When ever I rake a bunker I have a tendency to leave a pile of sand as I push forward across the sand.

I always rake over my footprints as I'm backing out in the shortest direction.

I Don't think you would feel that way if you had to hit your bunker shot from a six inch foot shaped hole on top of being in the bunker.

Usually, when I rake a bunker, I start in the middle and work in ever increasing larger circles until the entire bunker is raked.

Now the great part about raking the bunkers in this manner is the fact that my playing partners race to be the one to rake the bunkers for me.

When you rake a bunker, start by pushing sand into the areas that were affected by your play. It's why the front of the rake looks like a snow plow, and the back is smoothed.

The key to getting the sand properly groomed is to pull the rake towards you and back over those areas to create consistent depth and an even surface. Always pull when finishing the rake job.

Also, i might add, when raking the bunker you have to adjust your rake pressure. you can't just slam the rake down in it and push back and forth because you'll always get piles. What i do is push forward through my footprints, making a pile - then i pull the pile back toward me and gradually lighten my pressure so it smooths it back down. Other ways if i'm up against a lip are to do the opposite, pull towards then lightly and forcefully push the pile forward. It actually scatters the sand forward in a fluffy blanket. i like raking bunkers and i put a lot of thought into it, if you can't tell. LOL

It is irritating to have to play out of a bunker with a funky lie caused by a half-hearted rake job. Unfortunately the slob who left the bunker in such a terrible state probably moves his/her ball when confronted with the same situation. I can almost hear it now: "The tour pros don't have to hit from this lie, I'll just move it over here."

I know a few guys like that. Spot on.

Interestingly, when I'm in a bunker, I'm more concerned about the slope of the hill that I have to hit from than anything else.

Bryan K wrote:

Interestingly, when I'm in a bunker, I'm more concerned about the slope of the hill that I have to hit from than anything else.

That's good considering the state of many bunkers. Personally, I would rather take a downhill lie than have a funky pile of sand behind my ball left from a haphazard raking.

I gotta be honest...most bunker lies are pretty acceptable as far as the state of my game goes. If I'm on a relatively level surface, I'm fine. I can do a downhill lie, an uphill lie, or whatever. However, when the slope is so extreme that I have to distribute my weight in a manner which is not comfortabe, I have issues no matter what kind of lie I have. If I'm on the fairway, if the ball is two feet above my feet, that's going to be a problem. The same goes for a shot out of a bunker

But when it comes to footprints and the like, most of the time, I'm trying to take sand anyways. So the footprint doesn't affect my shot all that much. Of course, if I'm in a lie where someone really dug their heels into the sand, that might be a problem. But to be honest, I rarely encounter that.

[quote="bkuehn1952"]It is irritating to have to play out of a bunker with a funky lie caused by a half-hearted rake job. Unfortunately the slob who left the bunker in such a terrible state probably moves his/her ball when confronted with the same situation. I can almost hear it now: "The tour pros don't have to hit from this lie, I'll just move it over here."[/quote

yeah, probably because the tour pros are BETTER than us.]

player wrote:

bkuehn1952 wrote: It is irritating to have to play out of a bunker with a funky lie caused by a half-hearted rake job. Unfortunately the slob who left the bunker in such a terrible state probably moves his/her ball when confronted with the same situation. I can almost hear it now: "The tour pros don't have to hit from this lie, I'll just move it over here." yeah, probably because the tour pros are BETTER than us.]

well, that normally would be an acceptable answer for any other gripe, but how good you are as a golfer has nothing to do with the lie you have in a bunker -- other than if you're better then you don't get in them as much.

For a minute there I thought someone started a thread on how to rake a bunker.. no wait!

I watched the pro caddies rake and it was an interesting method.
Pull undisturbed sand toward u over the mark then push a small pile viGorously forward sorta causing a wave of free flowing sand over what u just did.
working their way to the rim where they would push one big accumulation from just under the rim over all the last bit of repair.

Made quite a nice fluffy repair it did.