To me it's better. My clay doesn't drain very well so I have to amend it. I added soil from the horse pasture and at the time perlite because I didn't know about pine bark when I did my first beds. I'm not sure about the sand, but you can add pine bark to the clay to amend it. Not sure you would need the sand for in ground. Fred might can answer about the sand. I got my pine bark by the truckload. But if you only need a little you can get it at Lowes, Walmart, or Home Depot by the bag for about $2.50 each. Don't get the pine nuggets, get the quarter sized bark.
