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Bouncing out of bunkers?

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Wed, Oct 20 2021 11:32 PM (5 replies)
  • bobyero
    23 Posts
    Wed, Oct 13 2021 8:44 PM

    Mixed feelings about this but balls shouldn't be bouncing out of bunkers. There are several holes where its easier to get up and down( even hole out ) like BP#15 and OAK#9 so I often aim for them. Not sure if it happens on many courses but definitely on BP#15 where I have flown a hybrid or 3 wood into the deep front bunker only to end up over the green. Also the 12th where I just  flew one into the front bunker and finished 7ft from the back pin! Ironically it helped me shoot 28 as did a hole out from the bunker at 15!                                                                                                                                                                                   Maybe softer sand WGT? :  )

  • YouLostToALoser
    189 Posts
    Tue, Oct 19 2021 2:12 AM

    bobyero:

    Mixed feelings about this but balls shouldn't be bouncing out of bunkers. There are several holes where its easier to get up and down( even hole out ) like BP#15 and OAK#9 so I often aim for them. Not sure if it happens on many courses but definitely on BP#15 where I have flown a hybrid or 3 wood into the deep front bunker only to end up over the green. Also the 12th where I just  flew one into the front bunker and finished 7ft from the back pin! Ironically it helped me shoot 28 as did a hole out from the bunker at 15!                                                                                                                                                                                   Maybe softer sand WGT? :  )

    I don’t know if you play(ed) golf in real life but that happens if the ballistic coming in fast and, to a lesser extent, low. 

    If it bounces first in the bunker, it shouldn’t fly over the green, but may struggle to get out, but just out none the less.

    If it hits the fairway first, especially at a low flight and hard (or fast, whatever) it will more than likely go through the bunker, so lower club, the more chance.

    I’ve played golf for nearly 30 years and play off 4, worked as a Greenkeeper* so I know how firm the sand should be through playing and feedback from members (I was a member from a mid teen and throughout my time working there).

    So I come from a position of empirical knowledge about this, not just a guess.

    Ps if the sand is softer, it gets unstable and hard to get consistent, fair and not too much ‘plugging’ were the ball stays in the crater it made by its impact and are notoriously difficult to get out of, more precisely, difficult to stop the ball with a lot of run out. Ok for longer shots, but not short ones with little green to the pin.

    WGT do already have différant sand ‘firmness’ from Kiawah’s 15%, to Bethpage 25-30%, Most courses with 40-50% and some with 50-60%. This is relevant as you mentioned a holes, all Bethpage I believe (BP#15) where this happened. Bethpage has mostly 25-30% lies in the bunkers so this would help a ball go through it easier, as oppose to a 50-60% lie bunker.

    Hope this helps

     

     

    *Just for interest... becoming 2nd in charge of what’s known as the best inland course in my County in the U.K. with a few links courses on The Open™️ Rota which we had 5, 4 of which I picked the pin positions with the guy from the R&A, then the summer after I left as it didn’t pay well and was in need of a better salary, but they’ve not had it since, much to my chagrin on behalf of the current crop of Greenkeepers.

    (I managed to use ‘chagrin’ in a sentence that made sense, albeit had to do it in a footnote).

  • mnb1985
    198 Posts
    Tue, Oct 19 2021 3:45 PM

    Rate(speed) x angle of descent regardless of surface.

     

    Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to skim stones and other objects across the waters surface.

  • bobyero
    23 Posts
    Tue, Oct 19 2021 4:51 PM

    Yes, I have played and watched golf for 40 years and I have rarely seen a ball bounce out of a bunker. Never one that flew into a deep bunker like the front at BP#15 but. I guess it must be because it's a 20-25% bunker. That bunker shot is the only way I can make an easy par or maybe a birdie given that the hole is 25 yds (on the card it's 20) longer from  the blue tees than the black. What's up with that WGT?                                                                  

  • alosso
    21,028 Posts
    Tue, Oct 19 2021 10:15 PM

    (BPB #15)

    bobyero:
    given that the hole is 25 yds (on the card it's 20) longer from  the blue tees than the black.

    Blue (and shorter tees) reflect the scorecard length when the virtual course was designed.

    The Champion tees, OTOH, are set to US Open conditions. In the case of BPB #15 it's a certain day of the US Open 2009 when the hole indeed played very short.

    Same applies to PIN #4 which in fact was set THAT long on one day in 2014. WGT only "forgot" that it was a Par 5 then, not a Par 4 as in this game.

  • bobyero
    23 Posts
    Wed, Oct 20 2021 11:32 PM

    How hard would it be for WGT to swap those tee positions or at least make them the same. I'm trying to hit hybrid into the bunker and people off the black tees hitting short irons close or in the hole. 

    I did try playing the hole from the black in practice using better irons i rented and hit a 6 iron to 2 ft. Only way i can birdie from the blue is a lucky bounce or a holed bunker shot.

    Not great WGT

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