If your ball lies on
a movable obstruction in a bunker (e.g., a rake, a hot dog wrapper, a towel),
the ball is deemed to lie in the bunker, even though it is not touching the
sand [Decision 13/5]. You may lift the ball, remove the obstruction, and drop the ball in the bunker as near as
possible to where it lay, no closer to the hole [Rule 24-1b]. The reason you
drop the ball in this situation, rather than place it, is that the ball never
had a position on the ground.
The same procedure (i.e., lift ball, remove obstruction,
drop ball) would be followed everywhere else on the golf course except for on a
putting green, where you would place the ball.
If the ball is lying on
the ground, leaning against the movable obstruction, you must replace the
ball if the ball moves when you remove the obstruction (“replace” means
“place,” not “drop”). In such cases, I always recommend that you mark the ball
to avoid any subsequent discussion regarding whether you replaced it on the
correct spot. Marking in this situation is not a requirement, but it could turn
out to be a time saver.
Linda
Copyright © 2016 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
