My Tuesday and Sunday courses don't have rakes.
Course of action is to 'Foot" rake and place.

.Foot rake and place the ball. That is the rule at my home course. Another course I play has had rakes return.
 
Courses here are starting to put the rakes back out, most used the "COVID" rule of considering bunkers as ground under repair when there were no rakes.
 
I noticed my local course has added the rakes back in and removed the noodles from the cup (like soup, vs top ramen).
 
In our area we haven't had bunker rakes for over a year. The course declared bunkers as GUR (so you got a free drop out of the bunker) and we have gone to preferred lies in the bunkers so you can place within a club length no closer to the hole within the bunker. That is what the state golf association went to for Covid, but now it is county by county.

Will see if when our state "opens" back up 6/15 if we will get bunkers back or not.... I have gone to a few places where they give you a rake for each cart and you keep it with you throughout the round. I actually like that, keeps from having the is the rake supposed to be in or out debate.
 
$60 is cheap. 🤣🤣🤣
 
In our area we haven't had bunker rakes for over a year. The course declared bunkers as GUR (so you got a free drop out of the bunker) and we have gone to preferred lies in the bunkers so you can place within a club length no closer to the hole within the bunker. That is what the state golf association went to for Covid, but now it is county by county.

Will see if when our state "opens" back up 6/15 if we will get bunkers back or not.... I have gone to a few places where they give you a rake for each cart and you keep it with you throughout the round. I actually like that, keeps from having the is the rake supposed to be in or out debate.
Club length is generous.....I could have used that before after being stuck under the lip of a bunker lol
 
Club length is generous.....I could have used that before after being stuck under the lip of a bunker lol

Not my call as it was stated by the state association as mentioned previously. you know what is really generous? Getting to take your ball out of a bunker because it is ground under repair... So I am glad we have at least moved to where you have to hit it from the bunker. hopefully rakes return in another 12 days but who the heck knows anymore. I am just glad I get to go golf.
 
Why should people later in the day be given a worse lie than those who go out first after the grounds crew have done the bunkers?
The only way to make it fair for everyone is for the course to never touch the bunkers and let people deal with whatever condition they find them in, but then I guess you will get more people complaining about the state of them

Another alternative would be to allow players to lift the ball, use their foot to smooth out the sand, then drop the ball rather than place - with the new drop rule, the ball will likely plug slightly from knee height, so will still make it more difficult than a clean shot off the top of the sand
I don't think "fair" should have anything to do with it. It's a hazard.
 
You just live in an expensiv part of the world.
weekend rates push $100 now at most decent courses here in St. Louis. Demand is just crazy.
 
I’d be all about it. I hate taking bunkers way more than I hate hitting out of untamed bunkers.

Heck...just about every course around me has completely let their bunkers go to crap during COVID anyway. A lot of people are playing them as a free drop since they’re in such bad shape...I just hit out of them anyway.
 
Not my call as it was stated by the state association as mentioned previously. you know what is really generous? Getting to take your ball out of a bunker because it is ground under repair... So I am glad we have at least moved to where you have to hit it from the bunker. hopefully rakes return in another 12 days but who the heck knows anymore. I am just glad I get to go golf.
I wasn't questioning your post, just commenting on how generous the distance your association gave you all, but yes, I agree that getting a free drop outside of the bunker is more than generous - we do have that at a number of bunkers on my home course, but they are in the process of being rebuilt, so there isn't any sand in them at the moment

I don't think "fair" should have anything to do with it. It's a hazard.
I agree, it is a hazard, but if the grounds crew are prepping the bunkers once a day, the earlier someone is playing, the less likely they are to end up in a footprint, so to ensure equality, the bunkers should never be touched by ground staff if they want them to be a true hazard - any kind of prep work means there will be an unfair advantage for the early players

If I was playing in a tournament and knew that bunkers would be prepped at the start of the day, I would not be happy going out in the afternoon knowing that I would likely have a lot worse lie than someone who was out early in the day
 
Why should people later in the day be given a worse lie than those who go out first after the grounds crew have done the bunkers?
The only way to make it fair for everyone is for the course to never touch the bunkers and let people deal with whatever condition they find them in, but then I guess you will get more people complaining about the state of them

Another alternative would be to allow players to lift the ball, use their foot to smooth out the sand, then drop the ball rather than place - with the new drop rule, the ball will likely plug slightly from knee height, so will still make it more difficult than a clean shot off the top of the sand
Knee height drop? I thought the rule changed to ankle height drop? That's what I've been using.
 
fI I was playing in a tournament and knew that bunkers would be prepped at the start of the day, I would not be happy going out in the afternoon knowing that I would likely have a lot worse lie than someone who was out early in the day

Or, conversely, if you were in a tournament, playing later in the day, knowing bunkers maybe more hazardous, balance the risk/reward of each shot differently?
 
Or, conversely, if you were in a tournament, playing later in the day, knowing bunkers maybe more hazardous, balance the risk/reward of each shot differently?
If that was the case, I would be walking up to every bunker in my target range to look at the condition and then decide how to play the shot - hope everyone enjoys slooooooow play :LOL:

I don't disagree that bunkers are hazards, but there has to be some level of equality for every player on the course, whether that be bunkers full of footprints for the first players out, or no footprints for the last player out
 
If that was the case, I would be walking up to every bunker in my target range to look at the condition and then decide how to play the shot - hope everyone enjoys slooooooow play :LOL:

I don't disagree that bunkers are hazards, but there has to be some level of equality for every player on the course, whether that be bunkers full of footprints for the first players out, or no footprints for the last player out
I'm just not with you on the fairness requirement.
 
While the Covid rules were in place at my home course, they had us playing all bunkers as GIR with the free drop outside.
Now the rakes are back and you play them as normal again. There are a couple of courses I have played around here that still haven't put there rakes out and the clubhouse tells you to lift, foot rake and place the ball, no penalty.
 
I'm just not with you on the fairness requirement.
I am not talking about fairness, I am talking about equality for all players
 
That has been the norm here in the NY/NJ area for over a year due to Covid. Some courses just started putting rakes back this week. Played Bethpage Black last week ($145 Non-Resident weekday rate) with no bunker rakes.
 
They're starting to appear here and there, but mostly none at my courses.

I think it's more about players enjoying the free fluff than worrying about Covid, so I'm wondering if we ever see them again, but the rules of golf do not agree so I would like them to return.
 
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Last year at our course no rakes local rule you could move your ball a club length. That certainly made playing out of bunkers much easier. Rakes are back in , noodles out of the cups. Glad they are back and now the bunkers mean something again. And after I got the PM Grind 58 degree wedge my sand game went from awful to respectable lol so now if im in I have a chance to legitimately hit a good recovery shot.
 
To me it is kind of silly. But worse still to me is finding where some goofball tracked in a bunker walking past the rake, hit their shot, and tracked back out right past the rake and never bothered to pick up the rake and use it.
so you have played some of the courses here in Frisco?
 
We didn't have rakes until about 3 months ago when opened the course back up after The Great Freeze. For some reason though the course and groups are still allowing you to place which I don't agree with. I think it should go back to normal.
 
I am not talking about fairness, I am talking about equality for all players
ok. I don't think equality needs to be part of the equation.
Last year at our course no rakes local rule you could move your ball a club length. That certainly made playing out of bunkers much easier. Rakes are back in , noodles out of the cups. Glad they are back and now the bunkers mean something again. And after I got the PM Grind 58 degree wedge my sand game went from awful to respectable lol so now if im in I have a chance to legitimately hit a good recovery shot.
I'm not even thinking of covid exceptions or drops. I'm thinking play it as it lies. If it's in a footprint, so be it.
 
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