Testing sand in a bunker..another bunker that is...

Smooth spin scott · August 23, 2006

Long story short, playeing as a 2some, decided to have a friendly match with the 2 guys we were paired with. On one of the holes one guy landed in the greenside bunker (1 of 2), he walked up looked at his predicament hopped in the bunker next to the one he was in and took several practice swings (hitting sand and all). I was perplexed due to the fact that I had never seen this... Didn't call him on this odd move because my buddy and I were a little confused on wether this is actually a violation of the rules. Any thoughts? And yes he raked both bunkers afterwards!

SheriffBooth · August 23, 2006

Clever idea, but it still should have been loss of hole.

The rule is pretty clear, you can't test the condition of the hazard you're in or any similar hazard.

Albatros · August 23, 2006

Its grounding the club no matter if there's a ball in there or not.

Question is...does he get a penalty for each practice swing or just one?

SheriffBooth · August 23, 2006

In match play, the first offense is loss of hole. In stroke play, each incident would be a two stroke penalty.

Gub · August 23, 2006

it's rule 13-4a. 2 strokes since it's a 'similar hazard' (stroke play) and like others have said, loss of hole in match play.

MrBig · August 24, 2006

I think this happened to Vijah... If I remember correctly he hit from a fairway bunker into a greenside bunker, unknowingly, and took a practice swing in the fairway bunker and incured a two stroke penality. Bad beat...

G