Can You Rake A Bunker Before Your Shot?

Raking bunker before playing shot.

This is one of those questions where some golfers perhaps think this is a complete no-no and would be looking to try and penalise you the moment the rake touches the sand. In reality, the answer is actually both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

Rule 12.2b holds the answers here (‘restrictions on touching sand in bunker’). One of the key distinctions is that when your ball is in a bunker, you may rake the bunker at any time to care for the course as long as you do not improve the conditions affecting your upcoming stroke (this means to improve your lie, area of intended stance, area of intended swing or line of play). If your actions in touching the sand with the rake were to improve the conditions affecting the stroke you’re about to play (for example, raking a deep footprint right behind where your ball is lying), that would get you the general penalty under Rule 8.1a.

If the line of play is over the player's hat, this would be considered improving the conditions affecting the stroke and a breach of Rule 8.1a  (Image credit: Kenny Smith)

Rule 12.2b (1) confirms that there is also a penalty if you deliberately touch sand before making a stroke at a ball in a bunker “with a hand, club, rake or other object to test the condition of the sand to learn information for the next stroke”.

This is fine if you're not testing the condition of the sand or improving the conditions affecting your next stroke from the sand (Image credit: Kenny Smith)

Rule 12.2b (2) is where it states that touching sand in a bunker does not result in a penalty if you are “smoothing the bunker to care for the course”, as referred to above. What this means in practice is that if your ball is in the front right part of the bunker close to the lip, for example, there is no issue with you raking the back left part of the bunker before playing (or, indeed, anywhere else that wouldn’t be improving the conditions affecting your next stroke) if someone else hasn’t bothered to smooth over their footprints and strike marks there.

Finally, our question here perhaps suggests that your ball is in the bunker you are about to play your next shot from, and everything so far has addressed this scenario. But what if your ball is lying outside the bunker and you are having to play over it to the green? Can you rake a bunker before your shot then if it’s been left in a poor state either by nature or another careless golfer, with animal hoof marks, footprints or strike marks everywhere? Well, if they're on your line of play, the answer is no, you are not allowed to rake them before playing your shot - another breach of Rule 8.1a that will get you the general penalty.

As to where you should leave a rake after using it, that tends to spark sometimes quite heated debate!