Non raked bunkers, how can clubs police/address the issue?

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

All I can do is spend a few moments tidying up any messed up bunker I come across, even if I’ve not been in it. I consider that one of my duties as a member is helping keeping the course in best condition for everyone else playing it. If every bunker a player sees as he walks past is nice and tidy, then he is much more likely to tidy up any he goes into himself.

We are all part of the wider ‘greens team’ - after all we are good at commenting on their work so should be happy helping them with it. As it happens all of ours are very well presented and in excellent condition and that is a further incentive to keep them so.

I also pull out tees that have been left in the ground - just untidy.

 

[Billysboots]

I actually think the state of a course’s bunkers to begin with will have a huge bearing on how golfers look after them.

If they are hard packed, full of golf ball sized stones and pebbles and generally poorly maintained then a lot of golfers, I’m afraid, will simply think if the club aren’t bothered then why should they be. I don’t agree with that mentality, but I certainly understand it.

Our bunkers are pitiful. The worst part of an otherwise excellent course. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I see far more unraked bunkers at ours than I do when I play courses with significantly better bunker maintenance.

 

[Backsticks]

Wasn't meaning to criticise, really an observation
Although if two more GKs are needed for daily tasks and the issue is bad enough then yes subs and green fees might have to go up to fund them so that bunkers start the day in the expected/desired condition

A similar bunker issue frustrates me from time to time at my home club too and there's 30 GKs there

30 GKs !
How many courses were at the club ? 3 or 4 ?

 

[Slab]

30 GKs !
How many courses were at the club ? 3 or 4 ?

Just the 18 holes
(of course that doesn't include the part timers that do weeding/thinning the long grass areas etc, about 2 dozen of them but they're seasonal)

 

[clubchamp98]

I actually think the state of a course’s bunkers to begin with will have a huge bearing on how golfers look after them.

If they are hard packed, full of golf ball sized stones and pebbles and generally poorly maintained then a lot of golfers, I’m afraid, will simply think if the club aren’t bothered then why should they be. I don’t agree with that mentality, but I certainly understand it.

Our bunkers are pitiful. The worst part of an otherwise excellent course. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I see far more unraked bunkers at ours than I do when I play courses with significantly better bunker maintenance.

Agree 100%.
members are just lazy imo.
our bunkers have linings in but the faces are to steep and the sand won’t stay there.
you can see the fibres sticking through the sand.
so if your up the face you got no chance, if your in the flat part lots of sand .
great course let down by the bunkers.
but sounds like we’re not alone.

 

[Backsticks]

Just the 18 holes
(of course that doesn't include the part timers that do weeding/thinning the long grass areas etc, about 2 dozen of them but they're seasonal)

What can the 30 possibly be doing ?!?!?!?
I think we have 6 plus and extra 2 in the summer months. Seems more than ample. 30 +24 part times seems off the charts. Are you in Augusta National by chance (with the par 3 I guess that justifies an extra couple) ?

 

[Bazz]

It was summed up earlier in the thread, you meet selfish people in all walks of life, they aren't going to change when out playing.

 

[Billysboots]

Agree 100%.
members are just lazy imo.
our bunkers have linings in but the faces are to steep and the sand won’t stay there.
you can see the fibres sticking through the sand.
so if your up the face you got no chance, if your in the flat part lots of sand .
great course let down by the bunkers.
but sounds like we’re not alone.

And it’s absolutely the members who are the main culprits.

We have always had an issue with pitchmarks being unrepaired and bunkers not raked - no different to many places, I suppose.

Traditionally it was the societies and visitors who got the blame. That was the easy cop out. Until, that is, we came out of the first lockdown and it was members only for several weeks.

When we started playing again the course was in mint condition. Within days it was back to normal - pitchmarks unrepaired and bunkers not raked. Societies and visitors? I think not.

 

[Slab]

What can the 30 possibly be doing ?!?!?!?
I think we have 6 plus and extra 2 in the summer months. Seems more than ample. 30 +24 part times seems off the charts. Are you in Augusta National by chance (with the par 3 I guess that justifies an extra couple) ?

Roughly 30,000 rounds a year means the course would take a helluva beating without the work of the greens staff

 

[cliveb]

Agree 100%.
members are just lazy imo.
our bunkers have linings in but the faces are to steep and the sand won’t stay there.
you can see the fibres sticking through the sand.
so if your up the face you got no chance, if your in the flat part lots of sand .
great course let down by the bunkers.
but sounds like we’re not alone.

If the faces are so steep the sand won't stay there, how does a ball?

 

[clubchamp98]

If the faces are so steep the sand won't stay there, how does a ball?

Mostly there’s a very thin layer of sand
balls run up the face and just sit in this very thin sand .
so getting a club under it is like playing a bunker shot off a mat

 

[cliveb]

Mostly there’s a very thin layer of sand
balls run up the face and just sit in this very thin sand .

I am struggling to get my head round the idea that a ball can be held up against the force of gravity on a very steep face by a very thin layer of sand.

Where do you get your sand from - Velcro corp?

 

[Timmmeh]

Raked or not I'm probably thinning it over the green.

Local rules to rake and place, playing partners to agree placement?

 

[Backsticks]

Raked or not I'm probably thinning it over the green.

Local rules to rake and place, playing partners to agree placement?

Penalty for not raking : General Penalty.

 

[clubchamp98]

I am struggling to get my head round the idea that a ball can be held up against the force of gravity on a very steep face by a very thin layer of sand.

Where do you get your sand from - Velcro corp?

Dosnt take much to hold a ball on the slope
there not vertical slopes but the sand won’t stay on them .

 

[Oddsocks]

Perhaps not racking bunkers should be more the norm. They are a hazard after all.

I did suggest this to one person and it went down like a fart in a lift!

The issue is our course is on high downs exposed to higher winds than others in the area, when the rough is up sometimes the bunkers are a safe miss.

I’d love to see them ditch the loamy sands and go with the shail/red sand similar to what’s on the 2010, it would be consistent, lower maintenance and less punishing if not raked but refurbishing all the bunkers would be astronomical in costs.