Quote:
Originally Posted by golfnutt
Anything can happen in a bunker. You can blade it out or have it fried at the top. And if you want to take an unplayable, dropping it as you are supposed to now creates a fried egg. If you have a 5-shot lead going into the last hole or two and end up in bunker, that is going to create a new thought process.
And even if you are good but you are playing alternate shot or partner's best ball, it may be +EV to just take it out a bunker.
I wonder if this ruling will even stand over the comment period. That is quite a change. Many golfers can't get out of a bunker at all. It won't incentivize a person as much to learn.
These are probably the two best arguments against it. There's definitely tournament situations where you'll be better off taking 2 strokes than risking worse even if the expected score is higher with the penalty. That goes against the spirit of the game, particularly in areas that love their deep bunkers.
Better players will almost never opt for the drop option under normal conditions, but like you said, beginners/bad bunker players might almost always prefer the drop, which is also against the spirit of the game and discourages learning.
I'm not sure that it would improve the pace of play much either. In my experience most people who are prone to taking multiple shots to get out of a bunker take their swings pretty quickly and will pick up after a few failed attempts anyway.
In any case, I don't think it would change things much, but I'd really hate to see The Open decided by some potential choker with a 5 stroke lead deciding to take two strokes and drop out of a bad roadhole bunker lie to eventually win by 1-2.