Casual water in bunker

[KJT123]

Today i found myself in a fully water filled bunker with absolutely no room to drop into any sand. So i thought that it must be a free drop two club lengths away from the edge of the bunker. Did a quick google search on my phone and found that its a one shot penalty if you drop outside the bunker, even if its filled with water.

Can i get this confirmed please? Found it ridiculous, what else was i supposed to do, i had to take a drop!

 

[Colin L]

Yes - it's a 1 stroke penalty unless the bunker has been declared to be GUR.
Your options were :
to play the ball as it lay;
to drop the ball without penalty in the bunker where the water caused least interference;
to drop outside the bunker under a 1 stroke penalty on a line from the hole through where your ball lay, as far back as you wished;
to play again from where you played your last stroke (stroke and distance).

 

[williamalex1]

Yes - it's a 1 stroke penalty unless the bunker has been declared to be GUR.
Your options were :
to play the ball as it lay;
to drop the ball without penalty in the bunker where the water caused least interference;
to drop outside the bunker under a 1 stroke penalty on a line from the hole through where your ball lay, as far back as you wished;
to play again from where you played your last stroke (stroke and distance).

If dropping in the bunker you can't drop nearer the hole

 

[CMAC]

Yes - it's a 1 stroke penalty unless the bunker has been declared to be GUR.
Your options were :
to play the ball as it lay;
to drop the ball without penalty in the bunker where the water caused least interference;
to drop outside the bunker under a 1 stroke penalty on a line from the hole through where your ball lay, as far back as you wished;
to play again from where you played your last stroke (stroke and distance).

as williamalex1 states, not nearer the hole, did it myself 4 years ago in the club championship, there was only 1 patch of sand in a bunker possible to drop, but it was nearer the hole by a couple of feet, did that, played the shot and discovered I should have been penalised so I was DQ'd from the club championship for an incorrect score- so it's ingrained in my head now

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Was told by a rules ref that you can drop it nearer the hole in a bunker as long as you stay in the hazard and there is no other way to take relief from the standing water. ?

Wasn't the first I heard that as well

But still not sure

 

[williamalex1]

Was told by a rules ref that you can drop it nearer the hole in a bunker as long as you stay in the hazard and there is no other way to take relief from the standing water. ?

Wasn't the first I heard that as well

But still not sure

As CMAC said, we too had a leading player d/q from our c/champs for exactly the same reason.

 

[Colin L]

If dropping in the bunker you can't drop nearer the hole

Indeed - thanks for filling in the blank.

Was told by a rules ref that you can drop it nearer the hole in a bunker as long as you stay in the hazard and there is no other way to take relief from the standing water. ?

Wasn't the first I heard that as well

But still not sure

Be sure, because your rules ref was wrong. You may drop in the bunker where there is maximum relief from the water but not nearer the hole as has been said.

The omission of that from my answer above was just that - an omission.

 

[Spuddy]

25-1b is the reference. If you've a bunker that's basically unplayable then let your committee know as they can designate as GUR. It won't help at the time I'm afraid but will hopefully in the future if you're like me and visit the same bunker so often that you could get mail delivered there.

b. Relief
Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an abnormal ground condition as follows:


(i)Through the Green: If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the condition and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.


(ii)In a Bunker: If the ball is in a bunker, the player must lift the ball and drop it either:


(a) Without penalty, in accordance with Clause (i) above, except that the nearest point of relief must be in the bunker and the ball must be dropped in the bunker or, if complete relief is impossible, as near as possible to the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole, on a part of the course in the bunker that affords maximum available relief from the condition; or


(b) Under penalty of one stroke, outside the bunker keeping the point where the ball lay directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the bunker the ball may be dropped.

 

[woody69]

Today i found myself in a fully water filled bunker with absolutely no room to drop into any sand. So i thought that it must be a free drop two club lengths away from the edge of the bunker. Did a quick google search on my phone and found that its a one shot penalty if you drop outside the bunker, even if its filled with water.

Can i get this confirmed please? Found it ridiculous, what else was i supposed to do, i had to take a drop!

You didn't have to take a drop. You could have attempted the shot, or your commitee should have declared it GUR. The rule is fine.

This same question was asked not that long ago and a belief it "wasn't fair", but flip it over to the height of summer and your ball rolls into a water hazard that has receded due to evaporation. Here you get the flip side as you can still play a stroke, when in winter it would be under water.