I have heard some talk about the PGA not raking bunkers anymore. I think this would be a great new or should I say brought back rule. If you hit into a bunker it's not suppose to reward you.. I know that in 1913 they did not rake bunkers. You had to hit out of people foot prints and where people have already hit from. This is the way the game was intended on being played, and I think thats the way it should be. I would like to see several rules brought back.. Like not being able to clean your ball after it has hit the green, or marking your ball... Lets play like the game it suppose to be played..
Hhhhmmmm....I didn't know that they used to not rake the bunkers. I tend to almost agree with you, it would make hitting out of the bunker a bit more challenging.
Actually there was a time when bunkers weren't raked - long ago. howerver, i do agree with golfhack when it comes to bunker raking. bunkers are supposed to be HAZARDS. how many times do you hear the announcer say - "it's an easy up and down". never do you hear that during the british open where bunkers are in fact hazards. try getting an up and down from a pot bunker. on long par 5s, when they're trying to get home in 2, pros are often times happy it hit the bunker and not the rough. the golf courses can be extended only so far. to help stop technology from making the course too easy for the pros, the hazards on the course have to made more difficult. there should be serious consequences for landing in a hazard - be it rough ar sand. that's just my humble opinion.
Actually there was a time when bunkers weren't raked - long ago. howerver, i do agree with golfhack when it comes to bunker raking. bunkers are supposed to be HAZARDS. how many times do you hear the announcer say - "it's an easy up and down". never do you hear that during the british open where bunkers are in fact hazards. try getting an up and down from a pot bunker. on long par 5s, when they're trying to get home in 2, pros are often times happy it hit the bunker and not the rough. the golf courses can be extended only so far. to help stop technology from making the course too easy for the pros, the hazards on the course have to made more difficult. there should be serious consequences for landing in a hazard - be it rough ar sand. that's just my humble opinion.
Yes, but I do have a problem with just sticking hazards in the middle of fairways just to make things a little tougher. Fairways are already getting "pinched" to narrow ribbons of short grass; we just don't need to see them putting in pot bunkers or planting trees in the middle of already tiny fairways, introducing even more "luck of the bounce" to golf. That said, most of us already play out of bunkers that haven't been raked!
As valeogut said, most of us play out of bunkers that haven't been raked already, as well as bunkers of wildly varying quality and consistancy, so it wouldn't make much diffeence to us. I think this would give the pros that go out early an unfair advantage though... I really don't feel that strongly about it one way or another.
Can you imagine the uproar from the pampered pros though if this happened? Vijay, Tiger, Phil, anyone for that matter... "I shouldn't have to play out of someone's footprint... this isn't the way golf's supposed to be!" I would love to see that!
Granted, i do dislike walking up to my ball in a greenside bunker the morning after a rainstorm, where the sand is already heavy, and potentially cement-like, to find my ball in the middle of someone's footprint, because they were too lazy to rake it, or they felt that since they had to pay X amount of dollars, they shouldn't have to rake the traps once their done...
The same sort of people that don't replace divots and don't repair ball marks on the greens.
Granted, i do dislike walking up to my ball in a greenside bunker the morning after a rainstorm, where the sand is already heavy, and potentially cement-like, to find my ball in the middle of someone's footprint, because they were too lazy to rake it, or they felt that since they had to pay X amount of dollars, they shouldn't have to rake the traps once their done....
This is the whole point. You are not suppose to be rewarded for hitting into a bunker. I usually play early in the mornings. If the ground crew has not made it around to rake all the bunkers, I still play my ball out of the horriable bunker that feels like hitting off of cement.. I do agree about repairing divots and such. This is part of taking care of the green.
You will never see a pro hitting from a soaked bunker though. If the course has received any rain, they postpone the round until it dries out completely. Hitting out of a footprint in a dry bunker is not nearly as bad as a wet one, which is about the only type of weather we get here. I agree with being penalized when in a bunker, but for most of us, a greenside bunker is by no means a guaranteed up & down anyway. For the pros, sure, i agree with it, but i hope that it doesn't find its way on to any courses around here. Of course then if people start catching word that the pros don't have raked bunkers, they will think "if they don't have to rake it, why should I?" Of course this is a double-edged sword, as then they will start to complain when they end up with bad lies in the bunkers themselves. Difficult lies in the bunkers for amateurs lead to more strokes taken, either to get out of the trap, or after they blade it over the green, and have to find it, then play it back to the green.... will lead to even longer rounds of golf. 4.5-5.5 hour rounds are bad enough, and that will only make it worse.
Great point by Butter Knife Guy about how it might affect amateur golf. It's a struggle to get people to rake, and those on the fence would definitely stop raking.
On tour, it would be different. You will still see players smoothing the sand with their foot out of respect for the other competitors. Imagine on Sunday though, when things start tightning up... you might see players ahead of the leaders trudging through the bunkers on their walk up to the greens!!
of course the pros don't rake because their caddies do....and they rake in a cross pattern to even out the sand for the next guy. kind of like cutting your grass in both directions to make it prettier and more even.
I can't remember the last time I had to hit out of a bunker that someone ahead of me had not raked. Now, I usually have at least one or two ball marks to fix on the green that are not mine, but the bunkers are usually raked (or I'm the first one that day to land in them!). I appreciate the courses that keep 2 or 3 rakes around (or in) each bunker. One place I play doesn't allow walkers, and each cart has a rake that you have to remember to bring with you to the bunker, and then pick up and carry back to the cart after you're done. I don't like that! It makes it more tempting to not even bother raking the bunker, especially when the course is crowded and people are waiting.
I have heard some talk about the PGA not raking bunkers anymore. I think this would be a great new or should I say brought back rule. If you hit into a bunker it's not suppose to reward you.. I know that in 1913 they did not rake bunkers. You had to hit out of people foot prints and where people have already hit from. This is the way the game was intended on being played, and I think thats the way it should be. I would like to see several rules brought back.. Like not being able to clean your ball after it has hit the green, or marking your ball... Lets play like the game it suppose to be played..
Can you imagine the fallout this would lead to in the public golf realm...I sure hope this doesn't come into being!!! I'd imagine people purposely digging craters in them if they were upset...NO WAY, NO WAY!
It would be easy enough to only do it during tournaments or pro events and rake them as usual for the members the rest of the time. It should only be used to curb top-flight golfers, imo.
November 17th, 2005, 01:45 AM
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