Sand in Bunkers

As someone who has played golf on and off for almost 30 years, is it me or is the condition of bunkers getting worse?

When playing last week we spotted one of those bunker-smoothing contraptions at work. IMHO, these machines do nothing more than flatten the sand into a congelead mud-like substance to the extent that you could feel and hear the club (correctly) hitting the sand behind the ball, only to skid off the thick "mud" into the equator of the ball, resulting in a thin shot into the lip of the bunker, after which the cycle starts again.

I do not recall this happening in the good old days when greenkeepers used rakes. Grrrr!

Yeah - just realised that!

I actually played a course today that had excellent bunkers, with a fine silver sand. Unfortunately it wasn't my own course, which are a disgrace.

This problem is due to 'Money'

Too many man hours in hand raking the bunkers so they send a guy out on a machine.

At my club the bunkers are poor.

Some have sand in them, but it's the wrong type!  Heavy sand full of stones

Other bunkes have hardly any sand in them.  A light covering of sand that is just hiding the mud underneath.  You hit a bunker shot only for you club to be deflected from it's trajectory.

I did speak to the pro at my club once about the bunkers and he said if they put the good sand in them it would just keep blowing away.  So they don't use the good sand but try and get a mixture of good sand and heavier sand.

Russ

 I think you've got to accept that different courses have different bunkrs and I accept that but I think all types of bunkers within a course ie fairway bunkers, greenside bunkers should have the same type and depth of sand. Though you can feel with your feet to a certain extent, it is difficult when it's wet so when you're playing a new couse it's a lottery. You can play the type of shot envisaged but the depth of sand, if guessed incorrectly will result in either a short or long shot.