Rules on the course
Bunker Relief: Unplayable Lie or Temporary Water?
A wet bunker and an awkward bunker lie do not use the same relief rule. Identify the reason for relief before comparing where you may go and how many penalty strokes apply.
Competitive Play · Updated October 22, 2026
Follow the worked example
Temporary water: inside free or outside +1
Sand rectangle is the bunker. Hatched water occupies its left part; solid blue marks relief regions. For the modeled left-handed stroke (ball/swing ±10 units; stance 26–42 right and ±16 along line), ball/swing/stance first clear the water at I; other no-nearer complete-relief candidates are farther. Blue at I is restricted to the bunker. The separate outside blue region follows a drop first touching Q on the back-on-line extension.
- H
- Hole; H, B and Q are collinear.
- B
- Player's second stroke finished here.
- I
- Nearest complete-relief point inside the bunker for this declared stroke; modeled stance lies to its right, clear of water.
- Q
- Original or substituted ball first hits the back-on-line point when dropped. Dashed outline is one club-length; only blue is available.
Unplayable dry lie: outside back-on-line +2
The same bunker and ball have no abnormal condition. One-stroke lateral/back-on-line options stay in the bunker. The ordinary outside back-on-line option costs two penalty strokes. Q is the first ground contact on the line; its region stays in the general area and no nearer H than B.
- H
- Hole; H, B and Q are collinear.
- B
- Player's second stroke finished here.
- Q
- Original or substituted ball first hits the back-on-line point when dropped. Dashed outline is one club-length; only blue is available.
- Outside water option
- 2 played + 1 penalty + next stroke = stroke 4.
- Outside unplayable option
- 2 played + 2 penalties + next stroke = stroke 5.
- Stroke-and-distance
- An ordinary one-stroke option remains available for the dry unplayable case; it returns to the previous stroke location, not an arbitrary outside spot.
Original hypothetical flat-ground plans. One club-length = 32 plan units. These are ordinary Rules 16.1c/19.3 cases; Rule 25 modifications and any adopted flooded-bunker Local Rule remain separate.
The short version
- Rule16.1c addresses abnormal-course-condition interference in a bunker.
- Rule19.3 addresses an unplayable bunker ball and has a distinct two-stroke outside option.
- Stroke-and-distance is a separate option; an outside drop is not always priced the same way.
Two balls that look equally difficult
Ava's ball has interference from temporary water in a bunker. Ben's ball is dry but buried beneath a steep lip. They both dislike their next shot, but that shared reaction does not determine the relief rule.
Temporary water is an abnormal course condition with a definition. A difficult dry lie is not converted into that condition by declaring the bunker unfair.
Compare the options by their cause
For qualifying water interference, Rule 16.1c provides a free route within the bunker and a one-penalty-stroke back-on-the-line route outside it. Its maximum-available-relief provision deals with cases lacking complete relief inside.
For an unplayable ball, Rule 19.3 retains one-stroke stroke-and-distance, with back-on-the-line and lateral one-stroke options constrained to the bunker. The extra back-on-the-line route outside costs two penalty strokes in the ordinary rule. Rule 25 modifications can apply to eligible players using a wheeled mobility device.
The original stroke still happened
Suppose Ben's second stroke finishes in the dry bunker. He chooses the ordinary two-stroke outside unplayable option, takes relief correctly and then makes his next stroke. That next played stroke is his fifth: two played, two penalty, then one more.
If Ava's second stroke instead creates the qualifying water case and she takes the one-stroke outside water option, her next played stroke is her fourth. These are fictional tallies demonstrating why the cause matters, not evidence that either player chose the best strategy.
Keep four facts on the card
Record the original location, the condition, the option used and the penalty. Confirm whether the Committee has separately defined a flooded bunker as ground under repair; do not assume every filled bunker has that treatment.
For a plugged grass face, compare embedded bunker-lip relief. For the standard reference-point method, use cart-path relief.
Your next move
Check the governing rule
Confirm the actual condition, adopted Local Rule and procedure before moving the ball.
Check the governing rule(Official source), opens in a new tabKeep reading
Sources and review
- What it covers
- 2023 Rules of Golf and current published clarifications/Model Local Rules checked October22,2026 for this specific scenario.
- Checked
Primary sources
What this page cannot tell you
- Original fictional diagrams; no actual course adoption or measured relief location is claimed. No named rules-qualified reviewer has reviewed this page.