Every month former MGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Gene Westmoreland will answer one question posed by the readers of the MGA e-Revision Newsletter (click here to sign up). Joe from Suffolk County asked Gene the following Rules question:

Q: I hit a shot into a bunker and the ball got caught under a torn piece of the bunker liner. Do I get any relief?

Gene responds:

Unless the torn piece of bunker lining was “detatched” making it a movable obstruction, the bunker lining would be considered an immovable obstruction and you would be entitled to relief without penalty. The ball must be dropped within one club length of its original position and IN the bunker. If the bunker lining had been detached, making it a movable obstruction, you would gain relief by moving the obstruction.

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