Is the penalty ever worth it?

[trackster]

Today on hole 5 my playing partner matted the sand down in the bunker behind his ball before he took the shot.  He himself did not access himself the two stroke penalty but I always make mental notes of his actual score when I play with him.  He then proceeded to play the ball to 4 feet and "Par" the hole.  He always has a heck of a time out of bunkers even when he does ground the club.  So do you think its legit to give yourself a lie in the bunker to make sure you get out?  I mean if its gonna take you 3-4 shots to get out you might as well.

I was looking through the rules trying to find other examples that might work, but I couldn't find any that stuck out.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by trackster

Today on hole 5 my playing partner matted the sand down in the bunker behind his ball before he took the shot.  He himself did not access himself the two stroke penalty but I always make mental notes of his actual score when I play with him.  He then proceeded to play the ball to 4 feet and "Par" the hole.  He always has a heck of a time out of bunkers even when he does ground the club.  So do you think its legit to give yourself a lie in the bunker to make sure you get out?  I mean if its gonna take you 3-4 shots to get out you might as well.

I was looking through the rules trying to find other examples that might work, but I couldn't find any that stuck out.

That's ridiculous.  It's a 2 stroke penalty, right?  Unless it's a fried egg, it's not the lie that's causing him to take multiple shots out of the bunker, and even if it is a fried egg of the worst kind, surely his first shot will fix that, even if it doesn't get out of the bunker.

If it normally takes him (or whoever) 3 to get out of a bunker, forget trying to circumvent the rules, practice getting out of a bunker.  Frankly, once anybody understands the premise behind how to do it (the physics of it, basically), it's really effing easy.

[boogielicious]

I agree with Golfingdad.  A ball that is down in the sand is played differently, so he should practice that.

[Wansteadimp]

Isn't the rule for knowingly breaking a rule to gain advantage DQ not the usual 2 strokes for doing it accidently?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Wansteadimp

Isn't the rule for knowingly breaking a rule to gain advantage DQ not the usual 2 strokes for doing it accidently?

No idea ... but if so, all the more reason that the idea is absurd.

[Shorty]

I'd just question him as to why he's scoring.

Say to him "If you are going to score, you'll have to add strokes for X... otherwise we'll just have a hit."

Not sure why you ask if it's legit for him to cheat.

Maybe you should head ove rto the practice bunker one afternoon with him.

Bunker shots aren't that hard but some people do everything wrong. They can be helped in 5 minutes.