Golf Bunker Rules And Etiquette, Raking The Sand (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles
Golf Bunker Rules And Etiquette, Raking The Sand (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles

I think as golfers we’re always a little bit disappointed when we find our golf ball in the bunker but there is nothing more disappointing than finding that the person in front of you has left you with this sort of lie where your ball has gone into the bunker but it’s also gone into the bottom of somebody else’s footprint. So this situation here very disappointing to find and it kind of let’s us down a little bit but the etiquette of the game isn’t really being upheld by the groups ahead. So let’s make sure that even if you find yourself in a situation like this that you don’t then make the problem worse by leaving that problem for somebody else. So it’s really important that we always rake the bunker when finish. That sounds dead simple but actually we could rake the bunker better. I think from my experience I’ve been in a lot of situations where the bunkers actually get raked quite badly and leave us with a more difficult situation for the golfers also for the green keepers. So if you get yourself in a situation where there isn’t a rake there is still something that you can, do don’t just walk away from it saying, “Oh the rake is too far away. The rake is in another bunker, I’m not going to bother.” You could always dust that over with your foot or even your golf club; leave the situation as best you possibly can.

And if there is a rake you need to make sure that when you’re raking the bunker you don’t compound this problem of having very little sand in the middle of the bunker and too much sand around the edges of the bunker effectively creating false lips. When people rake the bunker they will often rake the sand from the middle and pull it towards them, pull it towards them, pull it towards them, leave a dirty, great, big pile of sand around the edge of the bunker and actually leave no sand in the middle. Well where the most golf shots roll to because most bunkers are curved and ball shaped, most balls will land in the middle. Then when they play the shot, the golfer hits the sand forward, rakes the sand backwards and the problem of no sand in the middle of the bunker gets worse. I’m sure most experienced golfers have found this problem where there’s no sand in the middle of the bunker as they’re hitting off a bare flat bottom. So what we need to try and do is rake the sand back into the middle. So as you’re in the bunker try and push the sand back into the center and if every golfer pushed the sand back into the center of the bunker we’d find there would be more sand in the middle to play our golf shots from. So it’s really imperative that we keep and uphold the etiquette of the game by always raking bunkers, trying to rake them in the correct fashion if you can; raking them back in towards the center. Just one of the considerations, just on a rules violation area here is make sure you don’t rake the bunker before you actually play your shot. So if you go to one side of the bunker to pick up the rake and you put your footprint in the bunker as you lift the rake out and then just rake that and walk back over to your ball that if it was in the same bunker that you were in, that would actually get you a rules violation because effectively you’re testing the surface of the sand. So it’s important that you rake the bunker but make sure you only rake it after you’re finished. That works well for you as you uphold the rules of the game and the etiquette of the game. 2014-01-16

I think as golfers we’re always a little bit disappointed when we find our golf ball in the bunker but there is nothing more disappointing than finding that the person in front of you has left you with this sort of lie where your ball has gone into the bunker but it’s also gone into the bottom of somebody else’s footprint. So this situation here very disappointing to find and it kind of let’s us down a little bit but the etiquette of the game isn’t really being upheld by the groups ahead. So let’s make sure that even if you find yourself in a situation like this that you don’t then make the problem worse by leaving that problem for somebody else. So it’s really important that we always rake the bunker when finish. That sounds dead simple but actually we could rake the bunker better. I think from my experience I’ve been in a lot of situations where the bunkers actually get raked quite badly and leave us with a more difficult situation for the golfers also for the green keepers. So if you get yourself in a situation where there isn’t a rake there is still something that you can, do don’t just walk away from it saying, “Oh the rake is too far away. The rake is in another bunker, I’m not going to bother.” You could always dust that over with your foot or even your golf club; leave the situation as best you possibly can.

And if there is a rake you need to make sure that when you’re raking the bunker you don’t compound this problem of having very little sand in the middle of the bunker and too much sand around the edges of the bunker effectively creating false lips. When people rake the bunker they will often rake the sand from the middle and pull it towards them, pull it towards them, pull it towards them, leave a dirty, great, big pile of sand around the edge of the bunker and actually leave no sand in the middle. Well where the most golf shots roll to because most bunkers are curved and ball shaped, most balls will land in the middle. Then when they play the shot, the golfer hits the sand forward, rakes the sand backwards and the problem of no sand in the middle of the bunker gets worse. I’m sure most experienced golfers have found this problem where there’s no sand in the middle of the bunker as they’re hitting off a bare flat bottom.

So what we need to try and do is rake the sand back into the middle. So as you’re in the bunker try and push the sand back into the center and if every golfer pushed the sand back into the center of the bunker we’d find there would be more sand in the middle to play our golf shots from. So it’s really imperative that we keep and uphold the etiquette of the game by always raking bunkers, trying to rake them in the correct fashion if you can; raking them back in towards the center. Just one of the considerations, just on a rules violation area here is make sure you don’t rake the bunker before you actually play your shot. So if you go to one side of the bunker to pick up the rake and you put your footprint in the bunker as you lift the rake out and then just rake that and walk back over to your ball that if it was in the same bunker that you were in, that would actually get you a rules violation because effectively you’re testing the surface of the sand. So it’s important that you rake the bunker but make sure you only rake it after you’re finished. That works well for you as you uphold the rules of the game and the etiquette of the game.