Bunkers are a hot topic in every golf club and every player should be sat down and taught how to look after them properly, says Northern Golfer editor Dean Bailey
Bunkers are a big talking point at most golf clubs – with members often simultaneously complaining about there being too much and not enough sand, or them not being maintained as they’d like, or them being maintained in favour of something else. If you listened to every comment golfers made about bunkers, you’d be driven mad within hours.
This summer, given the lack of rainfall, bunker conditions have generally leaned toward the soft and fluffy category when I’ve played. Having grown up with bunkers filled with denser, heavier sand, it’s been nice to play from these on most occasions.
However, with the softness came the opportunity for members to ruin greenkeepers’ work within just a couple of visits. As more sand was moving around, raking correctly became really important. Rather than dragging the sand back towards the edge of the bunker, it needs to be pushed away from you as you exit – ensuring as consistent a playing depth as possible in the flat bottom of the bunker while not focusing the sand around the edges and leading to plugged balls on slopes.
With more sand moving around, it also allowed balls to get stuck close to faces – something most bunkers aren’t designed for. Again, proper raking technique – focusing on distributing the sand evenly in the heart of the bunker – is key.
Having seen pretty much every way of positioning rakes in bunkers, I have made it my mission to have every course, club, greenkeeper and golfer set rakes in the only acceptable position after they’ve been used – the centre of the bunker!
Any other location – resting against the edge, propped half in and out of the sand, laid completely outside the bunker or propped up on a metal stick – allows the rake to interfere with play more than it should. When placed in the centre of the bunker, a ball striking the rake was destined for the sand anyway. If the ball then remains under or beside the rake, when it is marked and the rake is removed, the player is left with the most natural position possible (rather than being stuck on the downslope at the back of the bunker when the rake has been propped against the edge, for example). The rakes also cause the least disruption for greenkeepers riding on mowers when they’re placed in the centre of the traps.
All of this said, if you simply smooth your footprints and where you’ve played your shot from, you’ll sadly be in the top 50% of golfers in terms of looking after the course!
Bunkers are hazards, they’re meant to toughen golf courses up and present a unique challenge to players. All we need to do is play our part and ensure they’re as fair and playable as they can be for the players behind us.
Imagine if every bunker was looked after properly, what would golfers complain about then?
