Championship golf should ask the best players difficult but fair questions. One reliable test is bunker firmness. For elite mid-amateur golfers, firm sand often promotes high-spin recovery shots with plenty of control. Our target for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Troon Country Club and Troon North Golf Club in Arizona was to prepare the bunkers so that the sand surface does not fully support the weight of a golf ball. When a ball settles into the top layer, sand will interfere with club-to-ball impact, making it more difficult for even the best players to impart spin. Trajectory and distance control are also harder to predict, which leads to more-difficult bunker shots.
The method used to create these bunker conditions during the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur is straightforward and repeatable. With sand depths of approximately 5-6 inches in the bunker floor, the crew dragged a “hula hoe” through the top inch to slice and lift the sand. This created a uniform, soft surface with firm sand below rather than deep fluffy conditions. The team used an Accuform bunker rake to smooth the surfaces and leaf rakes with long teeth to maintain softer but not fluffy conditions. “Fried-egg” or buried lies were not the goal!
Bunker faces were prepared the opposite way. Paint rollers or the back of a rake were used to smooth and seal steep areas and entry and exit points so balls release to the bunker floor rather than plugging in the face. This pairing of firm faces and softened floors produces good aesthetics, but more importantly results in the desired playability – fair but challenging.
The move to soften the sand in the bunker floors was a bit of an audible a few days prior to the official start of the championship. The agronomy team handled this adjustment with poise, and I would like to acknowledge the professionalism of host superintendents Seth Miller and Brad Anderson, along with their entire teams.
West Region Agronomists:
Brian Whitlark, regional director, West Region – bwhitlark@usga.org
Ross Niewola, agronomist – rniewola@usga.org