Firm vs Fluffy Sand

[JetPilot]

I'm not certain if this is the right place to post this, but I really don't like fluffy sand bunkers.  Firm sand is so much easier to play out of.  Does anyone know if superintendents choose what type of sand to place in bunkers?  I'd rather play out of wet sand than the white fluffy stuff.

[st1800e]

Fluffy sand is “worn out” sand and can also be unwashed when it was put in.  So a lot of fines. Sand gets worn out after tens of thousands sand shots crushing the grains. Also in dusty windy areas dust and dirt can collect in the sand making it powdery.  

[Ri_Redneck]

Fluffy sand takes a different approach than firm sand. Fluffy sand doesn't bounce the club as much and, unless you consciously swing the club through shallower, it will go too deep and spoil the shot. My home courses have beach sand in them and are pretty simple to hit out of even when dry. Even when raked deeper than 2", the consistency of the sand allows the bounce of the club to do what it is designed to do. OTOH, I have played some courses with the soft fluffy stuff where even when NOT RAKED, a standard 12* bounce SW will dig in several inches. If the sand doesn't resist the club entering in some, it falls on the golfer to restrict how deep it goes. I have found that if the sand is really white in color, it is usually the fluffy stuff.

 

BT

[DaveGoodrich]

Yes, superintendents (or course architects) certainly choose specifically what sand to use.  There's more than anyone probably really wants to know here:  https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/58/11/a-guide-to-selecting-the-right-bunker-sand-for-your-course-.html. 

 

In general, whether sand is "fluffy" or not is primarily a function of the sorting of the grain sizes (are all the sand grains the same size, or is there a range of grain sizes?), and how rounded the individual grains are.  Beach and dune sands tend to be well sorted and rounded, thus tend to be free draining, softer and more resistant to becoming compacted.  But if its extremely well sorted and rounded, it may produce lots of plugged lies.  Sands with a wider range of grain sizes, and more angular grains (river sands, "DG", or sand derived from crushing rock), tend to be more firm and dense in general because the small grains occupy the spaces between the larger grains, and because the angularity results in an "interlocking" of the grains.  They also tend to drain less freely and will compact more readily for the same reasons.   Bunkers with this kind of sand need to be deeply raked regularly to keep them from becoming hard over time, especially if they get wetted regularly.  Basically, the sand you want to support a building foundation is not what you want in your bunkers.  

 

The tour guys are really good out of the bunkers.  There is no denying their skill, but part of the reason they get up and down so often is because the sand they play out of is specifically selected, well maintained, and pretty consistent from venue to venue.  I play out of everything from gravelly hardpan to "bottomless" soft coarse sand (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).  

[JetPilot]

Good stuff - thanks.  Definitely agree with the tour caliber bunkers.  Much, much easier to play out of.  

[MountainKing]

I would rather play out of a bunker with no sand, than too much or fluffy sand.  Firm sand about 2-3 inches deep is my favorite.

[aggiegolfer21]

Use a club with less loft, but still open it all the way.  This will add more bounce and make it easier to float through the fluffy stuff.

[tatertot]

I like fluffy, consistent sand. Here jn the Midwest, at our daily rate public courses, we get a lot of "river sand" ... More rocks and pebbles than anything ... And if it rains, you might as well try to splash a shot out of the parking lot.

 

The trend in our area lately has been to remove sand bunkers and replace with grass bunkers ... less upkeep for crews, lower maintenance costs, and it speeds up pace play because everybody gets out on first try (well, almost) plus no raking afterward.

Edited September 9, 2023 by tatertot

[596]

I've been a member at a course that turned all their bunkers to grass.  I really liked the idea.  Played them just like a regular bunker shot. Very consistent.

 

Much less maintenance, less cost, more consistent. 

[bcjim]

The worst is new fluffy sand that hasn't had a chance to compact a little via gravity and rain. Local course here redid all the bunkers a couple of years ago and it was impossibly difficult to get out of them for a while. It was like powdered sugar, and you'd swing right under it...Eventually I just started pretending the ball was just suspended in air.