My ball is embedded in the face of a bunker – can I take relief?

It’s a sight that sends many of you into a quiver – a ball embedded in a bunker. It doesn’t matter if it’s the wall, lip, face, or revetted edge, our first instincts are to say it means death for our scorecard.

But do the Rules of Golf come to your rescue? And, if they do, there is the obvious question: “If I can take relief, where do I do that?”

I’m often asked if you have to drop the ball into the bunker. We also know we need to do that in a relief area. What if it won’t stay there?

Never fear golfers. I am hoping the following is going to set your minds at ease and help you deal with a situation that’s not that uncommon out on the golf course.

Golf ball embedded in bunker

If the ball is embedded in sand, tough luck. If, though, it is embedded in the “lip, wall or face” then rejoice.

These are not part of a bunker, says the definition: “A lip, wall or face at the edge of a prepared area and consisting of soil, grass, stacked turf, or artificial materials”.

So where is it then? It’s in the general area and you can take embedded ball relief under Rule 16.3b.

There is a caveat. If you’re at a links course in particular, make sure to look at the Local Rules on the back of the scorecard or in the clubhouse.

It’s not uncommon for clubs to refuse free relief for a ball embedded in the stacked turf face or soil above a bunker. The R&A do this at their championships, including The Open, and so do England Golf.

If you’re not stymied in this way, though, then free relief is yours for the taking. Your reference point is the spot right behind where the ball is embedded and you drop in a one club relief area.

That relief area can’t be closer to the hole then that reference point, must be in the general area, and the ball has to come to rest in the relief area.

The latter of which begs the question, ‘what if it doesn’t?’ If you drop and your ball lands in the bunker, for instance, you have to drop it again. If you repeat the trick and it still doesn’t stay in the relief area then you need to try and place it.

Maybe you can get it to stick in a stacked turf face. I’ve never managed it and, for most of you, you’re not going to be able to place it either. But you’ve got to try.

You do this twice and then, under Rule 14.2e, you “must replace the ball by placing it on the nearest spot where the ball will stay at rest” that is in the general area and no nearer the hole.

Let’s go back a little. You also know that to take embedded ball relief, you use the spot immediately behind the ball that’s in the general area. What if there isn’t such a spot?

What if it embeds in the wall or face right above a bunker, and there is nothing below it but sand? There is a clarification to Rule 16.3b that deals with this problem.

You are required to find the nearest spot in the general area that “is not nearer the hole to the spot immediately behind where the ball embedded, and this spot becomes the reference point for establishing a relief area”.

The clarification says that, often, this will be very close to the spot behind where the ball embedded. But it also allows for the possibility that it could be “some distance away” and you might have to move either left or right to find that spot that isn’t closer to the hole.

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.

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