Golf Bunkers

Bunkers 1
It may seem obvious what a bunker is, but there are some important differences in the rules according to whether you are inside or outside a bunker. The rules of golf define a bunker as a hazard which has had turf or soil removed and which has been filled with sand or the like.

This means that a bunker has to be deliberately created. At a seaside course, you may find yourself playing out of pure sand, even from dunes which seem like natural bunkers, but you won't be subject to the rules which govern play from hazards.

Grass-covered ground bordering, or even within, a bunker is not part of the bunker. Some courses even have small islands of grass in the middle of bunkers. All these areas must be treated exactly the same as the rest of the area through the green.

The margin of a bunker extends straight downwards, but not upwards, like that of a water hazard. So if a ball on the edge of a bunker overhangs the sand but does not touch it, it is not in the bunker.

Points to watch
The most important point to bear in mind when playing from a bunker is not to ground your club. If you touch the sand at address or on your back swing, you lose the hole in match play or are penalized 2 strokes in stroke play.

Remember also that you are not allowed to remove loose impediments. All too often, a player used to doing this on the rest of the course will remove materials such as leaves when they lie on top of or around his ball in a bunker.

Treat them as if they are part of the sand. If you remove loose impediments in a bunker it costs you the hole in match play or 2 strokes in stroke play.

The only exception comes when your ball is completely covered, as may happen with autumn leaves. In that case, you may remove just enough matter to allow you to see part of the ball.

Bunkers 2
What do you do if your ball is deeply embedded in a bunker, or if a stone is in the way of your ball? As usual, the rules are quite specific and it pays to know them.

The state and depth of the sand in a bunker may be quite important in deciding the type of shot you choose to play. But beware -you must not test the condition of the sand in a hazard before you take your shot.

Feet placing
You often see players wriggling their feet before they play, sometimes so much that the sand almost reaches the tops of their shoes.

The rules allow you to place your feet firmly when you take your stance but forbid you to build a stance by deliberately packing sand under your feet. If a player gains some idea of how firm and how deep the sand is in the bunker as he takes his stance that is his good fortune.

You are not allowed to touch loose impediments in a bunker, but you often see players removing stones from hazards without being penalized. This is because some clubs have local rules allowing you to remove stones from bunkers on their courses. When courses have these local rules they are normally printed on the back of the card of the course.

Most clubs in Britain have a local rule regarding stones in bunkers, but be careful - there are exceptions. A leading amateur lost a hole in an important match in the 1990 English Amateur Championship because he assumed he was allowed to remove a stone in the bunker. The club in question had no such local rule.

Bunkers and water hazards provide the only opportunity for you to play a wrong ball without being penalized. It may sometimes be difficult to identify your ball in a bunker, particularly when more than one ball lands there.

You must not lift the ball to identify it in these circumstances, as you may do elsewhere on the course. Instead, play out the one you think is yours. If you then find the ball is not yours, there is no penalty. If it belongs to an opponent or fellow competitor, you should replace the ball as near as possible to the original lie.

Buried ball
Sometimes your ball is completely buried in a bunker. The rules allow you to search for it, even using a club to do so. Try to expose only part of the ball. But if you accidentally expose more or dislodge the ball, there is no penalty - replace the ball and cover it with sand until just a small part is exposed to allow you to see where it is.

When a bunker has casual water in it and your ball lands there, you can lift and drop your ball without penalty. Choose the nearest spot in the bunker which gives you maximum relief and is not nearer the hole.

Sometimes you may find that the whole of a bunker is filled with water. You then have two options - you can proceed as above, dropping your ball at the point in the bunker not nearer the hole where you think the water is shallowest.

Alternatively you can drop the ball outside the bunker, keeping the point where it lay directly between you and the hole, under penalty of 1 shot.