Goodbye sand traps

Tinker · 2021-11-13T14:13:09+00:00

The last 4 courses I played, a couple basic public and a couple a notch up, had one thing in common, no normal maintained traps. I’m considered a very good s...

pellmell

Cwing It seems most are dropping the sand bunkers for grass bunkers,

Yeah, and turn those grass bunkers into 6 inch rough.

Tinker

Typhoon your a good guy to ask. Is your course tight on funds or they just don’t care?

Typhoon

Tinker We’re not short of funds. Short of quality help and a mish mosh of priorities… where would I start?🙄

We have no superintendent. They have a guy on call that tells them what to do and when.
Kids… there are a bunch of high school kids that are just clueless. They’re like town workers.. 3 of them in a work cart emptying barrels. It’s a one person job. But there is not enough older staff to check up on them.
Weird priorities… they add sand to some of the traps while other have big rocks in them. They even reconfigured one bunker. Other bunkers they made though look like someone dumped sand on the grass🙄. But they made a really nice waste area with grasses in between 2 holes where the sprinklers can’t reach. Came out great.

Cwing

Golf revenues are at record highs. Could be maintenance staff is limited but I’d guess they mostly don’t want to maintain them anymore.

Rickochet

Few of the public courses in my area have taken care of the traps since Covid started. They still drag them occasionally but few leave rakes out. So, if my group hits a ball in the sand and it lands in a footprint we just roll it to a smooth spot and play it from there. You are still having to hit from the sand but not tossing it out of the bunker entirely like I so many doing now. With everyone hurting for help right now I imagine the golf courses are no different and maybe worse since most are seasonal. If doing away with traps saves the courses so be it. If people want pristine traps go join a club that maintains them and deal with the membership cost.

scotts33

Rickochet If people want pristine traps go join a club that maintains them and deal with the membership cost.

👍

And on the flip side if you have traps that are not maintained also reflect that in the pricing from what I see that is not the case. Charge too much for crappy maintained courses because of the Covid influx of golfers and get away with it. I for one stopped playing a few courses just for that reason.

Sneakylong

There's also different types of sand. Some better than others. My old home course (Fox Hollow) is a great Robert Trent Jones design (his last), but the bunkers always sucked because of the type of sand they used.

Lee Trevino was playing a qualifier there one time and someone asked him what he thought of the course? Trevino's reply, "they must've got a good deal on the sand." lol

accufitgolf

Play the bad bunkers as a Waste Area meaning you have to play it as is but you can ground your club.

Par4QC

accufitgolf I will continue to NOT destroy my irons, and will just lay out of those 'ground under repair/needing repair' areas. Without penalty, if I may add. 😏

Typhoon

Par4QC I will continue to NOT destroy my irons, and will just lay out of those 'ground under repair/needing repair' areas. Without penalty, if I may add. 😏

Absolutely! Yeah, let me be stubborn and ruin my own clubs for the integrity of playing 9 holes holes at some shit assed golf course playing by myself.

Martee

Bunkers in our area vary between types of sand and frequency of maintenance.

Home course the bunkers go from 1 to 10. Our drainage is terrible, washout of walls and where the liners were removed, stones are working their way to the surface..

At least 3 times a week maintenance spends the better part of the day of 1 worker and the machine.

Grass bunkers were considered but decided against.

Bring an old Wedge to play.

KCee

The traps at my course are getting so bad something will have to be done soon. The maintenance crew was sorely understaffed this year and we had so much rain that many have really washed out. Some collapsed around the edges but in others you can end up under a huge lip now and be virtually unplayable. In some, so much sand has washed away that very large rocks are exposed or worse barely hidden under the sand. I hit one yesterday that had maybe 1/4" sand over it and caused sparks. My beloved 60* looks like it's seen 10 years of play instead of 1.

Tinker

Hate to say it but most businesses look like they’re using COVID mania to keep work force down, offer minimum service and quality and rake in profit. Hope it doesn’t become a permanent way of doing business.

DonM

Tinker I don't think businesses are as dumb as that. I've talked to some managers (non golf), and they are desperate for workers.

garyt1957

Tinker I think all the help wanted signs belie that

KCee

DonM I think both could be true. My home course got a huge boost in business from Covid and also a large PPP loan. They lost some maintenance staff and really didn't try to replace them. They spent maybe 1/3rd of the PPP loan on upgrading the patio.

At my job we lost business due to Covid, but not a lot and that was more than offset by PPP, retirements, furloughs and other factors. We were more profitable in 2020 than 2019 with less sales. This year we lost more people leaving for higher paying jobs and were told not to replace most of them. I think one reason for not hiring is uncertainty, but the owners are all to happy to make more profit.

johnnydoom

KCee Got a built in excuse, both to customers and employees when you can tell them you're trying your best, but can't find good help. Some businesses are gambling and paying up to attract employees for the current demand, some I think, are betting on a downturn in the economy in the near future and are making the excuses to buy time.

KCee

johnnydoom True. I work for a small mfr and we can't always compete with the large aerospace and other mfg companies nearby with respect to pay and benefits. I keep telling the owner to offer employees 4-6 weeks PTO. Most big companies won't give more than 2 weeks unless they are trying to attract management talent. We are in the middle of nowhere, our insurance isn't as good and we offer no matching 401K. PTO and a relaxed working environment is about all we have to offer since mfg people can't work from home.

Typhoon

johnnydoom I was reading where companies are getting money from the government for their efforts in hiring people… all they need to do is show proof that they are trying (employment ads etc…). They don’t have to show that they hired anyone for the positions though…. Stupid right? But when you think about it can’t you just see someone saying “well my job is only to see if they have an ad out.”

A lot of people are applying for jobs that are never filled and just stay posted.

Par4QC

garyt1957 Help Wanted signs at golf courses are a bit different than other places. Around here, they just do not pay much at all, wanting to give lower wages, while adding in free golf. No benefits whatsoever!

Keep in mind, the people that used to work for those lower wages(even a lot higher), are getting free money now, if they have kids. With having 2-3 kids, coupled with not having the added 'work related' expenses or taxes, a lot of times this money is more than they might take home, on those jobs. Courses are now going to have to 'pay up' to get any kind of help.

PA-PLAYA

I don't mind a few strategically placed sand traps here and there. But most courses I've played have far too many. I see them more as design flaws than anything else.

garyt1957

Par4QC I don't think any of the grounds crew are working for free golf, marshalls, yes. But that doesn't have anything to do with the fact they're trying to hire, and not just using covid as an excuse to not hire as Tinker said. Will they need to pay more? Sure, just like everybody else. Get ready for your greens fee to go up.

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