Friday, December 16, 2016

Ask Linda #1440-Test sand in one bunker while ball in another 12.16.16

Ciao Linda,
It's clear that I can enter a bunker and touch the sand when my ball is in the fairway.

Recently my ball entered a bunker. While walking to the destination bunker I passed close to another one so I tested the sand in this bunker to decide how to play my ball.

Is this allowed?
Italian Lou living in Czech Republic

Dear Lou,

No. The player is not permitted to test the condition of a similar hazard when his ball lies in a hazard [Rule 13-4a]. The penalty is two strokes in stroke play, loss of hole in match play. (The term “hazard” includes both bunkers and water hazards.)

Linda
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