Is this cheating??

Shot’s fine. Raking a path first isn’t. Hit it, then rake.

Yep, that’s the line. Hit it as it sits, then rake. Making a path first is just building yourself a better lie

Yes. And for no good reason as best I can tell given his line.

Yeah, the line looks fine — raking right around the ball just looks like testing the sand more than tidying up.

He was improving his stance regardless.

Silly cheating yanks! Probably have bluetooth speakers in their cart also!

Absolutely! Who does that?

Yes, he builds a runway with the sand

Ran it through the Sunday Pins rules engine. Result: nice putt, still a two-shot penalty 🚫⛳

raking a runway before you hit isnt strategy its just turning the course into your personal practice green

Obviously you’ve never played on a sand green before

Yeah thats Right

We play the course as we find it, not as we think it should be.

Rule 1000-B, when playing a goat ranch do what you gotta do.

Is this a serious question?

Testing the conditions.

The construction is illegal the putt is ok

Is it cheating to move the ball 4 feet to another spot so you can put it to a spot with a clear path, and rake behind the ball. Yea man it is.

Its not improving the lie which is only an inch wide(under the ball)

Yes

There is so much wrong with that. You could probably pick from any number of rules violations.

Yeah that clip’s a mess. Raking that close to the ball is straight up improving the lie and testing the sand. Easy two-shot penalty.

When I was growing up, I worked as a caddy. In a club tournament, I lifted up the rake and dragged it through the sand to remove my foot prints while removing it from the bunker and it resulted in the player getting disqualified from the hole. All unintentional. But you better believe I learned about bunker rules after that.

Guilty on 114 of 115 charges

Yes

Absolutely cheating, 2 stroke penalty under USGA RULE 12. Can you rake the sand in front of your ball to putt out of a sand trap? No, you cannot touch the sand directly in front of or behind the ball to improve your shot. Doing so results in a general penalty (2 strokes in stroke play). •What is Forbidden: You must not ground your club, touch the sand with your club during a practice swing, or deliberately smooth out the sand directly around or in front of your ball to create a clear putting path.

It’s cheating in like 5 ways

technically yes. also, a course in condition for a pga event would probably have better bunker conditions that include a better slope on the lip. unless its like intended to be a really brutal bunker like you get at st Andrew's, but those usually have some sort of wall built in, rather than natural erosion.

Yes

Yes It’s a penalty

Non si puo' fare? Pulire la sabbia 🤔 Non mi ricordo piu'..pulire di fronte no, sistemarsi il campo credo di no...levare foglie etc mi pare di si..boh..

This is why sand wedges exist. Why cheat to putt, instead of practicing a wedge out.