Rules Review
Rules of Golf Review: You can remove that stone in the bunker. But what happens if it improves your lie?
Richard Heathcote
Rory McIlroy plays by the rules, but that doesn't mean he hasn't found himself in a handful of interesting rules dilemmas over the years—especially when standing in bunkers.
You might recall his 2009 bunker incident at the Masters. After leaving a bunker shot in the sand on the par-4 finishing hole, McIlroy appeared to have kicked the sand in frustration (a two-stroke penalty). He would have been disqualified if that was true, because McIlroy signed his scorecard without the penalty adjustment. His actions were called into question, and he was summoned back to Augusta National to review video and provide an explanation. The club later released a statement clearing McIlroy of any penalty, because they said he was only trying to tidy the bunker, which is allowed.
Then in 2019, he nearly got another penalty for touching sand behind his ball at the Northern Trust. He thought he was picking up a stone, but it turned out to be a clump of sand. A two-stroke penalty was assesed but later removed after it was decided that McIlroy didn't intentionally touch the sand. Even McIlroy admitted there was definitely some gray area to the incident, which is why it's worth revisiting what is and isn't allowed in terms of what you can do before playing a shot from a bunker.
In the case of removing loose impediments such as stones, leaves, pine cones, etc., you might wonder what happens if your actions improve your lie. An example of this might be dragging a stone out from behind your ball, and that dragging action smooths out a lump of sand making your next shot a little easier. Is that a penalty?
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You'll want to consider Rule 12.2a/1 and Rule 8.1b(2). In short, if you attempt to remove a loose impediment in a bunker and that action improves conditions affecting the stroke, there is no penalty if the actions taken were considered reasonable. Reasonable is the key word. Getting back to the scenario above, where a stone was dragged away from its position behind the ball and that dragging action caused the sand to be smoothed out, you might wonder if that is considered "reasonable." The answer is, it's unlikely, and a penalty might have occured. The player likely could have picked up the stone instead of sliding it away from the ball. Picking up the stone would have been less intrusive to the sand.
In this case, the player likely would have gotten a penalty for improving conditions affecting the stroke (Rule 8.1a). That's two shots added to the scorecard in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.
It's important to note that simply touching the sand in the bunker while removing a loose impediment or a movable obstruction like a water bottle, etc., is not grounds for a penalty. That doesn't mean you can go to town on the area around your ball, however. Just keep in mind the word reasonable in your actions.