AdamW
Active member
Bit confused if this is allowed or not is it allowed to touch the sand or do you have to hover just above the sand?
When doing a bunker shot is your club allowed to touch the sand during setup?
- Thread starter AdamW
- Start date
chrisd
Major Champion
You're not allowed to touch the sand immediately in front or behind the ball or in making a practice stroke or backswing see rule12.2b
AdamW
Active member
Thanks for pointing me the right way found this video under that rule which helped clear it up
https://www.randa.org/Rog/2019/Rules/The-Rules-of-Golf/Rule-12
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Separately - but related.
Am I still stuffed if my bunker shot doesn't get out and ends up in my footprints? I've tried to find if I can do any tidying before playing my shot with the revised rules - or if I am still stuck in the mess of my own doing.
Am I still stuffed if my bunker shot doesn't get out and ends up in my footprints? I've tried to find if I can do any tidying before playing my shot with the revised rules - or if I am still stuck in the mess of my own doing.
jim8flog
Journeyman Pro
yes you are stuffed. It is questionable about whether or not you could tidy up the last impact area but given the previous shot this could be an area where your ball might finish so I would not do it.
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Thought as much. Failed to get out of a bunker on Saturday - no excuses - tried to be too clever - ball catching very top of surround and rolling back into my deep footprints. Typically I then got it out from a much worse lie.
tobybarker
Active member
What if it had rolled back and ended up on top of your shoe (maybe you were annoyed at leaving it in and were busy admonishing yourself at the time)? Do you have to place it into your own footprint for no penalty?
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Take my shoe off; place it in the bunker where I was standing; and place the ball on top of my shoe. Unlikely.
clubchamp98
Journeyman Pro
You would need very flat feet .
tobybarker
Active member
Not really.... Your feet tend to be well dug into bunker sand......
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Actually not necessarily so. My feet were pretty much buried in deep sand. If I had not moved my foot my ball would have rested against it - and in fact pretty much on the level of the sand. And now I would not be penalised, I would remove my foot and my ball would have fallen into my footprint, I could have placed it back in the sand at the spot it came to rest.
I am wondering if I could make it stay 'above ground level' by slightly depressing it into the sand at the edge of my footprint. Would've made a lot easier shot than I ended up with.
clubchamp98
Journeyman Pro
clubchamp98
Journeyman Pro
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
My ball is resting against my shoe - I know that if I move my foot out of the way there is a good chance my ball will fall into my footprint. So before I move my foot I mark the position of my ball and I lift my ball - position in bunker now marked. Can I tidy up my footprint and smooth the sand BEFORE I replace my ball at the marked position? My ball is out of play and so can I tidy footprints in a bunker (albeit that they are my own) before playing my next shot?
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
Well by my reckoning you have an additional penalty under 9.4b anyway...
What rule do you believe permits you to mark and remove the ball here?
clubchamp98
Journeyman Pro
No you can’t tidy it up.
You can rake a bunker to care for the course even if you leave the ball in there .
But it must be away from where your ball is after the shot and not in front or behind the ball .
There was another thread about this a few weeks ago, about a lad who walked forward to look then raked the line of his shot, he was penalised as I remember.
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