ball in hazard

Question
QUESTION: I know that if your ball is in a hazard like a bunker, you can't sole the club before you hit it. What if you go into a different bunker and sole the club there - still a 2 stroke penalty I assume ? Suppose you merely drop your club into a different bunker by mistake, i.e. it slips out of your hand - still a 2 stroke penalty ?

ANSWER: Hi Steven,

Yes, you get 2 stroke penalty in that different bunker as well. If you accidentally  drop a club or any of your clubs in a bunker, you get a penalty. The thought is that you could use a club to test the compactness or consistency of the sand. Likewise, you can't rake any of the bunker before you play your shot as this would be considered testing.

Hope this helps.

Please visit my site: www.probablegolfinstruction.com

Best,
Ken Tannar

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: WE've had a lot of rain lately, and some bunkers have had big puddles in them. What do you do if the ball ends up in the puddle inside of a bunker ? Suppose you can't actually find your ball because the water is so murky (actually happened to me last week twice - once I used the rake and came up with the ball, once I didn't). thanks for the quick response !!

Answer
Hi Steven,

You can always get relief from accumulations of temporary water, called "casual water."
The USGA has a great online rule search. When you use the search "casual water" lots of situations come up.

"A player who has interference from casual water determines his relief options based on where the ball lies. If the ball is 搕hrough the green?he would find the nearest location where he has relief from the area of casual water, no nearer the hole, and drop the ball within one club-length of that point, no nearer the hole. This could result in the player moving from the rough to the fairway or vice versa.

If the ball is on the putting green, he would find the nearest point that is equidistant from the hole and not in a hazard that gives him relief and place the ball at that point. The point may be off the putting green.

When the ball is in a bunker, things get a little more complicated. If the player can find a place, again not nearer the hole, in the bunker that gives him complete relief, he would drop within one club-length of that point. If he was unable to find a point of complete relief, he would find the point that afforded him maximum relief and drop at that point. For example, if there was a place where he was standing in 1/8-inch deep water, but the ball would be on sand that wasn抰 in casual water, that would be more relief than standing in ?inch deep water with the ball in a small puddle. In this case, the ball is to be dropped on the point of maximum relief and not within the usual club-length.

If the player looks at the area in a bunker where he is to drop the ball, but doesn抰 like it, he can, before he drops the ball, decide on a different option. This option allows him to drop outside the bunker for a one-stroke penalty. He must drop the ball on the extension of the line that goes from the hole through the point in the bunker where his ball lay, going back as far as he would like. In other words, this is similar to option B in taking relief from a water hazard."

Note that for "free relief" the player must drop within the bunker, whether he gets "full relief" or not.

Hope this helps.

Go to the usga for more rules info:
http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Rule-01/

Best regards,
Ken Tannar