Not raking bunkers?

[Tom_Doak]

I was paging through GOLFWEEK's review of The Masters when I came across a back-page item that I don't think anyone here noticed.

In Jim Achenbach's profile of Jeff Maggert and his tough Sunday, Maggert mentioned that his tee shot on #12 wound up in a rake mark on the downslope of the bunker, leaving him with a very tough shot (which he hit into the water).  He then said,

"Sure, I was angry at the time.  I would say it's getting to be a little bit more of a habit out here with some of the caddies -- not finishing the job, so to speak.  There is an art to raking a bunker.  You just don't slop the rake around in there."

I couldn't tell if he was implying that some of the caddies might be doing this DELIBERATELY to make it tougher on those to follow, or they're just not being careful.  But, there's just a glimpse of what it would be like if the Tour decided not to use rakes at all.

[noonan]

Do you rake with the hole...or perpendicular?

Also....I believe you should leave the rake in the bunker.

Jerry

[JohnV]

When I was working on the Futures Tour, I had a few players tell me how some players deliberately tell their caddies not to do a good job of raking bunkers at Q-School.  They figure they will not have to be in them again that day so why worry about it, it just might make the difference.

If the Tour did decide not to use rakes, the players would quickly get used to the concept and deal with it.  But, when it is unusual not to get a perfect lie, they get grumpy about it.

It is like Ernie Els griping about the way the OB was setup on 16 at Harbour Town yesterday.

It isn't as if you are supposed to hit where either Jeff or Ernie hit it.

[CHrisB]

The way I read it, he was implying that the caddies are being sloppy, not doing a good job raking the bunkers.  The "art to raking a bunker" comment to me says that they aren't doing it well--I seriously doubt he'd use that language to imply a deliberate act.

But the fact remains that Maggert took himself out of contention when he went directly at the hole from that lie; if he plays for 4 he still has a chance heading to 13 tee.

Perhaps if the PGA Tour didn't use rakes, you'd see more risks like Maggert took, and you'd see more conservative escapes as well.  But most of all you'd probably see the leaders clamoring for the early tee times!

[Allan Long]

The condition of the bunkers on the PGA Tour has been talked
about many times on telecasts. How many times have you heard a played beg for a mishit ball to end up in a bunker rather than the rough. They know the bunkers will be perfect, and if their ball does not plug, the chances of getting up and down are pretty good.

Bunkers are supposed to be hazards, but on Tour they are merely a minor distraction. Go back to raking the bunkers like
Oakmont used to, and you will really hear some complaining.

[Robert_Walker]

Since the ANGC has rules officials on all holes, I think that they should be raking the bunkers.

I really believe, however, that JM would have been smart to play away from the hole.

When K Bakst played his 1st round in 1998, he hit his tee ball back there, and deliberately left his 2nd shot in the bunker. That left him with an easier recovery for an up and down bogey.

Tough Hole!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom Doak,

I would agree that the players would oppose such a rule change, and, based on JM's statement, the practice of leaving a bunker in far worse condition then when you entered it would be the norm.  A good way for those trailing the leader to try to change the outcome based on their ability to alter the condition of the golf course, coupled with the random luck that those behind them will find their handiwork.

The problem is, that PGA Tour players and skilled Pros and Amateurs expect a perfect lie, because a perfect lie offers little in the way of challenge, and the almost certainty that they will up and down it for a par or birdie.

[Golfinc]

Having played a few courses set up for the "Tour", I'm always amazed when I hear the pros complain about conditions. Bunkers that aren't raked or have "inconsistent" sand in them. Greens that run at slightly different speeds. I've even heard complaints about the rough not being cut at the same height.

Maybe ANGC should leave the rakes in the tool shed.

 

[Dennis_Harwood]

In the USGA Open setup philosophy a missed green is expected to "cost" the player approximately 1/3 of a shot(on the average if a player gets in the high collar rough, or in a Pinehurst type setup, in a chipping area to an elevated green, a recovery rate of 2 out of 3)--

In that type of setup perfect lies in bunkers(which are designed as the hazards to avoid) the recovery rate is usually much higher--

Doesn't that turn the designer concept of causing players to play away from hazards on its head?

If they are unraked it seems the recovery percenage would return to what it should be(assuming that hazards should be "worse" than simply missing a green).

[Darren_Kilfara]

I ardently believe that bunkers should either be completely unraked or perfectly raked - no middle ground. I like the theory behind leaving bunkers unraked, especially on Tour, and making bunkers truly "hazardous". But the moment you start putting rakes in bunkers and ask people to use them, when people don't use them (or use them improperly), it drives me - and obviously certain Tour pros - absolutely crazy.

It's all down to *expectation*, really: in an intentionally unraked bunker, I walk into the sand expecting to find an awful lie. If I'm in a footprint that was supposed to be raked, in a clear violation of the etiquette expected of other golfers on the course, that bothers me - because it's unfair from a playing standpoint, and because it's yet another indication to me that overall standards of behavior/etiquette are in decline (both on and off the golf course).

Cheers,
Darren

[Steve Lang]

 



1)  Boy don't get the high schoolers to understand this.. its bad enough what they do now, leaving foot prints and worse in traps, dragging feet on greens, leaving pins out etc.. in their competitions..    

2)  In real powdery sand, just getting out of a trap can leave major ugliness that needs to be cleaned up to at least a moderate standard.

3)  Do you then suggest the ol' foot wave for clean ups?

4)  I dread the rake inside or outside the bunker arguements, I'm personally an insider.. preferring the lucky ricochet out out of a bunker versus the arbitrary ricochet into a bunker from a ball not otherwise ill hit

[mike_beene]

I know we have discussed this before,but a good arguement can be made that bunkers have become an irrelevant part of nonlinks golf.If you took the bunkers out of  Augusta or Pinehurst wouldn't the same players succeed and wouldn't the short game be just as interesting? Personally,I think sand play has emerged as a skill,the sand should be firm and the bunkers raked.If you don't want to rake them make them heavy grass .

[Doug Siebert]

In the USGA Open setup philosophy a missed green is expected to "cost" the player approximately 1/3 of a shot(on the average if a player gets in the high collar rough, or in a Pinehurst type setup, in a chipping area to an elevated green, a recovery rate of 2 out of 3)--

In that type of setup perfect lies in bunkers(which are designed as the hazards to avoid) the recovery rate is usually much higher--

How's that?  The top sand saves for pros (based on 2002 stats) aren't higher than 2/3, and range as low as 1/3 so if the rough is only costing the players an extra stroke 1/3 times it isn't any worse than bunkers to the best sand players.   Players do probably recover closer from the sand on average but they still have to make the putt.

Not saying I don't agree with the sentiment, but the gnarly rough that makes players root for the ball to go into the sand must have an up and down percentage lower than 50-50 for very many players to be rooting for their ball to end up in the sand.  Obviously both my recovery rate from sand or gnarly rough is much worse than that of pros, but I'll root for my ball to end up a nice friendly greenside bunker rather than gnarly rough, especially rough that is partially tramped down on the way from the green to the next tee!  If you get too cute with it from such a lie its a lot easier to find yourself suddenly looking at getting up and down for bogey instead of par, whereas that's rarely a concern in a greenside bunker provided it isn't buried and your stance isn't too goofy.

I greatly dislike the idea of not raking bunkers at all, but I think it'd be nice if they had very soft and deep sand (making buried balls more likely, perhaps even so buried they cover themselves up and you lose them once in a while if you aren't careful)  And rakes ought to be specified in the rules like other equipment, and be spread out wide to create deep furrows separated by little hills.  If the ball rolls at all, instead of burying, it'd always settle in the furrows and leave a more difficult shot, especially if the furrow ended up behind your ball.  We'd all be fearing bunkers again, and the layup from fairway bunkers would again become part of the game outside of courses with pot bunkers.

[Carlyle Rood]

Rake the bunkers.  Leave the rakes outside the bunkers.

Bunkers should not be intended to exact a penalty.  However, they should require a more skillfully executed shot once in them, and there should be a reward for successfully challenging and avoiding them.  (Am I quoting somebody?  That sounds familiar somehow.  No idea.)

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom Doak;

What the hell are we doing manicuring hazards in the first place?

What your post exemplifies is the silliness of the situation in all its inglorious, ingnominous glory!  Maggert ends up getting "hosed" simply because he found the one spot in the perfectly groomed bunker that was left imperfect.  The golf gods have a way of determining destiny, and some degree of luck and fortune are (and hopefully always will be) a part of the game.

If we're looking for a way to add challenge, interest, and strategy to the game for the best players in the face of run-amok technology, a good way to begin would be to let our "hazards" be precisely that.  

[Jim Thompson]

Two cents:

Rake bunker with hole, leave rake in bunker.  I'd much rather be in the bunker and hit the rake, then hit the rake on turf and get kicked into a bunker.

Let's create a revolutionary new term for anything uniquely bad or good that happens on the course.  It would make us all feel better about ourselves.  We could use it whenever we don't want to take responsibility for the situation we’ve gotten ourselves into.  Behind a spike mark, in a poorly repaired divot, next to the collar cut, your ball hits a sprinkler head inbound bounding 40 feet off line, even if our ball hit the flagstick to hard and kicked across the green.  We could call it “rub of the green” and stop blaming others for our actions.  I just love all this non-traditional thinking…

Golf:  Invented by the Dutch, adopted by the Scots - with a pedigree like that sympathy is the last thing anyone should expect.

Golf:  Deserted by the Dutch because they refuse to drink to misery, adopted by the Scots because they drink their best to misery.

Cheers!

Jim Thompson

Thompson - from the Scottish MacTavish - descendents of Taus Coir – enjoying one miserable round after another, with like-minded friends and loving every minute of it .

[Jim_Kennedy]

If you are going to manicure a bunker you should use the tines to distribute the sand then flip the rake over and smooth out the "furrows" left by the tines. Leave the rake outside the bunker in an area that's as out of the line of play as possible.

I am a fan of leaving bunkers alone but I think this only works on seaside or rugged courses, especially those with omnipresent winds, and not on highly manicured courses.

[Jack_Marr]

It's completely unfair not to rake a bunker properly. It turns a lovely, sandy, inviting bunker into a, eh, hazzard. It makes bunkers places to avoid.

[Jonathan Cummings]

This is silly.  A hazard adds strategy to play.  The more hazardous a hazard the more it must be avoided - the more strategy and calculation a player must exercise to sucessfully negotiate the hole - the more interesting the golf.  The easier the bunkers the less a player has to calculate and weigh route options to the hole.

I want hazards to be so terrifying that a player is reduced to jello if he should happen to find one.  Remember the pro/super at Oakmont invented a deep-pronged rake for just this reason - to exact penalty for a mis-play and make the Oakmont bunkers a thing to avoid at all costs.  I would like to see a rule that requires a player to step on a ball in the bunker before he plays it!!  

I wish I had a nickel for all the times I've been in or been with others who were in footprints in the sands of PVGC.  I don't remember ever hearing a complaint.

JC

[tonyt]

As a former long time caddy, I can guarantee you that 90% or more of players and caddies do not EVER intend to leave spike marks, indentations near the hole, or poorly raked bunkers. In fact, players go to great pains to fix the edges of the hole, and repair spike marks after the group has holed out.

I agree with Jeff Maggert. Poorly raked bunkers are sloppy, not sinister.

If we decide to rake bunkers, there's only one way to go. Rake them neatly to the edge of the furrow marks, and then use the back of the rake to smooth the intermediate edge from the entrance to where the furrows begin. And the rake MUST be left INSIDE the bunker (well inside, never near the edge), aiming along the target line, not perpendicular to it.

A rake outside the bunker comes into play for players not in the hazard. A rake PROPERLY left inside a bunker rarely if ever disadvantages a player, who shouldn't be in there in the first place.

[JohnV]

If you go to a PGA Tour or USGA event, you'll find all the rakes outside the bunker.  Here are a few reasons for this:

1) If you ball happens to come to rest on the rake in the bunker (with the new rakes with the curled top for smoothing I've seen it happen many times) you have to drop your ball in the bunker and it usually plugs.
2) If the ball comes to rest against the rake on a slope in the bunker and moves when you move the rake you have to replace it.  It might not stay.  There might not be anywhere that is not closer to the hole that it will stay.  You are in trouble.  You then go to decision 20-3d/2 which lets you drop it outside the bunker keeping the point between you and hole and paying a penalty stroke.
3) (Most frequent) The player goes into the bunker, picks up the rake and rakes his way out before hitting his shot.  Add two strokes.  I've seen this happen in tournaments, but more frequently I see it happen in every day play all the time.  Or, knowing that it is two strokes he doesn't rake before hitting and forgets to go back and rake afterwards leaving nice footprints in the sand.

I like the R&A's way of solving it at the Open.  They have a volunteer walk with every group and rake bunkers.  They carry the rake with them and do a consistent job so they solve all the problems.

[Greg_Ramsay]

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the origins of bunker rakes?  When did they become commonplace?  Was there a debate at all among the golfing community as their popularity spread?  When did they first appear at the Old Course?  

We are restoring many of the original bunkers here at Australia's oldest golf course (www.rathogolf.com), and I don't want to reintroduce bunker rakes, but I need to know when they first started appearing to be able to demonstrate that they would compromise the heritage values of the golf course.

Greg Ramsay  
www.barnbougledunes.com

[Norbert P]

Greg, That's a fine read.  I saw no credit to author.  Is that you?  I like the idea of keeping the old and implementing new tee grounds.  It doesn't limit the market nor destroy the past.  Great choice.

 As far as rake placement, I like to leave just about a foot of the handle out of the bunker.  This keeps the rake off the sand and reduces possibility of ball rolling/resting into it. Also, I have this devious hope that the mower dude will miss the edge in his cut and a glorious tufted brow will posture up.  

[Carlyle Rood]

If a bunker becomes too penal, then players will cease to challenge them.  They will merely play away from them.  As soon as that happens, then strategy ceases to exist.

There should usually be a reward for playing towards a bunker.  You might have a more favorable angle to the pin.  You might have a more desirable putt.  If you challenge a bunker and perform properly, then you should gain an advantage.

If you fail to execute the shot properly, then the following shot should require greater skill to recover than if you had not challenged the pin; however, without an opportunity to recover, then the penalty will be too substantial to justify challenging it.  At that point, the bunker is dictating play rather than influencing it.  If that's the case, then you may as well fill the hole up with water and put stakes around it.

[Norbert P]

If a bunker becomes too penal, then players will cease to challenge them.  They will merely play away from them.  As soon as that happens, then strategy ceases to exist.

  Is unraked sand "too penal"?   I haven't seen any punjy sticks or venomous vipers in bunkers.... yet.   Don't even joke about putting more water into play.