Bunkers

I'm lucky enough to be a member of 2 clubs, my home club charging in excess of £700 and my away course for full membership is only £300 (£160 for me on country membership) I played last night at my home course and found myself in 2 greenside traps, and both times thinned the ball out and over the greens into cabbage. The sand, or lack of it seems to be more like builders sand and when it's wet is like playing off concrete. My away club's bunkers are dire, but for the money can't complain too much. Although the guys I play with have a local rule 'pick it out and drop it' as it's a pointless exercise.

Would you say that clubs should be doing more in keeping the bunkers up to scratch, and using enough of the correct sand. I'm sick of playing courses that have little sand and finding that you've just ripped the sacking or liner whilst trying to extractate yourself. I know its the same for everyone, but when a bunker becomes too penal or damages a club, I'm not sure its cricket

I feel your frustration Doc and can't stand it when a course's bunkers are poorly maintained or filled with the wrong sand. One of the issues for me is the sand that they put in as I have played at a few courses that have used builders sand, obviously just to save a bit of money. A course that I used to play at did this but they just wouldn't do anything about it despite the members' protests. I always thought that it would be funny to hire a cement mixer and concrete over the bunkers on one of the holes to show them exactly what their sand was good for...

I personally prefer very firm sand to overly fluffy stuff.

sharrison, the annoying thing for me was that the 2 traps last night caused blobs on my card. I only went in the bunkers through an unlucky bounce, both irons would have been in birdie country if not for unfortunate kicks. Played well with 17 points from 9-holes with 2 blobs - Mrs Doc scored 19 and beat me and took the urine all night, and I even woke up to it this morning

I have been a member of a club that used builders sand in the bunkers presumably cut costs and it was a nightmare. It was a horrible mess if it had rained and often baked hard in the sun. To couple that with a low sand depth must be a nightmare.

If the correct type of sand is used and the bunker filled to a decent depth then I do not really mind whether the sand is hard or a little fluffy. The sand in links bunkers tends to be spot on.

Doc...I think we are getting to the root of the problem. It's not the state of the bunkers that has upset you but getting beat by the Mrs has given you the right hump!

BlueCoverman wrote:Doc...I think we are getting to the root of the problem. It's not the state of the bunkers that has upset you but getting beat by the Mrs has given you the right hump!

You've got me there mate. I've called my lawyer and told him not to take action against the club. But listening to the bitch cackle all night almost had me filling one of the bunkers with her corpse. If I could have found enough sand to cover her, that is

Doc wrote:sharrison, the annoying thing for me was that the 2 traps last night caused blobs on my card. I only went in the bunkers through an unlucky bounce, both irons would have been in birdie country if not for unfortunate kicks. Played well with 17 points from 9-holes with 2 blobs - Mrs Doc scored 19 and beat me and took the urine all night, and I even woke up to it this morning

So you woke upto this! What was it that woke you, the cold tube of the catheter being inserted of the feeling of shame!!!

An old course I used to play at as a youth used builders sand to save money, and to this day remains the worst bunkers I've played. If it had rained the night or day before we used to leave the SI's in the bag and putt out of them as you needed forearms like Bluto to dig the ball out with any form of wedge.

Best bunkers I ever played out of were all filled with 100% recycled glass. The grains were so fine its unreal and when the sun shone you got a lovely bright dazzling colour from them it almost made them look like clear water. This was in Germany and not seen or heard of any UK courses doing the same and after all glass is sand anyway! Difference was apparently it was cheaper to fill with the glass(sand) than normal sand and also made them more playable

What a brilliant idea Mav, fancy starting a business sideline That makes loads of sense and should be pretty cheap to produce, save the planet, eco friendly and earn enough to buy membership of Loch Lomond

Doc wrote:What a brilliant idea Mav, fancy starting a business sideline That makes loads of sense and should be pretty cheap to produce, save the planet, eco friendly and earn enough to buy membership of Loch Lomond

And no doubt get millions in grants from the EU to set it up as well, count me in!

I'm not massively bothered abouthe the condition of bunkers as long as they can be played out of (i.e no liners getting in the way like at Docs place)... ours get a bad rep... but i don't think they have liners being old, some get hard from time to time but they are a hazard at the end of the day... we have a mechanical rake that give them a going over.. my mates course went mad and re-did them all with bright sand... looked strange to me, not in fitting witht he course and your feet sank when you went in them. If they are new 'good' ones i'll still with the hard brown ones at my club.

I reckon that most of the problems we have with bunkers, is that there's not enough drainage involved and a bit of rain washes them out. Sureley rather than just dig a big hole and put a liner down and chuck in a ton of sand, doesn't mean its a bunker. I know we had a bad winter and many bunkers were washed out, but doesn't that prove that they've not been built properley to start with. As for liners tearing, I've seen one bloke bend his shaft when getting caught in one, and how many wedges get dented or badly scuffed because of the bits of brick partially buried in the soil beneath the liners

"Processed Sand", recycled glass has been trialled in the Uk.
http://www.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk/Envirolink/Library0.nsf/0/80257210002A73728025724B003F10D1/$file/Glass%20in%20Golf%20Bunkers.pdf
"Conclusions
• Conducting the questionnaire survey on the course at Allerton Park Golf Club resulted in more players taking part in the survey, but this method may not be suitable for all golf clubs as it may be seen as disruptive to playing members. It is crucial therefore that new product trials such as this are actively promoted, for example in club newsletters, so that members are aware that their views are important.
• Players’ opinions on the playability of the glass sand are generally positive, although some abnormal results were reported on the lie of the ball in the glass sand, for example plugging of the ball due to the glass sand being less consolidated than the natural sand. However, comments suggest that players from both Blundells Hill Golf Club and Allerton Park Golf Club feel it performs better than the natural sand used on these courses.
• Players accept the colour of the glass sand and therefore accept a product that looks slightly different to natural sand, but plays like bunker sand is expected to. Negative responses came mainly from players at Caldy Golf Club, which had a product that was slightly darker in colour. The glass sand at the other two golf clubs was lighter in colour, and therefore acceptable to players.
• If glass reprocessors can supply a light coloured product that meets the recommended specification for bunker sand, then glass sand can be promoted to the golf industry as a viable alternative."

While they don't appear to be using it in their bunkers Carden Park bought a "Glass Crusher" last year and recycle their glass for use on fairways, rough and tees.

I'm all up for that as a business venture! Where do we start. Having played them, I thought they were great so let's do it!

Why do my teeth grind whenever someone calls a bunker a 'trap' ?

McLaren wrote:...The sand in links bunkers tends to be spot on.

Now, I wonder why that might be??


Bunkers are my current bugbear. If you're going to have them, look after them and make sure they're consistent throughout the course. Glad I've never played anywhere that uses liners!

In many places it'd be better to remove the sand and let some rough grow in the depression. I think in a lot of places they're too expensive to maintain properly and/or they use rudey poo sand.

The bunkers at our course have just been "topped up". Now you sink ankle deep in soft fluffy stuff. My sand wedge doesn't have enough bounce to get out effectively. Thing is if I have one that is OK in the bunkers, it's useless on the concrete fairways we have at the moment. Ah, the dilemmas of club selection!