what are bunkers "supposed" to feel like

[mtsalmela80]

A week or so ago I hit some amazing bunker shots, and they all had a hard surface below a half inch or so of sand. I went to the practice range yesterday, and it was like the beach. I swear it took me 15-20 tries to get one to get to the green.

What are they supposed to be like? Does it vary? What do the pros deal with?

[colin007]

the bunkers at my home course are hard packed, with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of "loose" dirt and pebbles on top of the hard base of the bunker.  easily the worst bunkers i have ever seen.  we have a local rule allowing us to remove rocks and pebbles from the bunkers when it will influence the shot.

i am pretty sure the pros all have the fluffy white sand that is very soft and loose.

[Harmonious]

There are many types of conditions in bunkers.  They could be soft and fluffy, or they could be hardpan covered by a thin layer of sand.  It's imperative that you use your feet to determine just what kind you are dealing with.

The softer the sand the more bounce you should expose, to eliminate the possibility of digging into the sand. You'll probably also need to make a bigger swing since you will need to move more sand. In hardpan, it's better to reduce the bounce, since you don't want the club to hit and bounce into the ball.

It takes experience to know how to play different types of sand shots.  It's too bad that so few courses have practice bunkers, but it would be worth it for you to look around for a course that does have one, and spend some time practicing with different clubs, different amounts of bounce exposure, to see what happens.

Each pro stop will have different sand in its bunkers. Fortunately, they will have a practice area with bunkers for the pros to use to determine that week's sand characteristics.

[colin007]

^^^

im sure, but im guessing they are just dealing with different levels of softness/heaviness of sand, rather than hard packed dirt covered with loose dirt.

[Spyder]

I played a course where the bunkers were taken over by weeds and had not been raked or dug out in what seemed to be years. We began taking free drops when a guy in our group had hit what should have been a plugged bunker lie on a Par 3, however his ball ricocheted off of a rock in the bunker and put him within 10 ft of the cup. That's definitely not a bunker, just a neglected sand box with granite obstacles.

My favorite bunker is so soft that wind of 15mph+ will blow the sand on to the green/fairway. One of our local courses actually imports from Hilton Head... I can't imagine the cost involved with that, being that we're in Northeast Ohio.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by colin007

^^^

im sure, but im guessing they are just dealing with different levels of softness/heaviness of sand, rather than hard packed dirt covered with loose dirt.

Very true, they play on much nicer courses than we do, week in and week out.  However, they also get stuck in rainy weather when those beautiful sand bunkers become much different. It's all a matter of becoming familiar with different types of surfaces, and how to play out of each one.

My home course has bunkers that are mud/clay most of the time, and some that are soft and fluffy. Each one requires a different setup, and/or maybe a different club selection. Since they are part of the course, I have had to learn how to play out of them.

[sean_miller]

I like any kind of bunkers (except maybe Colin's - those sound pretty bad) as long as they're consistent.

[GaijinGolfer]

IMO, theres no hard, fast rule for what a bunker is supposed to be.  Take Whistling Straits for example.  Bunkers can be hardpacked or fluffy.  Personally, I prefer fluffy bunkers because its easier to open up the face and slide the club under the ball, popping the ball up into the air and making it land soft.

[mtsalmela80]

I think Im hitting fairly fat on bunker shots, which is why I did good with hard packed sand with just surface sand loose, and so poorly with the beach style fluffy sand.

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by mtsalmela80

I think Im hitting fairly fat on bunker shots, which is why I did good with hard packed sand with just surface sand loose, and so poorly with the beach style fluffy sand.

What's the bounce on your SW?

[mtsalmela80]

14

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

What's the bounce on your SW?

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by mtsalmela80

14

That should be alright for the fluffy stuff.  I thought maybe you were using a low bounce SW.

[zipazoid]

I like sand a little wet & a little compacted. Then you can really thump it out of there with spin. I struggle with real soft sand.

But yeah - there's many many many different types of sand. At the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, they have 9 bunkers to practice out of, each with a different type of sand. Pretty cool -

http://www.perfectdriveatpgavillage.com/pga/pga-center-for-golf-learning-and-performance/

From that website -

PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance facilities include:

9 Practice Bunkers
These bunkers consist of a variety of sand types from a variety of geographical regions from around the globe.

[Shorty]

The sand should not resemble the type you get at a beach where it doesn't compact - has spherical grains.

You want it to be able to compact.

Normal beach sand is not what you want, but some courses save money and use it which gives you fried egg lies and difficult shots.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by Shorty

The sand should not resemble the type you get at a beach where it doesn't compact - has spherical grains.

You want it to be able to compact.

Normal beach sand is not what you want, but some courses save money and use it which gives you fried egg lies and difficult shots.

Right, plus it would blow out of the bunker whenever the wind blows. It has to stay in place.

[M2R]

From the USGA website , very much what Shorty already said.

Quote:

The angularity and sphericity of the particles have a strong influence on the playing quality of the sand. For example, a low-sphericity, very angular sand generally has high resistance to fried-egg lies. Such sands also tend to stay in place better on the face of the bunker. However, this same sand would produce very firm bunkers that some players may find objectionable. Well-rounded, high-sphericity sands can produce fried-egg lies and are more likely to move off the bunker face during maintenance and irrigation rainfall.

Sands usually consist of a mixture of particle shapes and sizes. This is important to the stability and playing quality of the sand. Again, as a general rule, sands that are highly uniform in size range and shape (particularly if rounded with high sphericity) tend to be less stable than a sand that has a wider range of particle dimensions.

Determining a sand's angularity and sphericity is helpful in predicting the ultimate playing quality of a bunker, but is by no means an exact science. The USGA currently is funding research to attempt to develop better measurement techniques to aid in the selection of sands for rootzone mixtures and bunkers.

[Paradox]

bunkers just aren't supposed to exist.