[Photo: Jordi Salas]
There is a term in the Rules of Golf that might seem self-explanatory, but when you read the fine print, it comes with some latitude in how it’s applied. The term is “fairly taking a stance”. Astute readers of our Rules Review department might recall we covered what this means and how it is handled differently under the rules compared to building a stance (which comes with a penalty) in this article at the end of 2024.
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What you might still be wondering is: where do you draw the line? In other words, when does “fairly taking a stance” become “building” one? For example, what happens when someone gets a little overzealous with the former. You might know that you’re not allowed to break branches or clear an area of brush that might interfere with your swing on purpose as you take your stance, but is it OK if you happen to back into a branch as you take your stance and it breaks?
According to the rules, it’s OK if you made the area of the intended stance better than you found it as long as you’re didn’t purposely try to do so. The dos and don’ts are covered under Rule 8.
Where that fine line becomes even finer – and where fairly taking a stance versus building a stance might be under the most scrutiny – is in bunkers. Once again, you likely know that you’re allowed to dig into the sand with your feet to help prevent slipping when you swing. At the same time, if you tried to flatten out a spot on the upslope of a bunker to get into a better stance, you’re now looking at a two-shot penalty in strokeplay or loss of hole in matchplay for improving the area of your intended stance.
Taking all of this a step further, what happens if you see your opponent dig in with his or her feet in a bunker, then leave the bunker to get another club (or for whatever reason), then return and dig in again? You might think that clearly is a case of improving the area of the intended stance, but the Rules of Golf is lenient on this action. In a clarification to Rule 8.1b, the book says it “allows a player to place their feet firmly in taking a stance and this may be done more than once in preparing to make a stroke”.
“For example, a player may enter a bunker without a club, dig in with their feet in taking a stance to simulate playing the ball, leave to get a club, and then dig in again with his or her feet and make the stroke.”
To clarify, you can’t get in there with a shovel and carve out a nice hole to swing from. But shuffling your feet back and forth more than once to ensure decent footing is allowed.