Bunkers and Raking

One small change this year I hoped players appreciated was our attempt to introduce a different method to rake bunkers.

Smoothed Edges, Raked Bottom

I read about the "Australian Bunker" method this past winter and, as usual, ridiculed it but as more people began to posting on Twitter I began to warm up the idea.  We don't have buckets of bunkers but there is no doubt some are difficult to play out of.  Basically, by creating a smooth edge around the periphery all errand shots entering a bunker should roll to the bottom of the hazard.  A flatter lie should be an easier shot; or so they say (?).

The other reason for trying this style of bunker raking goes back to the "there isn't a business that can't find a 3 to 5% efficiency" quote I've mentioned before (GO HERE).  We've already cut down the number of days we rake bunkers.  For the past couple years now we've only hand raked half the bunkers each day and touched up the rest.   With this method we only smooth the edges where players have walked in and out, or if rain/irrigation has washed out a bunker face, or if an animal has walked along the edge otherwise we do nothing. The area we rake on the bottom is far less than before so it should take less time, unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case.  If you know my bunker raker you know that he is regimented and adapting to change is slow process.  He is definitely doing less so he should be quicker, however........