This weekend I hit into a bunker and when I arrived, I found that my ball had come to rest in a big unraked footprint. Not a footprint from a duck, or a footprint from someone casually walking through the bunker, but a footprint where someone had dug into the sand to hit their own bunker shot and then just walked off and left the whole thing unraked meaning my ball was essentially sitting in a 2" deep hole.

So I cheated. My ball had rolled into that spot, so I picked it up and rolled it into a similar location but avoiding the footprints. I wasn't playing for money or posting a score for a handicap, so it was only my own integrity at stake.

I'm sure there are many people who wouldn't have moved their ball and I clearly violated the rules, but just curious to know where people draw the line. What if you hit into a bunker and found that your ball came to rest in the middle of a sandcastle? What if you found that every single bunker on the course had several sandcastles built in them and it happened to you four holes in a row?

Also curious if there are penalties for people who don't rake bunkers? Obviously for my situation I don't care what everyone else's scores are, but if we were in a tournament and the same situation arose then I clearly couldn't move my ball, but would the person in the group in front of me be penalized for not raking? Certainly if he told the people in charge of the tournament that he "just forgot" to rake the bunker he wouldn't be disqualified.

If im playing a tourney- I play it down. Otherwise, improve the lie knowing most tourney players have more etiquette than most other weekend golfers.

I play on a course where if you miss the fairway (sometimes even in the fairway) your ball is sitting on top of loose caliche. If I played every ball as it lied, my clubs wouldnt last a year. As it is, all my clubs look like they are all rock irons.

For casual play I usually "cheat" also.

For instance if I'm playing baked out fairways during a drought I'll move it onto some grass.

Or if I land in rough just off the fairway and can't find my ball, I'll drop another without penalty. On tour there would be several marshals standing around pointing to it.

I hit a high approach shot into a front green side bunker at Stevens Park. Get up the the bunker and the ball had literally plugged and buried so deep in that fine sand, that I could not find it, even though I saw exactly where it hit.

Played another ball out of the bunker w/o a penalty (buddies round).

quote:

---

I hit a high approach shot into a front green side bunker at Stevens Park. Get up the the bunker and the ball had literally plugged and buried so deep in that fine sand, that I could not find it, even though I saw exactly where it hit

---

I had this happen to me in a golf tournament a couple years ago. Fortunately, I kept a good eye on the general area it was in, so I had to dig to uncover the ball to identify it, and then try to recreate the lie by covering it back up to play it. It was high up on the face, so figured I could swing hard enough to move it to where it would roll into a better lie than if I tried to drop it.

In a casual round of golf...I think I'd still play situations like that, or like footprints in the trap, as they lie. Not b/c I'm a stickler for the rules, but moreso that I just don't really care about my score if I'm not playing for anything. So I might as well attempt the shot, just to see what happens.

[This message has been edited by HouAggie (edited 2/17/2014 8:51a).]

quote:

---

Or if I land in rough just off the fairway and can't find my ball, I'll drop another without penalty.

---

I will also drop without penalty, but only if I know for sure I landed just off the fairway and there is no trouble my ball could have rolled into. If there is a creek, tall grass, or any other trouble nearby I will typically take the penalty depending on who I'm playing with and how serious our round is going. Mainly I do this to keep the pace of play up rather than spending 5-10 minutes looking for that $2 Pro-V1 like I've seen so many people do these days.

quote:

---

$2 Pro-V1

---

Where are you buying them? Please tell!

After playing a round or two with a Pro-V1 (if they make it that far before losing them), I wouldn't call them a $4 golf ball any more. They are more on par with a $2 refurbished Pro-V1.

I guess. I just never get that far without losing multiple balls.

The replacement cost is still $4 though. For a new one, at least.

You people take casual rounds too seriously...

Which is exactly why I only buy the refurbished Pro-V1's. I rarely make it through a round without losing at least 1-2 golf balls.

Interesting take on the thread, boy09. It looked like everyone who responded (except me) said that they have no problem breaking the rules, and I said that I only don't do it b/c I don't give a crap about score in a casual round of golf, so I hack away at it.

But in a situation where I hit a ball in the rough that disappears or OB and I don't know it, I'll happily break the rules and drop one somewhere near where I think it disappeared and move on. No way I'm going to head back to the tee if it's not a tournament.

[This message has been edited by HouAggie (edited 2/17/2014 9:12a).]

in the OPs situation I probably would have raked the bunker and hit from a spot nearest where my ball was no closer to the hole.

bagger, I've never heard of any penalties for poor raking or not raking at all.

Play it where it lies for the experience/practice (you said you weren't playing for anything or even posting for handicap), never know when you will need to when it counts.

If you don't get it out, it should roll to a better lie for the next shot. (And you can subtract 1 from your score at the end.)

Most of my rounds are with buddies and with $$ on the line. That is crap about the footprint and I'd let you move it out of it. I hate people that don't rake the bunker properly.

No problem at all with what you did. I would have done the same.

I don't bump the ball unless I'm picking up mud on every tee shot, then we usually will play bump in fairway only. However my thinking is you paid for it you can do whatever you want. Just don't go puffing your chest when you beat me and I'm playing it down and youre fixing your lie in the hazard.

[This message has been edited by The d (edited 2/17/2014 12:04p).]

--I wasn't playing for money or posting a score for a handicap, so it was only my own integrity at stake.--

As long as no one else is affected and you aren't posting a score you could hit a mulligan on every hole. If it's a PRACTICE round, which this sounds like it was, then do whatever you and/or your foursome deems good etiquette.

Money is where I draw the line on cheating. If it's a lot of money then I don't care if someone took a deuce on your ball in the middle of the fairway, you're going to hit it. If it's a buddies round and some $2 or $3 wolf then I would let him pick his ball up, rake and drop without penalty.

quote:

---

bagger, I've never heard of any penalties for poor raking or not raking at all.

---

Well there may be no penalties but I'm sure there's a special place in Golf Hell for these people. After I was directly affected by it I started paying more attention and noticed that it's a pretty big problem. Lot of bunkers with unraked footprints. I don't understand being so inconsiderate.

My group plays for money, but we have our own long standing predetermined rules - if bunker is totally unraked or really wet, we drop out, if there is damage from an AH in front of us, we lift, rake, and drop. This time of year and whenever cartpaths only we play "winter rules" and move our ball within a club length (or nearest point of relief(no closer to hole) to get out of casual water).

The main rule I break is that I won't go back to rehit if I lost my ball. That said, I do take a 2 stroke penalty (instead of 1) and hit from where it disappeared to speed up play. I'm also liberal about hitting a provisional to avoid it since, while my alternative doesn't follow the rules of golf, it is still quite punitive - and more punitive than a rehit that I may stripe down the middle of the fairway.

I'm usually very disciplined about playing everything down, all year round. I'll lift, clean, and place in the fairway at times, but that's very rare and in my estimation only when tourney rules would have allowed it.

quote:

---

Money is where I draw the line on cheating. If it's a lot of money then I don't care if someone took a deuce on your ball in the middle of the fairway, you're going to hit it. If it's a buddies round and some $2 or $3 wolf then I would let him pick his ball up, rake and drop without penalty.

---

Bingo.

quote:

---

Interesting take on the thread, boy09. It looked like everyone who responded (except me) said that they have no problem breaking the rules, and I said that I only don't do it b/c I don't give a crap about score in a casual round of golf, so I hack away at it.

---

My comment was more in response to just the OP. I'd say my philosophy is pretty close to yours. Play the ball as it lies as much as possible, It can be fun trying to hit from crazy situations. But if I kick my ball out of a deep footprint that someone left in a bunker, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Tourney or bet...play it down and by the book.

Otherwise I'm probably not even keeping score.

Well here is a picture of one of my tee shots from Saturday. This was one of the worst ones, but we had mud balls all day long. We do not pick em up and clean them as a general rule, and Saturday was no exception (tournament). Any of you who have played Traditions, know that mud balls are inevitable. Anyway this was on 14, and I made par.

">

Like I said, we almost always play it down, bunkers, rough, everywhere. Not happy about it sometimes, but that's golf.

First, If you are not posting a score to a handicap then it doesnt matter. If you are, then it matters.

THe closer I get to a competitive tournament the more I play the hard and fast rules. So in the summer during tournament season I will play it right. I had an incident several years ago where I missed a putt and picked up not even thinking about it. I realized it pretty quick but had to take the penalty. I also, this year, five putted from 15 feet in a tournament. I think the worst thing you can do for your game is not putt out.

But I will occasionaly play two off the first tee or a mulligan on hole one if I dont get to the range before the round. Or I will move it off a deadspot onto some grass, especially if the area really needs to be roped off. But I generally play it by the rules.

Mark is there a wetter spot on earth than Traditions?

Ladies panties when they see me with my shirt off.

There is 2 guys at our club that do not play out of bounds. They also like to play for money. Sorry but if you are playing me for money you are gonna reload #3 off the tee or Ill let ya drop hitting 4 from where it went out to save time.

Not required to rake any bunker...its a hazard and not all courses even have rakes

Obviously if there is a rake then u should use it

once you learn to play the ball down you never go back

We play for money in one of my groups, and sometimes before we tee off we agree to designate any and all OBs as lateral hazards for our purposes. We do this to essentially speed up play, as some members of this group already play slow as it is.

Um.....














NO