Bunker busters

It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone reading this that golfers are whiners. They whine about green speed, the rough, trees. Heck, they whine about the odor of the water in ball-washers.

But, arguably, the most frequent source of whining is bunkers. The sand’s too soft. The sand’s too firm. The bunkers don’t drain. The bunkers are too severe. You’ve heard it all before.

But, the art of whining about bunkers reaches new heights when it comes to our friends, the maintenance experts who play on the PGA Tour. They expect perfect bunker lies every time. Anything other than a clean, flat lie in the sand is deemed unacceptable by these pampered millionaires.

That’s why I was heartened to learn that the PGA Tour’s finest will face a bit more of a challenge than usual this week at the Memorial. Muirfield Village has switched over to long-tined bunker rakes that create furrows in the hazards. In short, the guys will actually have to think about their bunker shots this week.

And who made the decision to put a bit of challenge back into beach shots? As unlikely as it seems, it was Mr. Jack Nicklaus and the Tour operations folks. Here’s what the Bear told the Columbus Dispatch: “Bunkers were meant to be a penalty … and they haven’t been for quite a while.”

Wow. Making hazards penal. What a concept.

Let the whining begin. GCN

Pat Jones is the president of Flagstick LLC. He can be reached at psjhawk@cox.net.