Your Queries Resolved
QCan you please tell me what the rule is in the following scenario. Firstly, you rake the bunker behind you before attempting to play your ball out of the bunker. Then, on its way out, the ball hits the face and lands in the area that you’ve raked. Is it a penalty because you’ve improved your lie?
Alan Ronan, via Youtube
AUnder the circumstances which you have described, if you were simply raking the bunker to care for the course and save time, there would be no penalty and the ball would simply be played as it lies. Under Rule 12.2, a player is entitled to smooth sand in a bunker in order to care for the course, so provided that no sand was smoothed in order to alter the conditions affecting your stroke or your line of play, or to learn information for your next stroke, then there would be no penalty in this situation.
Chris Wallace, R&A Rules manager
QWhen I recently played in a friendly game of four-ball match play, two of the players’ balls were lying right next to each other like two peas in a pod just off the green. None of us knew what to do, but we decided to mark one ball with a tee and move it the length of a putter head before replacing the ball after the other one was played. Was this the correct course of action or should we have done something different?
Mathew Bennett, via email
AWhat you did was absolutely correct. Under Rule 15.3, if another player’s ball might interfere with your area of intended stance or swing, or is close to your line of play where there is a reasonable chance that your ball could hit the other ball or it will distract you, then you may ask the other player to mark the spot and lift the ball. For the same reasons, any ball-marker which might also interfere in such a way can be moved out of the way to a new spot measured by using one or more clubhead-lengths.