When is a Bunker not a Bunker?

[Fish]

:sbox: OK before the purists say, we shouldn't be in them anyway, the fact remains they are out their for a reason and as such I think there should be a minimum requirement/description that they need to uphold to be correctly named.

Twice today I found a bunker that I wouldn't normally be anywhere near, but as I'm striking the ball better, I am going for more GIR so its inevitable I'm going to catch the odd one but for pity sake, can we have a minimum depth of sand in them please!

They all looked very pretty this morning, we obviously have a new machine but twice I thought I'd go deep and splash out and twice after less than 1" I've hit clay!!

Pro's apparently prefer a bunker shot to being around the fluff of the greens, I'd like to hear them say that after going in some of ours!!

I want a campaign that all bunkers should have no less than 6" of sand in any one spot!

:rant:

 

[G1BB0]

we have some that are great and some an absolute lottery. I was in 3 at the weekend and came out of 2 like a pro and 1 like a duffer due to being about 1/2 sand the rest like clay.

I still wonder what a pro would score around my track with small greens and slower than a slow thing greens (plus recently verticut etc), throw in dodgy lies, uneven bunkers and they would struggle from their usual manicured perfection!

 

[Phil2511]

Sounds like many bunkers at my place used to be like. Though after serious complaints they are keeping them topped up.
Put in a complaint to the committee or if its at another club put a suggestion in their correspondence box.

 

[duncan mackie]

I want a campaign that all bunkers should have no less than 6" of sand in any one spot!

what on earth do you want 6" for???????????

 

[Phil2511]

what on earth do you want 6" for???????????

Sand castles :whoo:

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

what on earth do you want 6" for???????????

You absolutely do not want 6" of sand in a bunker - you'll never get out - that is if you are ever able to get your footing settled enough to take a stable swing. I started a thread earlier today about the problems I am having with our new bunkers having more and different sand in them, so won't repeat myself here. Suffice to say - be careful what you wish for.

 

[G1BB0]

is there a set minimum standard? Ignoring courses being set up for pro tournies of course

 

[Fish]

what on earth do you want 6" for???????????

You gotta start somewhere.

OK Oh wise one, what should the "ideal" depth be?

 

[fundy]

You gotta start somewhere.

OK Oh wise one, what should the "ideal" depth be?

nice firm base with a couple of inches on top is more than enough - its the consistency between different bunkers that is important and often not helped by how people rake them (ie raking all the sand to the middle)

 

[G1BB0]

found this interesting article Robin -
http://www.eigca.org/Article/EIGCA17765.ink

suggests - Recommended sand depth is approximately 100 mm with approximately 50 mm on faces.

 

[Fish]

nice firm base with a couple of inches on top is more than enough - its the consistency between different bunkers that is important and often not helped by how people rake them (ie raking all the sand to the middle)

I'd happily take a couple of inches, that's a couple more than I experienced this morning.

We were first out, all the bunkers had a nice swirling and level presence, obvious we have a new gadget so raking wasn't the issue, its solely down to volume and hitting clay at less than an inch isn't on in my book!

At Minchinhampton yesterday the 2 courses seemed to have completely different sand in? The Cherington sand was excellent, soft, grainy and really easy to work with, the Avening was like a shale with loads of fine stones in and more clumpy! Plenty of sand in both though.

 

[srixon 1]

6 inches of sand is just too deep for consistently getting out of. What you need is 2/3 inches with a nice firm base at the bottom.

 

[hovis]

how about using a bit of skill and determing what kind of shot to play. if you stand in the bunker and its hard under foot then there's not much sand to work with. if you sink up to your knees then you can slip one under. the point i'm trying to make is golf is diverse, gather the info and adapt accordingly. dont blame the bunker blame the shot

 

[Fish]

found this interesting article Robin -
http://www.eigca.org/Article/EIGCA17765.ink

suggests - Recommended sand depth is approximately 100 mm with approximately 50 mm on faces.

Good link :thup:

 

[Fish]

:rant: I want 4" (100mm) of sand in my bunkers :sbox:

 

[Imurg]

6 inches and you'd never find your ball!

As above, a firm base, a couple of inches of sand and Robert's your Father's Brother!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

found this interesting article Robin -
http://www.eigca.org/Article/EIGCA17765.ink

suggests - Recommended sand depth is approximately 100 mm with approximately 50 mm on faces.

We've gone to 100mm depth - though it does pile up (or get piled up). Find it incredibly difficult to get out of as I'm, used to a relatively thin covering of sand over a firm base - nothing like that feeling in our new bunkers - just sand and more sand

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

how about using a bit of skill and determing what kind of shot to play. if you stand in the bunker and its hard under foot then there's not much sand to work with. if you sink up to your knees then you can slip one under. the point i'm trying to make is golf is diverse, gather the info and adapt accordingly. dont blame the bunker blame the shot

You want to try that argument in my place - ructions ongoing due to the huge difference between the sand and depth of sand in our old and new bunkers. The new ones may be 'right' but boy is it hard to adapt from bunker to bunker.

 

[Fish]

We've gone to 100mm depth - though it does pile up (or get piled up). Find it incredibly difficult to get out of as I'm, used to a relatively thin covering of sand over a firm base - nothing like that feeling in our new bunkers - just sand and more sand

I'll take that over the inconsistency of 1 minute sand, 1 minute clay when required to make the same kind of shot!

 

[srixon 1]

It also depends on the amount of bounce that you have on the club that you use to get out of the bunker. Under normal conditions (dry sand) I will ALLWAYS use my 56* wedge with 10* of bounce. Hard compacted/wet sand and I will use my 60* wedge with 4* of bounce.