Rules question · Rule 16.1c · Medium
Wooden steps in a bunker in the way: do you get relief?
Your ball lies in a bunker right in front of wooden steps fixed in the ground. To make your stroke you would have to stand on the steps. What is the ruling?
Answer
Free relief in the bunker, or back-on-the-line relief outside it for one penalty stroke
Wooden steps fixed in the ground are an immovable obstruction. If they interfere with your stance or swing, you get relief, in a bunker too. For free relief you drop in the bunker, within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief, no nearer the hole. Relief outside the bunker costs one penalty stroke: you drop back on the line from the hole through the spot of your ball. If the Committee has declared the steps an integral object, there is no relief.