Just read this article, which Frank Rossi, turf professor at Cornell University, wrote regarding bunkers rakes used at this year Memorial Tournament. Just more manicuring bunkers, which are supposed to be hazards, but now a days are maintained just like greens. this has to stop, it is getting sicking to watch just how easy it is for tour players play out of bunkers, and if the bunkers are not maintained, they bitch and cry.
Below is the article:
Who's in charge?
Now that Jack has spoken I expect rakes like those used at Muirfield to turn up on top-shelf golf courses around the world. That would be a mistake.
If we ever questioned who decides how golf courses are managed, the recent Bunkergate incident from this past spring left no doubt: Golfers – and Jack Nicklaus – are in charge.
Gap-toothed rakes and furrowed bunkers at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, were the talk of the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament in May. If anyone other than Nicklaus had intimated that bunkers should be a punitive hazard, they probably would have been dismissed.
Webster’s defines “hazard” as “a place where there is a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune.” Matt Baughan, golf professional at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University put it best: “Bunkers are so finely maintained that while a golfer might not aim to land in one, they are hoping that if they miss (the green) they land in a bunker instead of 6-inch rough.” Clearly, many low-handicap golfers do not view bunkers as hazards.
Now that Jack has spoken I expect rakes like those used at Muirfield to turn up on top-shelf golf courses around the world. That would be a mistake. Bunkers should be designed to challenge the average golfer, not just to make Tour pros sweat.
Bunker priority
The key to having a great bunker begins with the right sand in a cavity that has been outfitted with the proper drainage. Daily maintenance of each hazard should be directly related to its square footage and budget. Low-budget clubs that lack resources cannot be expected to water, roll and rake every day. Such facilities must dedicate the bulk of their resources to maintaining turf.
There are other less costly ways of altering a hazard, such as differing levels of moisture and firmness and using mechanical rakes.
Since bunker furrows have been raised into the average golfer’s consciousness, mechanized bunker rakes fitted with attachments that make deep furrows could be next. The best courses will have to have them, but the downsides likely would include new strategies for bunker maintenance, which, no doubt, would take longer than it does now.
A more common sense approach might be to remove more sand traps and add grass bunkers. Such bunkers, depending on the depth of the grass, can be quite punitive and thus can accomplish the same result as a furrowed sand bunker, a penalty of one-half stroke.
Sand saves during the Memorial were 43.8 percent for the week, which was significantly less than the Tour average at the time of 49.1 percent. What would be the result of such conditions on the game of the average golfer?
Moving to higher ground
The best part of this situation is that golf course managers have a forum to discuss bunker practices. It is called talking to your golfers, but that is going to require some self reflection. As much as we lament bunker care and green speed, is our own pursuit of perfection what drives us? Our motivation should come from what golfers want, not what we want.
Imagine if Nicklaus had decided that slower, undulating greens, and not the ability to recover from old-style furrowed bunkers, were a truer test of a golfer’s skill. Imagine if he had instead decided to redesign the greens to increase undulation and raise the mowing height.
At the time of the Memorial, Nicklaus’ reasoning for the furrowed bunkers was that they would level the playing field for the Tour’s shorter drivers by penalizing those who placed emphasis on length over accuracy. The fact remains that there should be conditions provided for Tour players and conditions provided for you and me, and we shouldn’t confuse the two.
There is no doubt that golfers ultimately are in charge, especially those at the most elite clubs. I just hope they are able to take us to higher ground.
Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., is associate professor of turfgrass science at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He can be reached at fsr3@cornell.edu.