Thanks,
Lou from Toronto
Dear Lou,
No. You are not permitted to take a practice swing in an
adjacent bunker before making a stroke from a bunker. This is a breach of Rule
13-4a, which prohibits testing the condition of a bunker prior to making a
stroke at a ball that lies in a bunker [Decision 13-4/0.5].
Follow-up question
from Lou:
So further to this
then, if I play out of a bunker, immediately play a practice swing in the
bunker, not realizing my ball went over the green into another bunker, would a
penalty be incurred?
In this case there would be no penalty, Lou. Exception 3 to
Rule 13-4 absolves the player of a penalty for testing the condition in a hazard
after he has hit the ball out of that
hazard into another hazard. So if you should hit your ball out of bunker #1
into bunker #2, and subsequently take a practice stroke in bunker #1, you are
not penalized for that practice stroke.
Linda
Copyright © 2014 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
