Another bunker fiasco..... too funny!!!!

[JWL1957]

My buddy and I decided to play a serious (but fun) stroke play match yesterday. He is a 10 hdcp. and Im playing to a 11 hdcp. right now. We decided to play it down and dirty. (USGA)

We get to hole number 5 and I am up by one stroke. He hits his tee shot into the front bunker on the short par 3, and this is where the fun begins. The bunker surrounds the entire front of the green, and the green is elevated about 5 feet higher than the sand. He walks up on the green and sets his stand bag down not too far from the lip of the bunker while getting ready to play out of the sand. As he climbs down into the bunker.....a hard wind hit us. His stand bag tumbles down into the bunker hitting him, and he trips trying to catch it. He ended up dropping his sand wedge into the sand, and his feet disclocated the ball from its position..... and he and had 5-6 clubs laying in the bunker.

We both just stared at each other to see who was going to bust out laughing first. We finished playing out the hole and neither of us could figure out what to give him for a score on the hole. He would have made a bogey without the penalty(s) and I made a routine par.

We both had a good laugh over the situation, but have no idea how to score the hole. I told him that at least Dustin Johnson had the smarts not to drop his bag into a bunker. :)


Any help guys?

[Paradox]

one stroke penalty for moving the ball but nothing for clubs as he wasn't testing the condition of the sand?

[Fourputt]

One stroke penalty for causing his ball at rest to move, and it must be replaced. If he didn't replace the ball then it becomes a 2 stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place.

No penalty for the rest of the comedy as he was doing nothing to test the surface or condition of the bunker. He is allowed to use the club to prevent falling as long as he doesn't also test the condition while doing so (in dropping the club I would likely rule that it was dropped in the effort to prevent a fall, so in equity should not be penalized). He is also allowed to take extra clubs into a hazard, or even his entire bag and set it down, again as long as nothing is done to test the hazard.

[boogielicious]

If he dropped the wedge he was holding, isn't that another stroke for grounding his club?

[Paradox]

No, in the event of falling or slipping or whatever, you can use the club to touch the ground and brace yourself. Its the same argument Michelle Wie tried to use when she was penalized for grounding her club in a water hazard..only she was lying.

Point being..if you go into a bunker and the head of your club happens to drag in the sand for a second on accident, you wouldn't be penalized. If you pulled it along like a rake all the way to your ball, you'd be deemed to testing the condition of the sand.

ANY TIME you ground your club behind the ball, you will be penalized.