What is the rule?

[PipePro]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that in a bunker you can remove rocks and things that shouldn't normally be in a sand trap like apples and bannana peels etc.
Also if you can remove twigs and branches and rocks and leaves etc. around your ball can you put your finger on the ball to make sure it doesn't move while taking these actions? I do know that if your ball changes position (without touching the ball) while taking these actions it is a penalty.
It seems to me that we are at the mercy of the track we play, some courses I have played are quite sloppy.
It has always seemed unfair to be sitting on top of a fallen branch in the fairway and have to play it as it lies. The rub of the green is killing me.

[tjy355]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that in a bunker you can remove rocks and things that shouldn't normally be in a sand trap like apples and bannana peels etc.

You can't remove loose impediments in a bunker. Loose impediments are natural items like rocks twigs leaves etc. Not sure about apples or banana peels.

Golf isn't "fair." Learn to accept the breaks, it will make you a stronger golfer.

[Fourputt]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that in a bunker you can remove rocks and things that shouldn't normally be in a sand trap like apples and bannana peels etc.

Everything you mentioned is a loose impediment, and as such cannot be touched if your ball lies in the same bunker or water hazard as the object. There is a local rule that is sometimes invoked allowing removal of rocks in a bunker if they pose a safety hazard, but you'd have to check and see if your course has instituted that rule. It's not a general Rule of Golf, and I've never played a course that used it.

[Smallville]

Personally, I don't care what the rule is. I won't move my ball position or otherwise improve my lie in a bunker, but if I see a rock and it appears there is a pretty good chance of my club hitting it, it's outta there. Gone. Tossed into the woods so no one else will have that problem with that rock ever again. I'm not going to take a chance on tearing up a club. Period. That goes for anything that might damage my club (sticks, whatever). If it's a casual round, screw that, it's outta there. In a tournament (which I don't play "official" tournaments) I'd take the penalty for removing it. If someone wants to mess up their clubs and play totally within the rules of the game, that's fine, I wish I was a golf club salesman.

[Smallville]

Learn to accept the breaks, it will make you a stronger golfer.

Again, in a tournament, maybe. Not in a casual round. I don't have a problem with accepting the "breaks" i.e. "dang, I gotta hit around this tree," or, "I guess I'll just pitch back onto the fairway since I really don't have a shot," or my only shot is to go back towards the tee box, OK," but if the break is my club (as in, i'm going to break or mess it up in some way, my club) then no.

[CG031]

If I'm in a casual round, and there's a rock thats 3 inches by 5 inches, I'm not going to hit it. I'll move it. I don't have enough money to break or damage a club. And the bunkers I play are pretty rocky, especially in PA.

[Jay-Bird]

Apples and banana peels are movable obstructions if they are trash from humans. the rocks are loose impediments a cannot be moved in a hazard (or may be moveable obstructions if deemed so by local rules).

rule 23.
...If the ball lies in a hazard, the player must not touch or move any loose impediment lying in or touching the same hazard.

" Loose impediments " are natural objects including:
• stones , leaves, twigs, branches and the like,
• dung, and
• worms and insects and casts or heaps made by them, provided they are not:
• fixed or growing,
• solidly embedded, or
• adhering to the ball.



obstruction -
Anything artificial on the course, with exceptions for any objects that define out of bounds, any construction that the local committee defines as an integral part of the course, or any immovable artificial object that is out of bounds.

[Soup Fan]

A lot of the courses I play have pretty gravely bunkers, but I have never encountered anything that would seriously damage my club.

One similar question I have, though.

I was playing with my uncle and our balls came to rest inches from each other in a greenside bunker. We both rolled in. Neither of us was buried. Both sitting up on top of the sand. He was away but there was no way for him to take a shot without disrupting my ball. I remembered seeing something similar to this happen in the Open Championship this year, but I did not get to hear the explanation because the sound was down, so we went by what we saw.

I marked my ball in the bunker with a tee one sand wedge length away. He took his shot, we raked the spot to try and accurately recreate the lie and I replaced my ball.

Was this incorrectly handled?

[Fourputt]

Apples and banana peels are movable obstructions if they are trash from humans.

No they aren't. See Decision 23-3. and 23-4.

[ctmurrray]

No they aren't. See Decision 23-3. and 23-4.

From the USGA web site:

http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/books/rules.html 23/4 Fruit Skins Q. Is a banana skin or other fruit skin a loose impediment? A. Yes. Actually the skin of fruit is a loose impediment. But a half eaten fruit is not under decision 23/3.

[Fourputt]

From the USGA web site:

Re-read the decision:

23/3 Half-Eaten Pear Q. A half-eaten pear lies directly in front of a ball in a bunker and there is no pear tree in the vicinity of the bunker. In the circumstances, is the pear an obstruction rather than a loose impediment, in which case the player could remove it without penalty? A. No. A pear is a natural object. When detached from a tree it is a loose impediment. The fact that a pear has been half-eaten and there is no pear tree in the vicinity does not alter the status of the pear.

[ctmurrray]

Re-read the decision:

Sorry - you are correct. Must need better computer glasses.

[tjy355]

Again, in a tournament, maybe. Not in a casual round. I don't have a problem with accepting the "breaks" i.e. "dang, I gotta hit around this tree," or, "I guess I'll just pitch back onto the fairway since I really don't have a shot," or my only shot is to go back towards the tee box, OK," but if the break is my club (as in, i'm going to break or mess it up in some way, my club) then no.

Clubs are tools and you use your tools to play golf. Golf is a sport that is played outdoors in variable and unpredictable conditions. Golf clubs are going to get scratched and dinged up. They are battle scars that should be proudly displayed. Of course, I live in Arizona. If we were worried about rocks or scratching up our clubs, we could never play golf!

My point about playing the breaks is that is just develops the proper attitude for golf. If you get used to doing it during casual rounds, then when it happens in a competition, it's not a big deal. And then you are actually playing GOLF.

[Jay-Bird]

No they aren't. See Decision 23-3. and 23-4.

I stand corrected. Thank you!