Can you use the tee to check the depth of the bunker before hitting?

The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thank you, we have a guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Have a question? You have all the answers.

Our course has several modified houses built with an Astroturf base and a reclaimed face of stacked Astroturf. Some bunkers have only a thin layer of sand, which can produce wedge shots when the wedge bounce hits the Astroturf base. I know the new rules don’t allow you to test the surface with your hand or club, but what about testing the depth of the sand with a long tee? —Jim Cumberbatch, via email

Astroturf Stacked … sounds like the club hired Old Tom Morris as builder and Sanford & Son as contractor! In fact, Rule number – 12.2b(1) – may have changed but this Rule has not been approved, that is, players are prohibited from touching the sand in the basement to gather information about it for the next shot. No hand, no club, no tee, no rake, no garden shovel.

The penalty also remains the same – the standard penalty of two strokes in stroke play and the loss of a hole in match play. In general, if you encounter a surface with little or no sand that has not been fixed as a surface, you can: Play two balls, one lying and the other releasing relief, and get a decision later from the committee (play stroke only) ; play below the stroke and distance, you play again from the previous position with a penalty of one stroke; or, under the new no-play rule, it lands outside the dugout, using back-on-the-line relief, for two penalties. Also, if they replace the greens with shag carpeting, find a new course.

For bunker-related guidance from our guru, read on…

A local course designer here on Vancouver Island wanted to be the next Pete Dye – he built a large basement with a steep railroad tie on the face, and two separate entry and exit stairs built into the ties. As expected, my ball landed on one step, which was so steep that no shot was unplayable. As it was a tournament, there was a young man of the rules, who said that I found relief outside the basement, handling the ties and stairs as if I were put on the face of the grass. Was this right? —Mike Marshall, Nanoose Bay, BC, Canada

Did this rules guy call himself the “Rules Guy”? If so, our lawyers would like to speak with him…

Regardless, he did not judge the matter as if the ball had been thrown in; he treated the railroad ties and ladders as they were, i.e., immovable obstacles.