Hi, I was just hoping for some clarification on something that happend a couple of times on the weekend. We were playing at Brookwater and a competitors ball was in a difficult position in a bunker – they couldn’t get a good footing. They actually shifted their feet so much in the sand (it was a step face) that they ended up with a nice “step” to stand on. Can you do this, or is there a limit to how much “shuffling” you can do in a bunker? (I’d like to point out they took a long time to get the bunker back to a good condition – how it was before they got there).

Also, I’ve noticed people (and I’ve done it once) hitting the ball out of a difficult lie twice – once when hitting off the deck and then catching it up and hitting it again in the air – accidentaly. Is this 1 shot as there was one swing, 2 shots as the ball was hit twice or something else?

Thanks

You can’t dislodge sufficient sand to build up a level footing .This would especially refer to pushing sand down from a higher level in a similar manner to that which I saw Wayne Grady do in a tournament long ago . It was wrong then and it’s still wrong today.They can only move their feet enough to obtain a solid footing rather than altering the topography of the bunker to suit their needs.
If you strike the ball twice during one swing it counts as 2 shots.

R.13-3 A player is entitled to place his feet firmly in taking his stance, but he must not build a stance. Pen. MP- loss of hole, SP – two strokes.
D.13-3/2
Q. A player knocks down the side of a bunker with his foot in an effort to get his feet on the same level, is this permissible?
A. No. Such action constitutes building a stance in breach of R.13-3.

R.14-4 Ifa player’s club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player must count the stroke and add a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all.

Thanks simonsez and thieftaker.

Have a look a the attached link. Scroll down to Calvin Peete at the 1986 MONY

Video