We haven't had rakes at any course since March of 2020 when COVID hit. Most courses have local rules that allow you to lift and place in a bunker because of this. I personally don't think there is any significant risk associated with rakes so I sure hope they put them back soon, as well as ball washers...
 
Is it different? All are representations of other peoples negligence.
Yes it is different. I'm not saying to not clean up after your bunker shots. Still flatten them out, like pitch marks.
 
We haven't had rakes at any course since March of 2020 when COVID hit. Most courses have local rules that allow you to lift and place in a bunker because of this. I personally don't think there is any significant risk associated with rakes so I sure hope they put them back soon, as well as ball washers...
still? wow. we've had everything back for 3-4 months now.
 
Yes it is different. I'm not saying to not clean up after your bunker shots. Still flatten them out, like pitch marks.
As much as I love to give people the benefit of the doubt, I have zero faith in someone being competent enough to do a similar job to what I would consider to be "acceptable" and therefore, would rather not take the tool away that convinces them to at least sort of get it done.
 
As much as I love to give people the benefit of the doubt, I have zero faith in someone being competent enough to do a similar job to what I would consider to be "acceptable" and therefore, would rather not take the tool away that convinces them to at least sort of get it done.
Alright, I appreciate that response.

My next question then, if you were playing a course and you knew the bunkers did not have rakes (increased risk of a bad lie in a bunker) would you change your approach to the game knowing there was an increased risk being in the bunker?

My follow up to that question, would you avoid playing a course if you knew they did not put rakes out around their bunkers?
 
I wouldn't think much of it. Hell last year most courses here didn't have rakes.
 
Alright, I appreciate that response.

My next question then, if you were playing a course and you knew the bunkers did not have rakes (increased risk of a bad lie in a bunker) would you change your approach to the game knowing there was an increased risk being in the bunker?

My follow up to that question, would you avoid playing a course if you knew they did not put rakes out around their bunkers?
It's not really on my radar. We're in a weird time right now, with varying levels of protocols in place.

If a place had no rakes, and it was a casual round, I'd probably agree with my group on the first green that bunkers can be played as a foot rake and place or drop.
 
It's not really on my radar. We're in a weird time right now, with varying levels of protocols in place.

If a place had no rakes, and it was a casual round, I'd probably agree with my group on the first green that bunkers can be played as a foot rake and place or drop.
Oddly, I never even considered the COVID protocols because we never had them here in Wisco, at least never had them on the course I play the most.
 
[QUOTE="blugold, post: 9982923, member: 3249"

No foot takes a place. Hit it out if the footprint.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t mind playing it as is, but swiping with the foot and then dropping isn’t exactly prestine. Not saying to manicure it haha. Just smooth out the deep ass imprint a guy in front of me just left. Just like raking. I don’t expect it to be great. Just smooth out the deep gouges a little
 
I have played a couple of courses , more particularly on coastal locations , have found rakes not in bunkers but left to wind force to move sand around , have found this interesting insofar as the natural sand gets blown about so vigorously that they have brought in heavier grain sand to mitigate erosion.

No impact as ball could land in sand ripple or any other sand feature

Just play as found ,,,
 
I just started seeing rakes again last weekend. Prior to that there have been none since the pandemic started. No more touchless pins either.
 
They've started doing this at my home course. Luckily, I play early in the AM and thus far....it hasn't bothered me.
 
What would you think if you went to a $60 per round course, where the bunkers were dragged everyday by the grounds crew but there were no rakes for golfers to use after bunker shots?
Id love it. I find that most people either dont rake the bunkers at all or do a terrible job of it. IMO, bunkers should be just like a fairway divot. If you land in it, sure its a bad break but thats just the rub of the green. 🤷‍♂️ I actually have far less sympathy for someone whose ball lands in a bunker divot that I do someone whose ball lands in a fairway divot. A bunker is a hazard, after all.
 
I am not talking about fairness, I am talking about equality for all players

A concept which does not exist on a golf course, given that the weather, the temperature, the wind, the grass, the divots, it all changes as the day goes along, all day, every day. First out always gets a different course than the noon rounds and the late day rounds.

To the OP: I wouldn’t care if there were no rakes. Doesn’t matter. I’ll play it as it lies and the course as I find it.
 
I would be a bit frustrated with the situation, but i would just try to smooth the sand as much as possible with my foot. Ideally try extra hard not to land in a bunker...which means i would hit 3 or 4 at least lol
 
A concept which does not exist on a golf course, given that the weather, the temperature, the wind, the grass, the divots, it all changes as the day goes along, all day, every day. First out always gets a different course than the noon rounds and the late day rounds.

To the OP: I wouldn’t care if there were no rakes. Doesn’t matter. I’ll play it as it lies and the course as I find it.
But why should someone who goes out first thing in the morning have perfect fairways and bunkers after the greenkeeping staff have prepped the course, yet someone who decides to go out after work has to deal with divots and footprints in bunkers because lazy idiots (I can't call them golfers) can't be bothered to keep the course in the same condition?

Weather is an outside influence that can't be controlled so doesn't come into this discussion, but raking bunkers and replacing divots is something that any respectful golfer will sort during their round
 
But why should someone who goes out first thing in the morning have perfect fairways and bunkers after the greenkeeping staff have prepped the course, yet someone who decides to go out after work has to deal with divots and footprints in bunkers because lazy idiots (I can't call them golfers) can't be bothered to keep the course in the same condition?

Weather is an outside influence that can't be controlled so doesn't come into this discussion, but raking bunkers and replacing divots is something that any respectful golfer will sort during their round

To be clear, I'm not advocating that people shouldn't leave the course in as good a condition as they found it. If I hit out of a bunker and there's no rake I'll do my best with my feet.

My point is that expecting the conditions to be equal for all players is, in my view anyway, an unrealistic expectation.

Further, since the only thing I can control is myself, if I find I'm continually coming across an unraked lie in a bunker, I feel like I have three choices:

1) Complain
2) Learn how to hit sand shots off of bad lies
3) Avoid the bunkers

Two of those three options are helpful...
 
FWIW, I'm one of the guys who if I'm in the bunker I'm going to rake my area and any others in the bunker close by to leave it in as pristine condition as possible. If there is no rake, the best I can do is try to smooth over where I played. It takes too long to do that and someone else's. So there is both a quality and quantity impact if there is no rake.
 
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