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Bunkers with Horrible Sand

Poorly maintained bunkers drive me crazy! My local course has the type of sand that just becomes quicksand when it rains. We always play it as ground under repair when it rains and take a free drop.

That said, I stink at bunkers, like completely stink. I think they were made just to let me invent new four letter words
 
Duffer Waldorf said:
Our bunkers are generally in terrible condition, too, but an occasional good raking would do wonders to help get them in at least somewhat playable condition. It'd be nice if I could just rake a small area around my ball came to rest and drop back into it to play out of some of them. As they are, my club bounces off the top of the 'sand' into the back of the ball too often, sending it 20-30 yards over the green.

The only practice bunker is by the putting green, which was re-purposed from the 9th hole many years ago. It sucks like the rest of them.
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Our practice bunker is by far the nicest bunker on the whole course. It actually has real sand in it, and you can actually get your club under the ball.

Extra plus is that you can rake it before you practice, so you're not playing out of a bunch of footprints like you are on every other bunker on the course. Most of them look like a platoon of soldiers marched through them - including footprints going in and out right next to rakes. :mad:
 
Packed dirt sounds very familiar. Our traps are maybe 5% sand. Pretty sad that I have grown accustomed to them and am fairly adept at playing out of them. It is to the point where I am lost when I play somewhere that has actual sand in their bunkers.
 
The bunkers where I play are still in winter conditions....no rakes, water in some and footprints through out.
We currently play pull from the bunker unless you want to play out of it.
Even in normal conditions they suck. They drive the Sand Pro around the bunker to make it look nice but mostly your lie will consist of 1" of sand or 5" of sand. No consistency.
 
I find that bunkers tend to be poor generally, unless it’s a top (= expensive) course. The guys on tour are lucky to always play out of fluffy sand.
 
Whenever I play a course that has truly terrible bunkers, I will come out. I'm not messing myself or my equipment up on hard packed earth where there is supposed to be sand. But, the bunkers do have to be total garbage for me to do this. Hard packed sand is what it is, but just earth and rocks? I'm coming out.
 
Sand in bunkers? Our bunkers may have some sand, but they're mostly filled with a combination of small pebbles, mixed in with sand. Some of the bunkers only have 1/2" or so of this material. And many of them have no rakes.
 
GenErr said:
Sand in bunkers? Our bunkers may have some sand, but they're mostly filled with a combination of small pebbles, mixed in with sand. Some of the bunkers only have 1/2" or so of this material. And many of them have no rakes.
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I'd be ok with this if it is part of the course design. No rakes implies that is the case.
 
Space Bandito said:
@Johan185 joked with me yesterday as to what exactly I was raking after I hit my ball from the bunker on #7. Raking these sand traps is like raking the cart path. It barely even creates lines in the sand.

I joked back that the bunkers felt more like empty swimming pools that have had dust from the dry ground blown into them for a while.
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The only thing that you can accomplish in these Hazards mislabeled as Bunkers is ruin you clubs or hurt yourself. Specifically your wrist.

On several occasions there was actually boulder visible on the faces of the Hazards. I just refused to play them. If I test the bunker with my feet and only find gravel or cement I lift clean and place outside the Hazards. No penalty or discussion. No closer to the hole. If my playing partner disagree, I refer them to the grounds Keepers and Head professional. For a brain exam. We play for fun and I believe that even a Professional in a real Tournament would not risk the rest of their career with an injury. Worst case take an unplayable lie. But when playing for Giggles. Pick up and move on. Period.

I already have enough broken bones from surfing and Motorcycles :drinks:
 


Bunkers :drinks:
 
If you're not playing for anything I'd just play them as ground under repair. Bare bunkers suck.

Like someone said though, they're really hard to maintain. I live near the sandhills. We have natural sand that lends itself so well to golf that they've written about it, and we have a top 5 course that's famous for it. We basically farm sand here. And somehow the local course bunkers are usually a little coarse and a little too dense for my taste. On Sunday I played into one on my home course and it looked like hell. Edges sunk down, deer, coyote, and dog tracks everywhere, crack lines from snow drying up, etc. They haven't raked them yet this year, and don't have the rakes out, but I was in a clean lie and when I hit it the words 'best sand I've ever played out of in Nebraska" were coming out of my mouth before the ball even hit the green because I was so shocked by it. Our course staff is diligent, so when a winter neglected bunker plays better than one in mid season tournament condition, that shows to me how hard they actually are to maintain.
 
I don’t really worry about the condition of bunkers. In my mine they’re meant to be punitive, so I’m not gonna complain if they’re not perfectly maintained or raked. Truthfully, if my ball is in a bunker it means I didn’t hit it in the water or out of bounds, so I’m not too terribly disappointed to be there.
 
Annhl8rX said:
I don’t really worry about the condition of bunkers. In my mine they’re meant to be punitive, so I’m not gonna complain if they’re not perfectly maintained or raked. Truthfully, if my ball is in a bunker it means I didn’t hit it in the water or out of bounds, so I’m not too terribly disappointed to be there.
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So are the only bunkers on your course along water and OB?
 
Your gripe strikes a chord with me. To make matters worse, the practice bunker is reasonably well stocked with sand and gives you no help for your play in the course bunkers. Have to OK this with the wife, but I have thought about putting the course in my will so they would have money for sand (and decent range balls). I now have a new Cleveland SW, so maybe things will improve, but I've tried everything with my shot and usually leave it short or way over the green from thinning it. Maybe I should just take some balls on a slow day to one of these demonic bunkers and practice different swings.
 
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The bunkers at the course I play most are usually hard packed and damp or downright wet. If I'm playing with friends we usually get the rake and fluff up the sand. It still plays heavy but it reduces the risk of the bounce causing you to cut the ball in half and flying the green
 
I personally like firm bunkers. I even don’t mind playing out of ones that are similar to dirt or even some type of hard pan.

but if they start getting to a point where it’s like concrete or not great then the course should fix them. If they don’t have the finances they should make them into grass bunkers.
 
Well. I’m not supposed to be in there to begin with. That said if they can’t maintain them they ought to seed the things. Make them deeper grass depressions/ pot bunkers etc
 
Space Bandito said:
I'll preface this by saying that I have been playing well in the last few rounds. A minor tweak to my tempo has made my ball striking much better, and I'm happy with my game right now.

There's a course out here which I play rather frequently. I enjoy it as it's fairly gettable if you can keep your ball in the fairway. It's extremely mountainous (they won't let you walk, even if you ask) so if you miss the fairways and greens you run a significant risk of losing your ball. It's in pretty good shape, and they do an good job of keeping the greens nice (albeit, when it's dry they're crazy fast.)

The only problem I have with this course (and it goes for anyone I play with) is the fact that their bunkers are utter garbage. The best way I can describe them, is packed dirt. In recent years I have never seen anyone play a shot from a sand trap here as you would imagine a shot from a bunker is to be played. There is no way to hit behind the ball, or "blast" the ball up and out. If you don't make clean contact the shot results in a bladed rocket. I've become accustomed to playing the bunker shots as if they were a chip off of a cart path. The goal is not to get up and down but, simply, to get out and keep the ball in play.

A lot of times, if we're playing for nothing but laughs and beers, we'll play these hazards as ground under repair. No one likes to lose a ball because you sent it careening off of a cliff side at 90mph from a green side bunker.

But, as I've been playing well I have not wanted to take free relief from these traps, as I want to see how well I can play. Ultimately this has cost me strokes and I accept it as the rub of the green, but I won't say it doesn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'm not playing for anything, not even a handicap, so it doesn't really matter what I do

What would you do? Play it as it lies or take relief? Do you call it unplayable? Do you hit it backwards as to try to give yourself another shot from the fairway?



*The course is aware of how bad things have become in the sand, but I believe they're struggling a bit financially, so I don't see a change coming any time soon.
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While on vacation I played at

Home

The crown jewel of the Whitetail Ridge Golf Community, Whitetail Ridge Golf Club's remarkable golf, luxurious amenities, delicious dining and superlative guest service have earned it recognition as one of the Chicago area's premier daily fee golf facilities.
tierrarejadagolf.com tierrarejadagolf.com
and was really suprised at the bunkers there, raked beautifully, fine sand and, like concrete! Like you said, played it like a chip off the cart path the second time I found myself in one. 😳
 
Space Bandito said:
I'll preface this by saying that I have been playing well in the last few rounds. A minor tweak to my tempo has made my ball striking much better, and I'm happy with my game right now.

There's a course out here which I play rather frequently. I enjoy it as it's fairly gettable if you can keep your ball in the fairway. It's extremely mountainous (they won't let you walk, even if you ask) so if you miss the fairways and greens you run a significant risk of losing your ball. It's in pretty good shape, and they do an good job of keeping the greens nice (albeit, when it's dry they're crazy fast.)

The only problem I have with this course (and it goes for anyone I play with) is the fact that their bunkers are utter garbage. The best way I can describe them, is packed dirt. In recent years I have never seen anyone play a shot from a sand trap here as you would imagine a shot from a bunker is to be played. There is no way to hit behind the ball, or "blast" the ball up and out. If you don't make clean contact the shot results in a bladed rocket. I've become accustomed to playing the bunker shots as if they were a chip off of a cart path. The goal is not to get up and down but, simply, to get out and keep the ball in play.

A lot of times, if we're playing for nothing but laughs and beers, we'll play these hazards as ground under repair. No one likes to lose a ball because you sent it careening off of a cliff side at 90mph from a green side bunker.

But, as I've been playing well I have not wanted to take free relief from these traps, as I want to see how well I can play. Ultimately this has cost me strokes and I accept it as the rub of the green, but I won't say it doesn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'm not playing for anything, not even a handicap, so it doesn't really matter what I do

What would you do? Play it as it lies or take relief? Do you call it unplayable? Do you hit it backwards as to try to give yourself another shot from the fairway?



*The course is aware of how bad things have become in the sand, but I believe they're struggling a bit financially, so I don't see a change coming any time soon.
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My 4-some will usually play the bad bunkers, which my home course has many, as follows: If you are in the bunker, grab the rake, rake your lie as if it had been raked, place ball back into the raked are and play the shot. Granted it is not the best but the bunkers here can be hard as rock and the ball will sit on top of essentially hardpan. So we try to at least play shots out of the sand.
 
I first saw the title of this thread and i thought, What? " you've played at the Plantation in Frisco"?
 
Turtlerancher said:
While on vacation I played at

Home

The crown jewel of the Whitetail Ridge Golf Community, Whitetail Ridge Golf Club's remarkable golf, luxurious amenities, delicious dining and superlative guest service have earned it recognition as one of the Chicago area's premier daily fee golf facilities.
tierrarejadagolf.com tierrarejadagolf.com
and was really suprised at the bunkers there, raked beautifully, fine sand and, like concrete! Like you said, played it like a chip off the cart path the second time I found myself in one. 😳
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This is the very course I'm talking about. When were you here, and why didn't you call?
 
Space Bandito said:
This is the very course I'm talking about. When were you here, and why didn't you call?
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Played it on the 4th, was a last minute thing since Wilson/Harding was packed. I would have loved to tee it up with you.
 
Does the thought change during winter golf up north? Usually no rakes hard "clay"... I play at a few it's nice but most during early golf are just nasty.
 
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