TheRules
Bunkers , lips and embedded ball relief — a primer
by Chris Lang
Anyone watching the weekend rounds of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill in mid- May could be forgiven if they thought they were suddenly struck with a sense of déjà vu .
In the third round , Corey Conners — who at the time was in the lead — tried to escape a fairway bunker on the 16th hole . He failed , the ball making it only as far as the lip in front of him . In the final round and in the very same bunker , the ball of Viktor Hovland — who was very much still within touching distance of leader Brooks Koepka — suffered the same fate .
The confusing part for many was why both players were afforded free relief , even if that relief wasn ’ t exactly advantageous for either player .
Let ’ s break it down , starting with the key parts of two important definitions in this ruling .
The definition of bunker ( a specifically prepared area of sand , which is often a hollow from which turf or soil was removed ) includes four bullet points describing what is not included in a bunker . The first point gives us the answer : A lip , wall or face at the edge of a prepared area consisting of soil , grass , stacked turf or artificial materials is not part of the bunker . Instead , it is part of the general area .
Both Conners ’ and Hovland ’ s balls escaped the sand and were plugged into the turf lip adjacent to the bunker . So , we ’ ve now determined that their shots landed in the general area , which brings us to the second important definition involved in the ruling .
Embedded : When a player ’ s ball is in its own pitch-mark made as a result of the player ’ s previous stroke and where part of the ball is below the level of the ground . A ball does not necessarily have to touch the soil to be embedded ( for example , grass and loose impediments may be between the ball and the soil ).
A player is entitled to free relief from an embedded ball via Rule 16.3 . This is often a misunderstood concept , as a player is only entitled to that relief if the ball is embedded in its own pitch-mark as a result of the player ’ s previous stroke . If the player cannot tell for sure whether the ball is in its own pitch-mark or a pitch-mark made by another ball , the player may treat the ball as embedded if it is reasonable to conclude from the available information that the ball is in its own pitch-mark .
A ball is not embedded if it is below the ground because of anything other than the player ’ s previous stroke , such as when the ball is pushed into the ground by someone stepping on it , the ball is driven straight into the ground without becoming airborne , or the ball was dropped in taking relief under a Rule .
14 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ULY / A UGUST 2023 vsga . org