Riviera bunkering vs RM bunkering

[Carl Rogers]

I see a number of similarities ...... ??

[Adam Clayman]

The newly restored Pinehurst #2 is more similar to RM, BECAUSE, there's no rough leading into them on the fairway side, and how they cut into the line of play. (Instinct)

[Alex Miller]

Visually I think there are some similarities, but the ball can definitely plug or stay on some of the faces at Riviera.

I think that the kikuyu edged bunkers there (coincidentally kikuyu only grows in socal and australia i believe) give the edges the same sharp over hanging look as RM and some other sand belt courses.

[Adam Clayman]

Alex, The treaded double K grows farther north, too. Not just socal.

[Peter Ferlicca]

Alex,

Actually Kikuyu originated in East Africa, and is used in many courses in South Africa, Humewood being one of them I am pretty sure.  The course they played on this week in South Africa had Kikuyu.  It is a cheap grass and is drought tolerant, so it is very easy to maintain. 

[Scott Warren]

I wouldn't day that beyond the flashed faces there are many similarities.

The Melbourne sand/soil really is quite unique and the tight fairway grass approaches and tie-ins to the native at RM are fairly rare also and certainly not comparable with Riv.

On the issue of "the K word", the more I play on well-managed and conditioned kikuyu at The Lakes here in Sydney -- after first coming across such a thing at Riv -- the more I enjoy it.

[Matthew Rose]

I was in LA on important business last summer, and my airport shuttle happened to take me through the area around LACC and Bel Air CC, so I had a good gaze at both out my window.

They actually reminded me quite a lot of the sandbelt. I've played Commonwealth and viewed events as a spectator at Huntingdale and Victoria. I wonder if a course built with that kind of bunkering could exist in the LA basin.

[Mark Smolens]

Could someone tell me how the bunkers are raked at Royal Melbourne when the President's Cup isn't there? It looked very cool on television, with the guy raking just the area at the bottom of the bunker, but they never showed on tv when I was watching just how he got out of there when he was done. You could see that walking down to the bottom left prints in the sand, but how were those areas raked? Do you shove that sand down to the raked areas at the bottom, and if so, doesn't that leave a pile of sand at the bottom area?

[Tom Kelly]

Could someone tell me how the bunkers are raked at Royal Melbourne when the President's Cup isn't there? It looked very cool on television, with the guy raking just the area at the bottom of the bunker, but they never showed on tv when I was watching just how he got out of there when he was done. You could see that walking down to the bottom left prints in the sand, but how were those areas raked? Do you shove that sand down to the raked areas at the bottom, and if so, doesn't that leave a pile of sand at the bottom area?

I am almost certain they are raked the same all year round, all of the other sand-belt bunkers are raked in the same way.

The faces are very hard so footprints on them are minimal when walking out, a broom or wooden board are used to smooth the sand on the faces and get rid of the footprints on the way out.

[Mark Smolens]

Thanks. Do they push the sand from the face down to the bottom then? Seems as if they must have far more courteous golfers down under than on a lot of courses that I play. Pretty hard to justify not raking bunkers like these. . .

[Tom Kelly]

Thanks. Do they push the sand from the face down to the bottom then? Seems as if they must have far more courteous golfers down under than on a lot of courses that I play. Pretty hard to justify not raking bunkers like these. . .

The sand is just compacted down so it is almost solid so even walking all over it doesn't have too much effect or at least shouldn't, so you don't really have to push sand down to the bunker base. When the greenstaff rake the bunkers, they first use a broom or board to smooth the faces raking up or down as there is so little loose sand on the faces it shouldn't make too much difference, they then rake the base with metal wire rakes, and finally smooth over the route out of the bunker by pulling any loose sand upwards away from the base to give a neat finish. In normal play though if bigger marks are made on the faces made you sometimes see a line out of the bunker where someone has walked and raked over it (they only leave normal rakes in the bunkers no boards or brooms!) so it doesn't always look quite as pristine unfortunately, but these are usually out of the back of the bunker so they are out of view for a lot of the time. Smaller marks can often just be smoothed over with a foot if you can reach from outside the bunker and not make too much mess.

To get the hard faces the greenstaffs buggies/gators are driven up the faces (carefully) to compact the sand down so it is only a fine dust really on the top of the hard packed surface which needs to be smoothed over when brooming or boarding the faces. There is also very little sand in the bases of the bunkers compared to most courses as well.

It is all to do with the type of sand on the Melbourne sand-belt and in particular its particles size which makes it compact in that way. It isn't found anywhere else or so I am told which is a pity as I love the style of the bunkering there.

Here is a thread all about it, where I asked the question why the style isn't used elsewhere;

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49099.0.html