Bunker Treatment

[Daslamminman]

At my club the bunkers  around the green have been treated so that it is easy to putt out of them onto the green. I am told that they have been treated in this way because members have complained that they were getting buried lies In the faces of the traps. The sand is now made pretty compact and the lips have pretty much been smoothed. So it seems that treating them to avoid buried or sometimes almost disappearing balls has resulted in the dumbing down of the greenside areas. 

Has anyone experience with this? 

[iacas]

What do they say?

[Daslamminman]

I am writing to the greens committee to express my unhappiness. I was hoping that I could prepare myself with knowledge about bunkers before I finished and sent my letter. I am certain I have played courses that I had bunkers that did not eat golf balls and yet have lips that discourage putting from them. They seem to have compacted to sand more. It could be as simple as that. If one tried to putt out of the bunker that was going to give you a buried lie, it probably would not easily make it to the top.

[Pretzel]

I'm curious to hear why you're upset that bunker could possibly be putted out of.

It doesn't seem to me like something worth getting upset about because I'm having a hard time picturing a bunker where the best play would be to putt from it rather than to hit out of. I say this because even if the sand is firm and there isn't a huge lip, you'll still generally have a decent hill to putt up before getting to the green and then your ball is rolling from sand, to rough, to fringe, to green with all of the transitions only serving to bounce the ball around. Not to mention the fact that I've never been in a bunker that would roll anywhere close to true, and I live in Colorado where our bunkers are sometimes practically clay.

I don't think putting out of the bunker will give anyone an advantage, though I can see it helping beginners or golfers who otherwise significantly struggle to at least escape the bunker before taking their next shot. My bigger concern would be if they took a bunker with nice soft sand and made it so that any lie in the bunker is now hardpan.

[Daslamminman]

Well I have a 10 handicap and I generally do well ok of the bunkers though I do from time to time leave one in there. But with the bunkers dressed the way they are I, have guys in my group who have 20 handicap to do just as well as me with the putter.  

I believe bunker play is a skill that should be embraced and not avoided.

[Piz]

I don't think every bunker has to be built like an abandoned mine shaft.  Variety is the spice of life.  In one of Bobby Jones' books he describes putting from a bunker to illustrate the utility, if not necessity, of occasionally thinking outside the box...or sand box in the example given.

[Daslamminman]

Almost all of the bunkers in our courses have been treated so that they can be putt of. I do not know if it was done purposely or just incidentally because of the issue with the buried lies. I will Post what response I get from the our greens committee.

[Patch]

All I want, when in a bunker is for it to have enough sand in it to be some what playable.  They shouldn't be firmer than the cart path.......

[Daslamminman]

 When they cut down trees at my course in the north, they do it to speed play and dumb down the course. I don’t like that. I feel the same way about making bunkers easier. They are supposed to be penal. If you make them no more difficult than -say- a regular chip, you ought to call the USGA and have them reevaluate for slope.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 4/13/2019 at 2:11 PM, Patch said:

All I want, when in a bunker is for it to have enough sand in it to be some what playable.  They shouldn't be firmer than the cart path.......

I've only been able to putt out of bunkers when the sand has been packed down by rain. I've never heard of a course treating their bunkers to make this more possible. And if they are getting plugged and fried egg lies, it sounds like there could be too much sand in the bunkers. Yes, this is a real thing!