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Can you beleive some of these pros? Moaning that there are some small stones and pebbles in the bunkers at shinnecock. Come down to the uk municipal courses lads, you'll love it there!

On the old courses, bunkers are meant to be penal. Today's pros on modern courses aim for bunkers because they know 90% of the time they'll get a good lie and they can control the shot much better than a shot from greenside rough. I'm with you....let'em play from a few of the gravel pits we play out of and then we'll see how many bunker shots they hole! My advice to the moaners....don't hit it there! LOL

Did you guys just see Ernie's shot on the par 5 out of the sand path? His ball was practically resting on a small rock, lol. That's one of those times when I'll "roll" my ball as covered in a previous thread. I just don't want to damage my clubs. The pros have no excuse, though. They get paid to play!

Ernie made a really good shot from that lie... then to make par and almost birdie thats pretty good.

The USGA can, under a local rule provision, permit the removal of a rock or pebble from the bunker without penalty. It will be on a case by case basis - so far no one has been given relief, but it is possible that someone could. One of the rules official for the USGA that I heard on the radio this morning said most of the pebbles are half the size of a pea and has not granted anyone relief. Although it hasn't created a huge controversy yet, it'll be interesting if one of the leaders requests a ruling late on Sunday. No matter what they rule, there will be complaining by the pros. I am surprised that the USGA has allowed these coarser elements remain, because Tour players have become so accustomed to bunkers that are perfect in consistency. On the Tour, I know of a case where the sand from several bunkers had to completly replaced just days b4 the tournament, because it wasn't up to tour standards. Also the PGA Tour will require the sand to be watered lightly to firm them up for play (firm lies are much easier to play out of) and to prevent "fried egg" lies. Since the PGA Tour tends to treat bunkers as a place where only perfect conditions should exist, the players forget they are hazards with unpredictable results. Publicly, the Tour players will say "rub of the green" or "that's the breaks of the game", when it comes to bad breaks, but behind the scenes they will tell officials they don't like that one player got a better lie in the same bunker they hit into and had a much more difficult shot due to the condition of the bunker. They don't like inconsistent bunkers either - some with too much or too little sand from one bunker to the next. The condition of the bunkers is one of the things that has really changed in the last 20 years on Tour. 20 years ago the conditions in these hazards were not nearly the concern they are now. So the reason that you hear complaints now is that the players have been spoiled - imo, the USGA has simply gone back to the ways that bunkers are hazards and don't have to be perfect.