A decent course ruined.

[louise_a]

Today I played a Regent Park in Bolton, as far as I can gather its a public course, owned by the council but privately run.
Its a bit odd as at the moment there are only 14 holes, 4 have been dug up due to bad drainage, so you play the first four again at the end to make the 18.
Now the fairways are nice, the greens are decent and it was a pleasure to play, with one exception, the bunkers! Most had no or little sand in, just dried mud and stones, fortunately I only went in one, it was so compacted that I couldnt rake it.

Now I dont know the cost of sand, but it really seemed to be a case of spoiling the ship for a happorth of tar.

 

[munro007]

I think it would be down to all the rain we have had, that there's no sand in the bunkers.

 

[DaveM]

The bunkers there use to be ok. But the holes at the bottom end of the course. When it rained were a nightmare. Balls plugging in the middle of the fairway so deep never to be seen again. Plus some of the greens used to get so water logged. The turf lifted it was like walking on a water bed.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

To be fair the bunkers at Camberley weren't great but that was because the torrential rain had compacted the sand. I played there before and they were perfectly playable . Monday stones had been brought up and there is very little the green staff can do when faced with such volumes of rain in a short period of time. However it sounds like Regent Park does have drainage issues though especially if you can lose a ball in the fairway

 

[Qwerty]

Regents park used to be a really good layout until they trashed the old 10th hole by building the driving range there, the new 1st hole now doglegs round the back of the range.

It's where I had my first round of golf about 12 years ago and I've always thought if it was a private course it would be one of the best in the area. But sadly it seems like it slowly going down the pan.

 

[patricks148]

Our lot just trundle down the beach and get some more if they need it

 

[6inchcup]

no sand or badly cared for bunkers has always been my pet hate,and to be honest there is no reason for it.I get fed up with the constant reference to "it is down to the rain!"if the bunker was prepared properly with drainage and the correct type of sands used we would never be confronted by rock hard stone/shell builders or mersey grit type sand,i am sorry to say but it is down to cost either by not having enough green staff to do the job properly or buying the correct sand or the original bunker just being a hole dug into the ground.I played at a local club BLUNDELLSHILL G C fabulous track and they were part of an experiment a couple of years ago that used powdered glass in the bunkers and they were the best i have ever played out of,even after a heavy rain storm they were fluffy and ALL type of bunker shots could be played don't know what the outcome was but have not seen the idea anywhere else.