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If your ball is buried so deep in a bunker that it is lost
from sight, what can be done to find it? More than you
might think. Rule 12-1 allows you to rake the sand or
probe it with a club, or anything else, as a way of uncovering
a "lost" ball.
In your search, you are allowed to remove enough sand so that
part of the ball (just enough to see that it is a ball) is
visible. If an excess of sand is removed, or if the ball is
moved in the process of searching for it, there is no
penalty. Replace the ball if moved and, in either case,
re-cover it with sand. (You are allowed to then remove
some sand to leave part of the ball visible.)
If, once you've found it, you don't think you can extricate
the ball from the lie, you can declare it unplayable and take
a one-stroke penalty. If you drop within two
clubs-lengths no closer to the hole or on a line behind the
ball, you must drop in the bunker; you can also return to the
spot of your previous stroke. If the ball is not found,
you must take a stroke-and-distance penalty for a lost ball.
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