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How do you rake bunkers?

How do you rake bunkers?

  • rake over all the tracks you made, evenly?

    Votes: 80 74.1%

  • Rake and push, leaving sand with little ridges?

    Votes: 21 19.4%

  • Rake all the sand to the edge of the bunker?

    Votes: 10 9.3%

  • Do not rake at all?

    Votes: 2 1.9%
  • Total voters
    108
  • Poll closed .
I am in so many I just keep a rake hanging out of my butt and as long as I walk forward I always leave a nice smooth surface :D

No but really, no kidding, truth is by the time I am done hacking to get out of it, there simply is just no more sand left in it to rake:beat-up:

No but really - I don't have any specific way of doing it but simply make an effort to rake and leave it nice for the next player. I just hate when in a large bunker yet and only 1 or 2 rakes and both are way over the other sides. Sometimes that gets aggravating especially when concerned with pace.
 
Obviously rake over where you stood and walked and where the club went through the sand.

But also where the ball rolled through the sand.

Always rake up the hills of the bunker. The sand always goes down to low spots, so the top parts of bunkers become bare if you don't replace it..
 
after spending many days in the spring and summer raking home plate after practice or games I always try to do my best to leave the bunker the same as I found it (with my ball cleared out of course).

try to smooth everything out (I tend to dig in with my feet particularly on greenside bunkers) then cover my tracks with a light pull/push movement on my way out usually leaving the rake out of the bunker (unless the other rakes are already in the bunker.
 
Smallville said:
Obviously rake over where you stood and walked and where the club went through the sand.

But also where the ball rolled through the sand.

Always rake up the hills of the bunker. The sand always goes down to low spots, so the top parts of bunkers become bare if you don't replace it..
Click to expand...

While I do agree, my home course like's everyone during play to simply just rake their tracks as smooth as possible, like you were never there and the course staff takes care of pushing the sand up to the high edges every morning when doing normal bunker raking.
 
I try to rake so that it looks like there never was anyone in the bunker. Which, for me, means that I push sand into the center of the bunker after I rake toward me (on the edge), so that the rake marks are covered.
I also play where the edges of the bunker are brushed, so when I play there, I use the back (smooth) side of the rake to smooth out the sand that I raked first, to the edge of where the brush stopped. It takes about 15 more seconds to get the sand smooth, and it looks really sharp. I am sure the maintenance people spend more time at it than I do, tho.
 
I rake as evenly as possible over the track I have made, I also try and make as few tracks as possible so I can leave the bunker in better shape than I found it.
 
I've been pulling the sand back towards me (and the lip), but it didn't seem quite right so I've starting to push it (push it real good) as well. I like the video that deuce posted and I'll try that next weekend.
 
I usually try and make it as even as possible
 
Smooth out the depression then push the rake as I exit the bunker. The push is almost like a paint brush brush if ya know what I mean.
 
Different rakes in different courses. I wish they all had the rounded backside so I could smooth the surface after I rake.
I try to make the surface as smooth as I can with the rake available.
 
Never really thought about it, but I know that I'm done raking when I can look at where I've just been in and know I would be happy to play from there.
 
When I first saw the thread title, I read it as "how to you RATE bunkers." That was easy, because I aside from course aesthetics, I don't like any of them! But RAKING is something I do take seriously, although I am not sure I have been doing it right or wrong. Apparently technique is as important as intention and effort.
 
Some idiot decided to leave the rake in the bunker causing my ball to deflect off it and stay against the back lip leaving me two strokes to the green instead of one because, due to the firmness of the sand, would have rolled more toward the center leaving a regular bunker shot onto the green rather than a shot out to the side then a chip onto the green.
 
I push the rake gently and lightly. Making sure it's flat. Always entering from the low side. I make sure I flatten the divot and hit all my tracks and others that have been left behind by others.

But I used to rake bunkers by hand every morning for one of the nicest courses on Tucson so I am a little particular.

Always lay the rake parallel with the shot.


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I raked bunkers today like the video earlier in the thread. It did not take long.
I also had a lot of practice, as I was in 5 bunkers.
 
I changed the way I rake bunkers after spending the week at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club a few years back. After watching how the caddies for the pros rake I realized I needed to push more than pull.
 
Picked option 1. Try to leave it as smooth as possible.

95+% of the people that play my course fall in the bottom category....
 
caeleric said:
i've been playing golf for almost 15 years. i know i SUCK at raking bunkers. i try to pull and push the sand evenly over my tracks, then pull the excess sand back to the edge of the bunker.
Click to expand...

What excess sand? If the bunker was smooth in the first place, then when you're done raking, it should be smooth with the sand that was there still in place. Otherwise you are effectively creating a thin spot in the bunker, which will eventually have no sand if everyone does like you do.

I try to leave it as it was when I entered it, with nothing more than small rake furrows which should have little effect on the next guy who plays from there. Just like repairing a ball mark on the green, I want to do it well enough that it wouldn't bother me to play from the same spot again.

I also rake out any nearby craters left by other players, but I won't rake an entire bunker. That would cause undue delay, and in my opinion, would be worse than leaving behind the mess that others made.
 
Push so I don't leave edges.
 
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