[Dan Herrmann]

so - just how deep should sand be in a sand bunker?  We have a bunker with about 9 inches of sand, and it's almost unplayable.  But you don't want to hit dirt either...

[Craig Sweet]

How do you maintain an equal amount of sand troughout a bunker? You can strive to have a consistant depth, but believe me, sand moves around....

[Kyle Harris]

Dan,

Most maintenance programs strive for 3-4 inch depth throughout the bunker - this allows for sufficient compaction without tilling soil on a shot.

Craig,

Maintaining depth requires someone to be paying attention. Everytime a bunker is raked you just check the depth and move sand up on the face from the bottom with a shovel, then rake and move on. It can take as little as 5 minutes and as much as an hour depending on the bunker. Gravity always wins.

Sometimes I wonder if Greenkeeping is like the Catholic Church - you fight gravity and prevent certain types of reproduction.

Using a SandPro helps out a bunch, too.

[Craig Sweet]

Kyle...yes, consistant sand depth does take "paying attention"...but that is easier said than done given some workers these days...as you know.

I think the Sand Pro is a major problem maker in a bunker....it moves a great deal of sand around, especially on corners....it deposits sand on the outside (grass) edges of bunkers and it can pull up liners.

Of course, that usually happens when it isn't used properly and carefully...and when a worker isn't paying attention...

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle...yes, consistant sand depth does take "paying attention"...but that is easier said than done given some workers these days...as you know.

I think the Sand Pro is a major problem maker in a bunker....it moves a great deal of sand around, especially on corners....it deposits sand on the outside (grass) edges of bunkers and it can pull up liners.

Of course, that usually happens when it isn't used properly and carefully...and when a worker isn't paying attention...

Craig,

You've hit the nail on the head, just like a mower or cup cutter a Sand Pro is a tool that can be used VERY correctly and VERY poorly.

A good Sand Pro operator can make a bunker play perfectly.

If daily bunker maintenance is done correctly and consistently, a little sand movement a day can keep things status quo in regard to bunker depth. People doing maintenance should know where the drains are (I'm willing to bet that Dan's 9 inch depth is near a bunker drain) so they can check the depth there, and also know where "dry" spots tend to occur.

[Ryan Farrow]

As others have said 3-4 inches is a good number. It’s sometimes surprising when one end of the bunker had a good 7 inches and the other has less than .5 and you have to move about 70 shovels full of sand to even things out. Weekly or biweekly checks should prevent this and it only takes about 2 hours to check and take notes.

[ed_getka]

Kyle et al.,
   How does a Sandpro help maintain bunker sand depth?

I seem to remember 4" being the max depth one should be trying to maintain.

[Brendan Dolan]

We have been filling the bunkers with 6 inches of sand out at Erin Hills, and then compacting the sand, so that it ends up at about 5 ½ inches.  My boss told me that they usually build bunkers with 4 inches of sand.

Brendan
 

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle et al.,
   How does a Sandpro help maintain bunker sand depth?

I seem to remember 4" being the max depth one should be trying to maintain.

A good operator on a Sand Pro with a scarifier and a blade can move large amounts of sand around, and then rake/scarify to even out the moved sand.

It's basically like being a shaper for bunker sand, no different than a track-hoe or a bulldozer.

[Dan Herrmann]

Great answers, and greatly appreciated.

[Anthony Butler]

so - just how deep should sand be in a sand bunker?  We have a bunker with about 9 inches of sand, and it's almost unplayable.  But you don't want to hit dirt either...

Just enough to slide a sand wedge underneath it. The actual depth will vary according to the fineness of the sand. The bunkers at Royal Melbourne look like there's hardly any loose sand them, but it's so fine, it's easy to cut through to the base.

A good guide-when you dig in to play your shot and it starts to move all the way across the upper of your shoe you have too much sand. Sometimes, supers put too much sand in bunkers because they expect that will guarantee good sand coverage throughout the bunker during the course of the day.

Having just the correct amount of sand requires more regular maintenance of the bunker.

[Jon Wiggett]

Kyle,

are you saying that a good greenkeeper on a SAND PRO can alter the shape of a bunker?

[Craig Sweet]

You can't alter the shape of the bunker with a Sand Pro, but you can drop the blade and push a lot of sand around. In fact, in a rather quick time a Sand Pro operator could make 1/2 the bunker a foot deep with sand, and 1/2 the bunker 1" deep with sand, if they wanted to.

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

are you saying that a good greenkeeper on a SAND PRO can alter the shape of a bunker?

Jon,

As Craig correctly clarified, I am speaking of the distribution of the sand within the bunker and not the shape itself.

Though bad operators not paying attention can take large hunks out of the lip....  

[Craig Sweet]

Ah yes...a nicely banked turn too close to the lip and the blade can rip a nice chunk out!

My favorite is the unattentive operator that comes into the bunker at a high point, at a high speed, and gets some air and launches into the bunker...nose diving the blade into the bottom of the bunker and tossing himself "over the handle bars"..

[Jon Wiggett]

Kyle and Craig,

you make a good double act. How does the operator of the Sand Pro know if the sand is 1 inch or 30 feet deep when he is sat on the machine???

[Craig Sweet]

Jon...it's like nymph fishing without a strike indicator....it's a feeling you develop in your buttocks.

You can also use a shovel, and eye sight to check depth...

What can happen is, over time, operators enter and leave the bunker via the same path and sand gets pulled up to that spot...the sand will make a wee bit of a shelf in the bunker...this also happens as the Sand Pro pulls sand off bunker faces and deposits the sand elsewhere...and as the Sand Pro moves around corners etc...these built up areas are very noticable in worst cases.

[Mike_Young]

I would say the best have about 20 feet minimum and some as much as 500 feet.....but in most cases in the south we settle for 6 inches.

[Jeff_Mingay]

How can a uniform depth of sand be maintained throughout an entire golf course when 99.9% of golfers playing ahead of you any given day rake bunkers haphazardly after playing from the sand?

Think about it.

[Jeff_Brauer]

How can a uniform depth of sand be maintained throughout an entire golf course when 99.9% of golfers playing ahead of you any given day rake bunkers haphazardly after playing from the sand?

Think about it.

Jeff, the average golfer can't move enough sand with a sand rake to affect depth greatly.  A motorized sand pro can.

The answer is that the deeper the sand, the more chance of having a plugged or fried egg lie. This also depends on the nature of the sand, with angular particles setting up better and firmer than rounder ones.

Most people put a compacted 4 or 6 inches in the bunkers.  6" compacted to 5.5" does allow some time before replacement is necessary, while 4" is probably the better depth. The PGA Tour, in their quest to make bunkers perfect, often specs as little as 2" on slopes to reduce poor lies as above.  (Plugs happen more on slopes than on flat ground)

[Doug Siebert]

I think there ought to be a lot more sand in bunkers than there is today.  Bunkers are supposed to be a hazard, after all.  I don't think 9" versus 2" is a big deal to the 20 handicaps who are deathly afraid of bunkers anyway, it is one of those rare things that tends to affect better players more than poorer players, and the better players are in need of bunkers becoming more hazardous (in the US, you guys on the other side of the pond don't need any help making difficult bunkers!)

Just look at how much the pros whined at The Memorial.  I'll bet 99% of the 'crappy muni track' golfers in the US who are used to playing in bunkers with footprints (because the one rake for the 6,000 sq ft trap was broken by an irate golfer last year and hasn't been replaced yet) deer tracks and cigarette butts were probably laughing their asses off at those namby pamby tour pros.

[Jon Wiggett]

Okay Craig, now I understand why the Sand Pro doesn't have any sort of suspension. Not so much following your gut feeling as using your butt feeling.

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