Can you ground your club in a fairway bunker?
Grounding Your Club and Practice Swings in Bunker
The changes also include simplifying the rules for bunkers, allowing players to touch or move loose impediments in a bunker and ground their club in the sand before making a stroke. Lastly, the time allowed for searching for a lost ball has been reduced from five to three minutes.
When playing a shot from a penalty area, you can remove any detached natural or artificial object (known as loose impediments and movable obstructions), ground your club behind the ball, or take practice swings that touch the ground.
Rule 12.2b (1) says you can't. You're right, it does. Before making a stroke at a ball in a bunker, it states that a player must not touch sand in the bunker with a club “in making a practice swing”.
Q. May I touch the sand with my club when my ball is in a bunker? A. Touching the sand with your club immediately in front of or behind your ball, during a practice swing or during your backswing is a penalty (see Rule 12.2b(1)).
Deliberately testing the condition of the sand with a hand or club continues to be prohibited because part of the player's challenge is to assess and predict how the sand may affect the stroke, and also because it is time consuming and inappropriate for players to dig in the sand with a hand or club for that purpose ...
A player is allowed to touch or move loose impediments and touch the ground with hand or club (such as grounding the club right behind the ball) for any reason, subject only to the prohibition on improving conditions for the stroke (see Rule 8.1a).
When may I rake the bunker? A. When your ball is in a bunker, you may rake the bunker at any time to care for the course as long as you do not improve the conditions affecting your upcoming stroke (this means to improve your lie, area of intended stance, area of intended swing or line of play) (see Rule 12.2b(2)).
What You Need to Know. There is no relief under this rule for a ball that is embedded in a penalty area or bunker. EXCEPTIONS - There are a few instances when relief is not allowed for a ball that is embedded in the general area. When the ball is embedded in sand that is not cut to fairway height.
10. Grounding Your Club in a Hazard Practice swings may be taken inside a hazard as long as you don't touch the ground, sand or water with your club. The top of the grass may be touched during a practice swing. The penalty for grounding your club is loss of the hole in Match Play or a 2 shot penalty in Stroke Play.
What happens if you take a drop and then find your ball?
To possibly save time, play a provisional ball if you believe that your original may be lost or out of bounds. If you find your original ball in play, then your provisional is obsolete and you've got to proceed with your original.
Rule 27-1: If a ball is lost as a result of not being found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after the player's side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it, the player must play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was ...
Steepen your swing. A shot from the bunker needs a steep angle of attack, and a great way to achieve that is by hinging your wrists aggressively. On the downswing, aim for a spot about an inch or two behind the ball in the sand.
While you are allowed to practice putt or chip between holes, such practice strokes must not be made from a bunker. The penalty is the general penalty — loss of hole in match play, two strokes in stroke play, as loyal readers need no reminding — which applies to the next hole.
As an extra relief option when a player's ball is in a bunker, for a total of two penalty strokes, the player may take back-on-the-line relief outside the bunker under Rule 19.2b.
Regardless, under Rule 12.2b, it's the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play for touching the sand in a bunker with a practice swing.
Restrictions on Touching Sand in Bunker
In the area right in front of or right behind the ball (except as allowed under Rule 7.1a in fairly searching for a ball or under Rule 12.2a in removing a loose impediment or movable obstruction), In making a practice swing, or. In making the backswing for a stroke.
No one but pros and amateurs playing tournaments even try to learn and abide by them. “No. You may not substitute a ball on the putting green unless your ball is cut, cracked or out of shape (see Rule 4.2c(2)).
The shoulder-height drop is a thing of the past. Now when you have to take a drop, be it for free relief or after hitting into a hazard, the procedure is to drop from knee height. Grounding the club in a hazard. Gone, too, is the penalty for grounding your club or removing loose impediments in a hazard.
Conversely, here's what you still aren't allowed: Grounding your club at address in the sand prior to the stroke. Touching the sand during a practice swing or with your backswing.
Do you get relief from red stakes?
When you take relief from a penalty area, you get one penalty stroke. For yellow penalty areas, you have two relief options. For red penalty areas, you have three relief options (the same two relief options as you do for yellow, plus one additional option.)
Hold the club full length
Knowing that you need to get the club into the sand, and keep it there, it doesn't make a lot of sense to choke down on the club. Gripping down would make the club shorter and less likely to take the sand you need. It shouldn't be used as a technique to hit your golf ball shorter, either.
In a bunker, the club can touch the ground. Please level sand after hitting the ball.
New Rule: The player has an extra option allowing relief outside the bunker using the back-on-the-line procedure, but for a total of two penalty strokes (Rule 19.3b).
This refers to the whole area of the course except the teeing ground and putting green of the hole being played and all hazards. Thus, you can not have an embedded ball in a bunker or water hazard. If you do have a ball embedded in these areas, you must operate under the applicable rule, 13-4 and 26-1.
