playing partner thought my ball was in the bunker and that I ought to have taken lateral free relief one club length away from the nearest point of relief which would have meant dropping the ball in the bunker.
“Can you please explain the applicable rule and, in particular, if my ball had been outside the bunker and the nearest point of relief was in the bunker what would be the ruling?”
That is a LOT of questions. We’d better get straight into these golf bunker rules…
Golf bunker rules: Is the ball in the bunker at all?
First up, is the ball in the bunker? Rule 12.1 says a ball is in a bunker when “any part of the ball… touches sand on the ground inside the edge of the bunker” or is inside the edge and is on ground where sand would normally be.
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So if that’s the case it’s in the bunker. If it isn’t, then, well, it isn’t. A ball’s not in a bunker either if it’s in the wall or face but watch out at some of those pesky links courses where they’ve got a Local Rule refusing free relief from a ball wedged in a stacked turf face.
Now, to the animal scraping. You don’t get relief from an animal scraping. You get relief from an animal hole. If it’s not a hole – if it’s an indentation, if it’s a scraping of the turf, even if it’s a delve – then it’s not an abnormal course condition and you don’t get relief.
I wish the Rules of Golf would set out what they consider to be a hole, because despite it seeming quite obvious (we know when something is in a hole and when it isn’t, don’t we really?) I’ve had a million conversations down the years with golfers with them trying to convince me otherwise.
Anyway, in this situation, let’s say it is a hole and the ball is in the bunker. We’ve opted for free relief, which is one club length. Where are we taking that relief? In the bunker.
Rule 16.1c says the nearest point of complete relief and the relief area must be in the bunker. If there isn’t a nearest point then you can find “the point of maximum available relief in the bunker” and use that as the reference point.
But the ball stays in the bunker.
If there isn’t a reference point that doesn’t bring you closer to the hole – which might be a possibility given a ball’s position in a bunker – then you can’t take this relief. It feels like back-on-the-line would be a problem as well.
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You could take penalty relief outside the bunker but that would come with a one-stroke sanction.
On the final point, if the ball is outside the bunker – so in the general area – the nearest point of complete relief must be in the general area. It can’t be in the bunker.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you make of these golf bunker rules? Let me you what you think, and send me your own rules questions, by emailing me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or by leaving us a comment on X.
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