I’ve hit my ball OB from a bunker – can I rake the sand?
Caught one a bit thin out of the sand and watched it sail over the boundary? Can you rake the footprints? Our Rules of Golf expert weighs in with the answer
There’s little worse than getting it a bit clean out of a greenside bunker and watching it sail over the flag. I tell a lie. There is something worse. Hitting it out of bounds too, which is exactly the woe David McLaren revealed to me in an email…
“My partner hit his bunker shot over the green and out of bounds. Is he allowed to rake the bunker before dropping the ball for his penalty? And is it a drop or a place?”
So, do you get to clean up after yourself or are you taking relief in a mess of your own footprints? Let’s find out…
Bunker rules: Going out of bounds from a bunker
Don’t worry. If this ever happens to you – and it’s happened to me plenty – you don’t have to be punished for your initial error by dropping into your dug in footmarks.
Rule 12.2b (3) states there are no restrictions after a ball is played out of the bunker.
You can touch the sand without penalty and you can also smooth sand in the trap to care for the course.
For David’s partner, though, the key point comes now. You can do this even if the “ball comes to rest outside the bunker and the player is required or allowed by the Rules to take stroke-and-distance relief by dropping a ball in the bunker”.
Having hit the ball out of bounds, the player must take stroke-and-distance relief under Rule 18.2b, playing a ball from where the previous stroke was made under Rule 14.6, and dropping in a one-club relief area in the bunker.
Once they take relief, though, the Rules say the restrictions covering touching sand in a bunker under Rule 12.2b and actions improving conditions affecting the stroke under Rule 8.1a again apply.
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 think about these bunker rules? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; Caley 01T irons 4-PW; TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
