Bunkers, raked up or down face?

[DanFST]

I play on a course littered with bunkers. They are all raked up the face so they are either plugging somewhere up there. Or if they roll down there is minimal sand. There is never sand on the green from greenside bunker shots.

Simple question: Should they be raked up or down the face? What's it like at your course?

 

[backwoodsman]

Subject to topography, sand should be even across the bunker - so a combination of both. But all too often, you see all sand raked into the bottom and none one the slope. Or vice versa.

 

[jim8flog]

I would rake them down the face* but I am pretty sure the green staff rake them up the face from the outside. Similarly I push the sand back to middle when I leave a bunker rather than pull it towards the edge

Like the OP we get lots of sand in face and virtually none in the bottom of the bunker. It is only natural when you play a shot you are going to put more sand on the face so it needs to raked back to the middle.

* and I often spend more time in the bunker raking the sand back down to the bottom than I really should have to.

 

[Bratty]

I would rake them down the face* but I am pretty sure the green staff rake them up the face from the outside. Similarly I push the sand back to middle when I leave a bunker rather than pull it towards the edge

Like the OP we get lots of sand in face and virtually none in the bottom of the bunker. It is only natural when you play a shot you are going to put more sand on the face so it needs to raked back to the middle.

* and I often spend more time in the bunker raking the sand back down to the bottom than I really should have to.

Exactly this. Sadly.
It really shouldn't be difficult, but some people find it a doctorate-level task!

 

[D-S]

Very often there is no sand at the bottom as everyone tends to rake from their footprints to the back edge, so pushing the sand from the back edge to the middle to cover your footprints is a good idea.

 

[Imurg]

Our bunker rakes have fairly wide tines so they smooth footprints without actually moving much sand....
For me, the challenge of a bumker is taking the right amount of sand and getting the right height to clear the bunker face..
It shouldn't be a "who can chip off a bare lie" contest
You hardly ever see a Pro event where the ball doesn't roll to the base of the bunker..

 

[nickjdavis]

I play on a course littered with bunkers. They are all raked up the face so they are either plugging somewhere up there. Or if they roll down there is minimal sand. There is never sand on the green from greenside bunker shots.

Simple question: Should they be raked up or down the face? What's it like at your course?

I reckon half our bunkers are ploughed.

The other half they've borrowed the heavy roller from the local cricket club.

 

[Slab]

Rake it in both directions to 'repair' your damage. You're not supposed to be redistributing the sand

Oh and rake in the direction of the pin position so any small furrows are in line with the shot

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If the bunkers have built/compacted slopes up to the faces, it seems commonplace that these slopes are smoothed rather than raked.

Indeed we have such bunkers and ask players to not rake the slope of a bunker unless they have messed it up when playing their shot, and after raking it back to be consistent with the slope use the rounded back of the rake to gently smooth the sand, with smoothing done towards the base of the bunker so that a ball rolls away from the face down the slope to the base of the bunker.

Well that‘s the idea and the request

 

[Jigger]

I rake down the face in general but I’d hit the base I rake up over. Our bunkers are terrible. Sand is different in some bunkers to other and there is a real culture of badly raking or not at all.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

We rake our up with the inevitable problem of bad lies on the face. When you see the bunkers prepared for a professional tournament the faces are usually bare so the ball rolls to the bottom which are carefully prepared.

I asked why we don't do this and was told by the green staff that they cover the face so they look better to the members / visitors.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Short video from my place on how we should look after our bunkers…and we do not bad. This was one of the first to be rebuilt and since then we have rebuilt all further bunkers with a longer and steeper ‘slope’.

 

[Imurg]

Had a situation on our 16th yesterday.?
Partner's tee shot pitched before the right greenside bunker and, literally, trickled off the fringe and into the sand.
When we got there the ball was plugged 3 inches below the lip, making the shot almost impossible
Way too much sand on the face of the bunker
I could understand a ball plugging if it pitched into the face but this ball barely made the sand and should have rolled down the face....

 

[Hobbit]

Aim to leave the bunker better than you find it. Don’t go daft and spend half an hour in there but a few extra sweeps with the rake only takes a few extra seconds. If everyone did that the bunkers would be amazing within weeks - bit like everyone do their own pitchmark and two others.

As for which direction to rake? Rake both ways, i.e. back and forth. Your shot will have splashed some sand forward, hence draw it back.

 

[clubchamp98]

Ours have felt linings and are a nightmare.
you never know if your going to hit the lining or not.

The rakes we have can’t be pushed forward the just dig into the sand so everyone just rakes backwards as they exit.

To many don’t even bother raking, seen footprints stepping over the rake! Very poor from them.

 

[need_my_wedge]

We use these at our gaff, they are superb



Bunker Wizard

 

[peld]

Our bunkers are mostly terrible (they seem better on our smaller west course vs the bigger east course).

A lot of it stems from the green keepers using a machine to rake the bunkers which seems to reduce the sand in the middle and kick up the stones below the sand layer.

 

[Hobbit]

Ours have felt linings and are a nightmare.
you never know if your going to hit the lining or not.

The rakes we have can’t be pushed forward the just dig into the sand so everyone just rakes backwards as they exit.

To many don’t even bother raking, seen footprints stepping over the rake! Very poor from them.

Try and flip the rake onto its back and gently push back.