INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES OF GOLF 
by Frank Gal, 
Chairman of Rules & Amateur Status

July 2007 - BACKSWINGS IN HAZARDS

One of the best known Rules of Golf is that a player must not touch the ground in a bunker with his club before making a stroke (Rule 13-4b).

As the stroke is defined as the forward movement of the club with the intention of fairly striking at and moving the ball, the player is penalised if the ground is touched on the back swing. This is also true with respect to water in a water hazard, so, if a player touches the water at address or during his back swing he is penalised.

But why is the penalty so severe? Surely, loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play would seem to be excessive on occasions when a brief accidental touching of the sand or water does not appear to offer any great advantage to the player.

The answer lies in one of the basic underlying principles of the game. Seldom specifically referred to in the Rules, but well recognised by everyone is the principle that you play the course as you find it. In other words the player must accept the conditions he encounters during play and may not alter them to suit his convenience.

This principle is firmly established under Rule 13-1 which states - The ball shall be played as it lies, except as otherwise provided in the Rules.

Applying this principle to all hazards (bunkers and water hazards), the Rules prohibit a player from grounding his club in sand, and mud etc. in a hazard because such grounding of the club could result in the ball being "teed".

In addition, touching the ground on the back swing is not permitted as the club could easily be used to create a furrow on takeaway thus presenting the player with an unfair advantage. Prohibiting the touching of water in a water hazard prevents the player testing the depth should he choose to play a ball lying or submerged in water.

Clearly, the intention of Rule 13-4 is to ensure the ball is played as it lies and no improvement to the lie of the ball can be made or prior knowledge of the stroke obtained.

Whenever it is considered that a player may gain an advantage from a breach of the Rules, a substantial penalty is applied - usually loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play.

However, it is impracticable to examine the circumstances of each and every separate violation and determine an equitable penalty for each individual situation. Accordingly, when a player touches the sand, mud or water within a hazard accidentally, the Rules do not examine whether a player has gained any benefit or attempt to prescribe a graduated penalty. If this were the case the Rule book would be very much thicker than it already is.

Irrespective of whether the violation is inadvertent or deliberate, the penalty must always be of sufficient magnitude to discourage the player from deliberately seeking or accepting penalties in order to obtain some advantage under the Rules.