According
to the United States Golf Association (USGA), there is no rule on bunker rake
placement, and although the USGA places rakes outside of bunkers for their
Championships, for daily play the USGA understands that placing rakes inside
bunkers is preferred at most golf courses. Placing the rakes inside of the bunker has been the protocol at Olde Florida since its inception in 1993. Among other
reasons, if the rakes remain inside the bunker, mowing and mobility of other
golf course equipment around bunkers is more efficient.
The
bunkers are raked every day at Olde Florida. Each morning after a member of the
golf course operations staff rakes a bunker they place all of the rakes on a flat surface several feet inside the bunker. Rakes are not placed along the back edge - in the “line of play”. Placing the rake several
feet inside the bunker, on a flat surface, is done to prevent a ball from
coming to rest against a rake on a steep slope within the bunker, a
hazard.
Regardless
of bunker rake placement, if a ball comes to rest against a rake, and the ball
moves once the rake (a movable obstruction) is removed, the USGA Rules of Golf
require that the ball be replaced (see Rule 24-1). If the rake were placed on a
steep slope, replacing a ball on the slope is not always possible. If the ball
won’t stay where it must be replaced (Rule 20-3d), or anywhere within the
bunker not nearer the hole, the player may either drop the ball, under penalty
of one stroke, outside the bunker (Rule 1-4; Equity) keeping the point where
the ball lay directly between the hole and the spot in which the ball is
dropped, or play under the stroke and distance option of the unplayable ball
Rule (Rule 28).
