Bunker Relief? Or any Bad Lie?

Not sure if my wording is Correct for this Question but I will try.

Tonight in my league play I pushed my Drive right, the ball landed on the top front edge of the buker in thick long grass with about 45* uphill lie,  My stance was way awkwards at any direction, I had no real punch out shot.

What I wanted to do is to take relif  maybe a drop  into the bunker further from the hole. (This would have been a better lie for me).

What I Did used a 7w to have the ball go streight up and backwards into the bunker, but the ball landed near the edge on a position with the ball well above my feet still in the bunker.

The next shot of course went hard left (even with open club face) it did land on the fairway. next shot hit the green.

I think I could of greened from the bunker with a better lie.

So could I have taken a 1 stroke drop to improve my chances to par?

Thanks,

Tom

Yes, under Rule 28 you have 3 options and 2 of them would have allowed you to drop in the bunker.  You could have dropped within 2 clublengths not nearer the hole from where the ball was unplayable, or you could draw a line from the hole through your ball and drop back on that line as far as you wanted.

So I could have gone back out of the bunker into a rough area that gave me a shot at greening in 3? (line from the hole through ball  further back?)

As far as I know, since the ball wasn't actually in the bunker, it doesn't need to be dropped in the bunker. Since it was on the edge of the bunker in the grass, I think you could've dropped it behind the bunker, provided you kept the line between the the flag and ball. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Rule 28:

Was your ball actually in the bunker?

The definition says "Grass-covered ground bordering or within a bunker, including a stacked turf face (whether grass-covered or earthen), is not part of the bunker "

Unless your ball is in a water hazard, you can always deem your ball unplayable and take a 1 stroke penalty.  As stated there are 3 options for an unplayable drop.  It's just that if your ball was touching the bunker, two of your options require the drop to be in the bunker.  If your ball was not in the bunker you may use one of the three options without restriction......you can drop anywhere on the course.....in the bunker...not in the bunker....hazard...... green..... you just need to make sure you correctly comply with the option you chose and drop in a proper manner spelled out in Rule 20.  You could even drop on a cartpath or GUR.

You can apply the unplayable lie rule anytime your ball is in an unfavorable position, except in a hazard.  I've actually had a ball plug in the lip of a bunker and not sure I could have got it out with 3 tries let alone 1.  I called it unplayble, dropped back in the bunker where I would actually swing at it and probably saved myself a stroke if not 2.

A bunker is a Hazard.

I'm sure you meant to say Water Hazard though.