Ask Linda #159-Slam club in bunker

Linda–
What if your bunker shot stays in the bunker and you slam your club in anger in the bunker. Is that a penalty?
Lou Lou

Dear Lou Lou,

It certainly is. You are not permitted to touch the ground in a hazard with your club [Rule 13-4b]. The penalty is loss of hole in match play, two strokes in stroke play.

This is different from the question another reader had asked about throwing a club in a hazard in anger after trying to hit a ball out of a bunker and failing. The thrown club is equivalent to placing a club in the bunker (albeit violently), and is not penalized.

I have a question for my readers to ponder. Why is everyone so angry in the bunkers, slamming and throwing clubs? What happened to simply being disappointed, regrouping, and hitting the next shot?

Linda

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