Golf Bunker Rules, Do I Have To Play The Golf Ball As It Lies (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Bunker Rules, Do I Have To Play The Golf Ball As It Lies (Video) - by Pete Styles

Do you have to play a bunker shot as it lies? Now this tip is much more based around understanding and knowing the rules of golf rather than the technique of playing a golf shot. So let’s just built a little scenario here; we’ve taken a ball, it’s flown from a long way out and it’s landed right here under the lip. And it’s a very difficult shot now, I'm trying to play out to this first checkered flag here, the balls finished under the lip. What are my options?

Now I could try and climb in there and try and play the ball out but I’m actually going to find that a very difficult shot you know, there’s very little room to play the shot, it’s a very awkward stance. That’s not going to be an easy solution. So what are my options within the rules? Well first thing, I can always replay a golf shot you know, any time, any position on the golf course; you can always go back and re-hit it. But it does cost you, and it costs you a one shot penalty plus the fact that you hit the ball here, so it would be one under the lip back for two, you have to go all the way back to where you hit from and then play it from there, effectively playing your third shot. So consider whether that would be an option. Two more opportunities to drop the ball here; you can drop the ball anywhere within the bunker, two club lengths away from where the ball is but not near the hole. But I stress in the bunker. So you can’t take two club lengths and drop it on the fringe and put it off. It’s going to have to be two club lengths sideways, sideway is this way, in the bunker or you can drop it inline with the ball and the hole as far back as you like. But again I stress it’s a drop, it’s in the bunker and it’s for a penalty. So I hit the ball to here for one, I pick it up for two, I drop it down, it then plugs in the floor and I’m now playing three from a plug lie still in a bunker. So it’s not a great scenario either way. I’ve found myself in a difficult situation; it’s not going to be easy to get the golf ball out of there. One option might be, you play it, but you play it sideways. You kind of chip it back around yourself, chip it back that way, get it back in the bunker somewhere, but it might not be plugged in that scenario. So, you’re in a difficult situation; take your medicine, understand the rules, use the rules to your advantage and you don’t always have to play the bunker shot as it lies. 2014-11-11

Do you have to play a bunker shot as it lies? Now this tip is much more based around understanding and knowing the rules of golf rather than the technique of playing a golf shot. So let’s just built a little scenario here; we’ve taken a ball, it’s flown from a long way out and it’s landed right here under the lip. And it’s a very difficult shot now, I'm trying to play out to this first checkered flag here, the balls finished under the lip. What are my options?

Now I could try and climb in there and try and play the ball out but I’m actually going to find that a very difficult shot you know, there’s very little room to play the shot, it’s a very awkward stance. That’s not going to be an easy solution. So what are my options within the rules? Well first thing, I can always replay a golf shot you know, any time, any position on the golf course; you can always go back and re-hit it. But it does cost you, and it costs you a one shot penalty plus the fact that you hit the ball here, so it would be one under the lip back for two, you have to go all the way back to where you hit from and then play it from there, effectively playing your third shot. So consider whether that would be an option.

Two more opportunities to drop the ball here; you can drop the ball anywhere within the bunker, two club lengths away from where the ball is but not near the hole. But I stress in the bunker. So you can’t take two club lengths and drop it on the fringe and put it off. It’s going to have to be two club lengths sideways, sideway is this way, in the bunker or you can drop it inline with the ball and the hole as far back as you like. But again I stress it’s a drop, it’s in the bunker and it’s for a penalty. So I hit the ball to here for one, I pick it up for two, I drop it down, it then plugs in the floor and I’m now playing three from a plug lie still in a bunker. So it’s not a great scenario either way. I’ve found myself in a difficult situation; it’s not going to be easy to get the golf ball out of there. One option might be, you play it, but you play it sideways. You kind of chip it back around yourself, chip it back that way, get it back in the bunker somewhere, but it might not be plugged in that scenario. So, you’re in a difficult situation; take your medicine, understand the rules, use the rules to your advantage and you don’t always have to play the bunker shot as it lies.