Always Stuck in the Traps

The one hazard that every golfer hates to be in and every employee dislikes taking care of are bunkers. Most superintendents overlook bunker maintenance, but it plays a key part in the aesthetics of the course and play. If not maintained properly,  bunkers can require an extensive amount of repair. Simple bunker practices are easily forgotten in training and can become very time consuming come mid-season or before a big tournament. Bunker maintenance, I have found, is usually given to high school students and minimal training is provided. I have witnessed training where employees have been taught to rake the bunker up towards the edge and pull back down. If not done properly, this can create bumps on the edges of the bunkers, the causation of the bumps is from the rake being dug into the lip when pulling down and near the bottom when being pushed up. When it comes to bunker raking, you don't push the sand, you overturn it. Raking is just to remove foot prints and flatten high and low spots. Unless fixing a low or high spot, you only use the weight of the rake to overturn the sand, moving around as little sand as possible. Raking edges should just be a light push up, not moving any actual sand, keeping the preferred 1" lip. This keeps the bunker face firm, as you are not getting the teeth too deep and breaking up the compacted sand on the edges. Raking out differently everyday helps with sand being moved to one side after months. The sand pro should enter and exit from each bunker differently everyday, in attempt to eliminate accumulation of sand in the same area. This will save humps from being created and save bunker faces from the aggressive tires on the machines. Hopefully these practices will help save time when it comes to bunker maintenance, keep the course looking good and enjoyable to play out of. Photo :http://www.oc1895.net/2010_08_01_archive.html