I was out laying new floors in my son's home in Texas - no blog for last week. Before I jump back to a discussion of the USGA rule book, I wanted to spend some time on the other item Commissioner Hensley brought up two weeks ago - dropping a ball in the sand.
Firstly, it's important to note that under normal USGA play, you're not entitled to dropping in the bunker if you don't like your lie. Fried eggs, ball in a deep rake mark, ball in a footprint - suck it up and play from what you've been dealt. I harken back to my premise on bunkers - you're supposed to avoid them. If you're in one, you've gone to a special place where there are no bargains. I would imagine that the first bunkers in Scotland were just areas in which the grass would not grow - barren wastelands of sand. I can't imagine there were crews to rake them, nor can I see that rakes would be thrown into each one of them.
We're too used to seeing tour pros wield their wedges from the sand, tossing their balls out like bean bags and getting them to stop on a dime. We expect that the bunkers that we play will be the consistent fluffy sand that will allow for such shots. We expect bunkers to be finely groomed on a daily basis. We're spoiled. There are no guarantees when you're in a bunker and you enter it at your peril.
However, in the good old days before COVID-19 there was a rake in each and every bunker at Ruggles Golf Course. That's not to say they were used by everyone that played a shot from that bunker, but there were available. Not today.
NEWS FLASH! All of this is crap! I went out in week 3 and there is a rake in every damn bunker. However, due to the next paragraph, if you don't like your lie in the bunker....
Even before the removal of the rakes for COVID, there were gripes about bunkers replete with footprints. In 2019 there was a new local rule for REGL if you didn't like your lie in the bunker that allowed for you to pick up your ball, rake the trap and drop the ball back into the sand as close as possible to the original position. I didn't like the rule, voted against it, but it was carried by the opposition.
So here we are without rakes playing bunkers that have been trampled all day. What do we do? Here's commissioner Hensley's decision:
"Rule 7.f in our league rules call out the following:
Sandtraps (Bunkers). Due to the condition of the bunkers typical during league play, the decision was made to allow players to lift, rake, and drop (from knee height), whenever a player's ball is in the bunker. The player gets ONE DROP ONLY. Once dropped, the ball is "in play" and no further
adjustments are permitted. (e.g. If you drop the ball and it rolls into a footprint, you must play from there). If the ball is embedded in the sloped part of the bunker and after dropping, the balls rolls into the base of the bunker, you play from where it comes to rest. This rule is a local rule and
all other USGA rules concerning bunker play remain in effect (e.g. casual water in bunkers, etc.).
Since COVID caused Ruggles to remove rakes from the course (EDITOR'S NOTE - THE RAKES ARE NOW BACK IN THE BUNKERS), we are also allowing you to drop the ball anywhere around where you are standing. You can drop it behind you, in front of you, to your left or right. You must stand next to your ball and not take any steps before you drop it from knee
height. You get one drop so drop carefully.
Finally, if you want to bring your own rake to rake the trap as you would for Rule 7.f, you can.
One last addition... Players may only use a rake to smooth the bunker surface. No use of feet, hands, clubs, or anything other than a rake is permitted. There are ball retrievers that have small rakes at one end, these are authorized. The idea is to allow the surface to be churned and smoothed while remaining even and not to artificially create a 'sand tee'. "
Key things to remember - this is only a REGL local rule, you're entitled to one drop and you can always elect to play the ball as it lies. Your drop can actually be closer to the hole (believe it or not). I'm flabbergasted, but these are crazy stupid times.