what are your options if your ball is buried in a bunker and you can not find it in the allowable 5 minutes

what are your options if your ball is buried in a bunker and you can not find it in the allowable 5 minutes

You have 3 options:

1. Play another ball under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 27-1).
2. See #1.
3. See #2.

Your ball is simply lost/go back and play another under Rule 27-1 if it’s not found after 5 minutes search in the bunker. There’s no special Rule on ball lost in bunker as there is on ball lost in a water hazard, in an abnormal ground condition or in an obstruction.

Are you allowed to rake the bunker to find it?

Presumably that is disallowed due to the rule prohibiting the testing of a bunker.

But anything done to probe the sand might also be considered testing, so how do you find a submerged ball legally…?

_{12-1 – Searching for ball
...
In a hazard, if a ball is believed to be covered by loose impediments or sand, the player may remove by probing or raking with a club or otherwise, as many loose impediments or as much sand as will enable him to see a part of the ball. If an excess is removed, there is no penalty and the ball must be re-covered so that only a part of the ball is visible. If the ball is moved during the removal, there is no penalty; the ball must be replaced and, if necessary, re-covered.}
...

That’s interesting, I would have gone with Muntz’s call.

If that’s the case wouldn’t you be deemed to have grounded the club in a hazard?

That’s interesting, I would have gone with Muntz’s call.

If that’s the case wouldn’t you be deemed to have grounded the club in a hazard?

“Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at.”
Jimmy Demaret

Not during a search in a hazard. You may use everything available – rake, hands, club, shovel.

Or even a mechanical digger !!!

bumped this.
rule is if you cannot find the ball within 5 mins, using rake and hands,(no penalty) then it is a lost ball.

If you found it, you may re-create as similar as possible to it’s original position and allowing a small hole to see the ball.

Now, if you then declare that it is unplayable, you
1. go back to where it was last hit.
2. drop a ball within 2 club lengths or keeping pin in line and not nearer the hole but must be in the bunker.

Came up recently on a trip to Mission Hills.

If you found it, you may re-create as similar as possible to it’s original position and allowing a small hole to see the ball.

Not ‘may’.

If the ball is found, and identified as his, the player must re-create the lie as nearly as possible by replacing the sand. If the ball is moved during the touching or moving of sand while searching for or identifying the ball, there is no penalty; the ball must be replaced and the lie re-created.