Andrew Greenfield

Welcome to Rules 101! This page will give you a chance to test your Rules knowledge and bone up on the need-to-know Rules of Golf. E-mail AJGA Director of Education Andrew Greenfield with any questions.

QUESTION:

Rule 13: Ball Played as it Lies
I was playing in a tournament over the holidays and an interesting situation
came up that I still don't understand. My group was on the third hole and
one of my fellow-competitors played a shot from the greenside bunker. He
caught too much of the ball and skulled the shot over the green and out of
bounds. The player knew he was going to have to drop a ball where he last
played from in the bunker, but he still raked his drop area before he
dropped a ball. He played the ball onto the green and two-putted. I thought
the player would receive a two-stroke penalty for raking the bunker, but the
Committee said what he did was OK. Can you explain this Rule to me?