Ask Linda #130-Ball unplayable in bunker

Dear Linda,
What are my options if my ball is unplayable in the sand trap? Is there any way I can take it out?
Lulu

Dear Lulu,

If you decide to declare your ball unplayable in a bunker, you have three options, the first of which will permit you to take the ball out of the bunker. Whichever option you choose, you must add a one-stroke penalty to your score. Here are your choices:

1. Return to where you hit your previous shot and hit another. This is the option to choose if you want to get out of the bunker; it is the only one that allows you to do so.

2. Drop a ball behind where your ball lies in the bunker on an imaginary line that starts at the hole, goes through your ball, and ends at the back of the bunker. If you choose this option the ball must be dropped in the bunker.

3. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of where your ball lies in the bunker, no closer to the hole. If you choose this option the ball must be dropped in the bunker.

Please remember that when you drop the ball you must stand tall and drop the ball from shoulder height and at arm’s length (picture yourself as an upside-down letter L).

Note that you (and only you) are permitted to declare your ball unplayable anywhere on the course except in a water hazard.

I have observed some stubborn, unwise golfers over the years hack away at a ball lodged under the lip of a bunker that was clearly unplayable. Don’t be afraid to use some good judgment and take relief for an unplayable ball. Sometimes that one-stroke penalty is really a gift in disguise!

Linda

Copyright © 2009 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.