Bunker raking technique, what gives?

[Carl Johnson]

I'm watching the PGA Club Pro Championship on the Golf Channel.  I just stepped out of the room for a moment and heard a commentator say the following (paraphrasing, but as best I can recall): "Look at that technique, he's got two hands on the rake, not just one.  That's the way to do it."  As best I could tell, this was serious commentary.  In all my years raking bunkers, as a player, I've never focused on one hand versus two.  Did I miss a lesson?  MODIFICATION.  Back watching the event, I think the guy must have been tongue-in-cheek.  I like that guy.  He just commented on a player who laid his wedges down across each other by the green.  Commentator: "That's bad luck.  You always lay your clubs parallel."

[Steve Burrows]

The commentary may well have been tongue-in-cheek, but it's also a good practice. If indeed the goal of using a rake is to smooth over ones foot prints and the indentation of the club through the sand, then one hand is just not sufficient.  Only with the use of two hands can one apply the pressure (downforce, I suppose) necessary to do the job right.  I say this having had raked bunkers as a casual player and as someone who used to be on the maintenance side of the industry at a venue that hosts a PGA Tour event as well as a volunteer at a past US Open.  No one just uses one hand.

[Chuck Brown]

I was in and out of the room at the same time, watching the same part of the telecast.  The thing that struck me was that the player, obviously a club pro, was raking that bunker, with his caddy watching.

So I naturally presumed that the telecast's director was letting the camera linger on the scene of a player raking his own bunker (still not sure why), and Mark Lye was getting the message in his headset to just go with commentary, because the camera was staying there.  Mark Lye's sense of humor is mostly on the "nonexistent" end of "dry."  I think he was about 99.7% serious in talking about the right way to rake a bunker.

[Mike Hendren]

Next up:  Wheelbarrow technique.

[Roland Waguespack]

fyi, the commentator I beleive is Mike Breed from the golf fix on the golf channel.  Jerry Folz was laughing that it was almost funny for him to have to sit down during the telecasts.

[Jobst von Steinsdorff]

I was in and out of the room at the same time, watching the same part of the telecast.  The thing that struck me was that the player, obviously a club pro, was raking that bunker, with his caddy watching.

So I naturally presumed that the telecast's director was letting the camera linger on the scene of a player raking his own bunker (still not sure why),

Well, at least on Tour the PGA will fine the player if the bunker has not decently been raked. Thus low end players who don't have professional caddies often times elect to do it themselves to avoid that risk. May not so be frequent on the PGA Tour, but on the European Tour with lower price money it's not uncommon for low-end players. I've even seen instructions for volunteer caddies for an LET event, which said the volunteer caddies should never even enter a bunker, unless their players have discussed with them what to do and how.

Don't know if that applies for this type of Championship as well, but if so may be advisable for the player to do it himself if his caddie is just a friend/relative.

[Carl Johnson]

I was in and out of the room at the same time, watching the same part of the telecast.  The thing that struck me was that the player, obviously a club pro, was raking that bunker, with his caddy watching.

So I naturally presumed that the telecast's director was letting the camera linger on the scene of a player raking his own bunker (still not sure why),

Well, at least on Tour the PGA will fine the player if the bunker has not decently been raked. Thus low end players who don't have professional caddies often times elect to do it themselves to avoid that risk. May not so be frequent on the PGA Tour, but on the European Tour with lower price money it's not uncommon for low-end players. I've even seen instructions for volunteer caddies for an LET event, which said the volunteer caddies should never even enter a bunker, unless their players have discussed with them what to do and how.

Don't know if that applies for this type of Championship as well, but if so may be advisable for the player to do it himself if his caddie is just a friend/relative.

Well, this is all very interesting and not what I had expected in the way of responses to my initial post.  First comment: I played a round this morning and raked the bunkers (I think I was in four, maybe five) with my usual one-handed technique.  It seemed to work fine.  Maybe our sand is easier to rake than most.  Maybe I'm just a rebel.  Second comment, a question really:  How does the PGA Tour define "decent raking"?  What is the tour standard?  I'll add that when I  was standing with a rules official at the Quail Hollow Championship qualifying at our course last month, he went over to a bunker and re-raked it because, he said, the player had not raked it properly.  Unfortunately, I did not see either the "before" or "after," (bunker too deep) and I did not ask him to explain what he had done and why.  Third comment: I think this sort of attitude on the part of the tour is one of the reasons I've developed less and less respect for tour players over the years.

[Garland Bayley]

Carl,

The PGA Tour has studied the type of raking that gives their players the best chance for a good result and wants the bunkers raked that way. They make sure they are raked that way before any competitive round begins.

Their new motto, "these guys are pampered".