Post-COVID Bunker Rakes: Stay Away or Return?

[iacas]

The poll is the main gist of this topic, and the posts are for discussion, so if you haven't voted, please do so.

I voted to banish bunker rakes. They slow play and many people suck at raking bunkers anyway. You can get splinters from the fiberglass ones, too, and the improper placement of a bunker rake has often resulted in a bounce that shouldn't have occurred. Plus, they add to the possibility that someone won't know what to do in a rules situation.

I think the bunkers should be maintained by the staff only, and golfers should be asked to smooth footprints and divots and the like using their feet, clubhead, etc. Bunkers are hazard(ous) areas, and they've often gotten to be where they're too "nice" to play from. For those of you who play out of poorly maintained bunkers, think about it this way: it probably can't get much worse, so this will drop everyone else down closer to the level you've been seeing from your bunkers.

The only cons are that I can see how if the staff maintains the bunkers in the morning, early players get the benefit of getting to play from "good" bunkers while afternoon players are playing from chopped up bunkers. But I imagine even that can be worked around - maintain the bunkers on a somewhat irregular schedule, or change the definition of "bunker maintenance" to create similar situations and lies.

[dennyjones]

I understand your reason but not sure there really needs to be a change.   It's definitely a hazard area but like you mentioned the people that play first would have an advantage.   I don't really see course maintenance having a variable time table to rake bunkers.   

[Piz]

Feet work just fine...I take two along with me at all times.

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

It's definitely a hazard area but like you mentioned the people that play first would have an advantage.

I also said they could maintain the bunkers in a way that still basically replicates the mildly unkempt nature of the way the bunkers would play.

21 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I don't really see course maintenance having a variable time table to rake bunkers.   

If they only rake 1/3 of the bunkers every sixth day, the odds of a morning player consistently having a better lie than an afternoon player is greatly minimized.

 

[CarlSpackler]

Off with their heads!

They are are rarely used anyway, and when they are, they aren't used correctly as you said. It never fails that there are 3 rakes on the opposite side of the bunker, and I have to hike a half mile to retrieve one. The grounds crew can work them over in the morning and rangers could make rounds throughout the day and clean up some of the mess with a rake.

[dennyjones]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

If they only rake 1/3 of the bunkers every sixth day, the odds of a morning player consistently having a better lie than an afternoon player is greatly minimized.

I guess I wasn't thinking outside the box.     

[Piz]

1 minute ago, dennyjones said:

I guess I wasn't thinking outside the box.     

Hopefully the cat isn't either.

[nevets88]

I've gotten splinters from those fiberglass handles. Hurts.

[TN94z]

To be honest, I see tons of people that don't rake them anyway. They are either already using their feet or club or they just hit their shot and walk out without doing anything. In my area, I don't see it being much worse without them.

[CarlSpackler]

8 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

I've gotten splinters from those fiberglass handles. Hurts.

I've sliced my hand. Pinched my hand. I hate those things.

[Keep It Simple]

I am good with banishing rakes.  

What if a rule is made that if your ball lands in an obvious footprint you can pick it up, wipe the area with your foot and then drop the ball over the newly foot raked area?

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Keep It Simple said:

What if a rule is made that if your ball lands in an obvious footprint you can pick it up, wipe the area with your foot and then drop the ball over the newly foot raked area?

No thank you. Play it.

[CarlSpackler]

7 minutes ago, Keep It Simple said:

I am good with banishing rakes.  

What if a rule is made that if your ball lands in an obvious footprint you can pick it up, wipe the area with your foot and then drop the ball over the newly foot raked area?

I already have to play out of footprints be it goose or human. Sorry.

[klineka]

6 minutes ago, Keep It Simple said:

I am good with banishing rakes.  

What if a rule is made that if your ball lands in an obvious footprint you can pick it up, wipe the area with your foot and then drop the ball over the newly foot raked area?

No. It's a hazard. It's supposed to be penal. That would open up too many gray areas as to what constitutes an "obvious footprint" 

When there was rakes, if someone did a poor job of raking and raked sand into a raised pile and your ball landed in there and you got a fried egg/buried lie, should you get to pick it up, smooth the area over, and drop again? Of course not.

Just the rub of the green. Sometimes there are good breaks, sometimes there are bad breaks.

[gbogey]

I think if the course maintains the bunkers in a decent fashion rakes wouldn't be needed.

As an alternative, I did play at one course in Florida (carts only) where each cart had its own rake (kind of like having divot mix).  Of course, I not being used to this, raked a bunker early in the round and left my rake behind.  When the marshal came by I apologized and told him I had left my rake in a bunker several holes earlier.  He said, "why don't you take the one off my cart."  A few holes later I hit my ball into a bunker, raked the sand, and left that one too.

[billchao]

There’s no option for indifference so I chose remove them, because that’s in line with how I feel about bunker raking or lack thereof by players.

I don’t get to lift my ball when I end up in someone’s shoe print and rake my lie smooth before I play, but the next guy in the same bunker will have a nicely raked bunker to play out of. Seems fair 😉

Over the weekend I had to play out of a green side bunker that deer trampled through. Even if there were rakes on the course, I still would have had an awful lie to play out of. It is what it is.

[boogielicious]

The course I played today had nicely raked bunkers. We teed off around 8:00, not sure how they would look later in the day. I say get rid of them and play it as it lies. 

[bwdial]

Based on the lack of use rakes seem to get anyway, the chances of transmission of COVID-19 are pretty slim anyway, but they could go.  As has been pointed out, a bunker is supposed to be a penalty, so expecting a perfectly manicured lie seems a bit "entitled."