Okay, so a while back I hit my tee shot into a very steep fairway bunker. I was on the very steep upslope and took a fullswing, but my lower back leg slipped and I missed the ball but took a divot from the sand. I then hit my ball short of the green, chipped up, and two putted.

My buddy wanted to charge me with an attempted swing, and grouding the club in a bunker. I said, well if I attempted to strike the ball, then it is just a normal stroke, so I should not get a penalty. In the end, I took both the stroke and the penalty, b/c we had a bet. But, I was not sure that was right. Can anyone answer this one for me?

Thanks, ej

I wouldn't think there would be an additional penalty because you did take a stroke... you had addressed the ball with intent to hit it... you didn't ground your club and you were not testing the sand...IMO it would be no different than not getting the ball out of the bunker on your first try (had you actually hit it) and needing a second stroke to get out

No penalty. It would be the same as if you took a swipe and the ball did not come out. Just because you lost your stance has no impact on the attempted strike. An attempted stroke at the ball, regardless of whether it is in the bunker or not is a stroke according to the rules.

From the definitions:

Stroke
A “stroke’’ is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball, but if a player checks his downswing voluntarily before the clubhead reaches the ball he has not made a stroke.

From my calculations you should have a 6.

Dan

Sounds good guys, that is exactly what I told him - but I was not 100% sure.

lol, thats a pretty creative interpretation he came up with There musta been something on the line.

if it'd happened exactly as you discribed, you'd holed out 6.

WHat about RULE 13-4, because I grounded a club in the hazard. 2 stroke penalty?

He is still claiming this applies.

once i accidently dropped my club in the bunker when my bal was in it, and i didnt get a penalty. this of course was in a tournament or i wouldnt have cared if i did, but i think that it has to be an intentional swing. however you cant drag a rake in the bunker before you hit, so i do not know for sure

If you were making a stroke at the ball in the bunker there would be no penalty. Rule 13 would of tagged you 2 strokes if you were making practice strokes in the bunker that were hitting the sand.

yes, if you accidentally dropped your club in the bunker and no intention was made to test the condition of the hazard , there is no penalty.
you had intended to hit the golf ball but slipped and hit the sand without success to contact the golf ball, there is no penalty but to add the stroke which you took to your score.
same as a player makes a swing at golf ball inside the sand bunker but failing to extract the golf ball out of the bonker, no penalty but the actual stroke taken.
If your friend really have an issue with this, have him submit a request for ruling to the USGA web site.

We are all in agreement that is exactly what happened, I definately was trying to advance the ball. I did not see, but he told me that the ball did NOT move, but I don't think that is an issue.

Thanks for all your replies, it was definatly a funny and heated moment.

whether the ball moves of doesn't has no bearing on the ruling.

You were swinging at the ball with INTENT to hit the ball. It just happened that you didn't move the ball, but your stroke still counts.

Absolutely no different than if you were to hit the ball super fat and leave it in the bunker.
There is no "testing ground condition" in this case either.

You don't make contact with the ball in a regular bunker shot anyway! Whether it moved or not is irrelevant. Hope it didn't cost you too much.