Hazards: Bunkers (and Water Hazards)

By The Albatross

What is a hazard in a golf course? It is important to have a clear definition of a hazard to ensure compliance with the Rules of Golf when playing in such an area. This might appear trivial but a professional lady golfer recently suffered two penalty strokes for not observing the rules relating to a water hazard.

The Rules of Golf are clinical in their definition of a hazard. A hazard is defined as any bunker or water hazard. Let’s look at the definition of a bunker, as this forms the bedrock of the discussion that follows. A bunker is a hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf, grass or soil has been removed and replaced with soil or the like.

Please notice that, under this definition turf or grass has been removed and replaced with something else. Hence the rules applicable to bunkers do not affect play in grass bunkers! Consequently, grass covered ground bordering or within a bunker, including a stacked turf, whether grass covered or earthen, is not part of the bunker.

A wall or lip of the bunker, not covered with grass is, however, part of the bunker. The margin of the bunker extends vertically downwards but not upwards. A ball is in a bunker when it lies in or any part of it touches the bunker. Bunkers are a specially prepared part of the golf course and they are expensive to maintain. As part of the care the course therefore, golfers must have due regard to bunkers.

When your ball lies in the bunker remember to enter and exit the bunker from lowest side. This creates safe access and allows for minimum damage both to the edges of the bunker and the sand in the bunker.

A heavy landing displaces an inordinate amount of sand and may even result in harm to the player; especially where bunkers are deep. Once you have taken your shot in the bunker remember to clean up both the divot you may have dug up in the bunker and your steps.

Exit by walking backwards and even out all those footmarks you created as you walked up to your ball. Alternatively, exit the bunker, remembering to do so via the lowest edge of the bunker and get your caddie to repair all the footmarks and the divots.

Bear in mind that a bunker shot is a difficult shot at the best of times; but to have to play a ball from the deep footmark left unrepaired is a pretty annoying experience. If you find it annoying; so does everybody else.

And if we all repaired and evened out every bunker we happen to visit, all the bunkers will be clean and even all the time.

They are like the putting surfaces. If we all repaired our pitch marks on every green, the putting surface would remain smooth and perfect to putt on all the time.

There are broadly two types of bunkers: the fairway bunkers and the greenside bunkers. Grass bunkers may qualify as a third classification but as they are planted with grass and do not contain sand they belong to a special classification, set apart from sand bunkers.

Typically, fairway bunkers are shallower but bigger than the greenside bunkers. The Americans refer to bunkers as traps and that is a good way to think about them once you find you have landed in one.

This is a trap and calls for a specialised shot. You may find it advisable to pay a visit to your club professional for detailed playing instructions but as a general rule, it is possible to play a fairway wood or a long iron in a fairway bunker whilst your very short clubs; the pitching wedge, sand wedge or the lob wedge will be your club out of a greenside sand bunker.

But even in a fairway bunker, if your ball ends up close to, or right against the edge of the bunker, you may want to make the shot appropriate to the lie of the ball.

Under Golf Rule 13-4, there are actions that are prohibited whilst the player’s ball lies in the bunker.

The rule states: "except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard, whether a bunker or a water hazard, or that, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard, the player must not: a) Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard; b) Touch the ground in the hazard or water in the water hazard with his hand or club; or, c) Touch or move a loose impediment lying in or touching the hazard.

But these prohibitions are lifted to cover the following situations: 1. Providing nothing is done that constitutes testing the condition of the hazard or improves the lie of the ball, there is no penalty if the player a) touches the ground or loose impediments in any hazard or water in a water hazard as a result of or to prevent falling, in removing an obstruction, in measuring or in marking the position of, retrieving, lifting, placing or replacing a ball under any Rule or b) places his clubs in a hazard.

It used to be the case that placing the clubs in a hazard was an infringement of the rules but this last provision lifts that violation. This violation was a common occurrence in water hazards without water but that, under this rule, has now been lifted.

There are other provisions under this rule and players are invited to look up this rule and familiarise themselves with its provisions.