Bunkers

I m sorry it's been a while but things have  been very busy out on the course lately and I also held back from blogging as I had the greens forum in September and I wanted something to say and for the members to turn up :-) 

I wanted to talk about some of the challenges faced in the last year or even couple of months at the forum but will talk about them through our blog over the coming days. We will talk about what we are doing or have done to over come these and move on. 

The bunkers 

These are always a talking point at every club and we have a few issues to deal with ours. Some of the issues are down to the old style design, some Mother Nature and some animal with the odd golfer adding there bit now and then. The bunkers are the second highest maintenance drain on the greenstaffs man hours only behind the greens by a fraction.

This year we have re designed and modernised six new bunkers. I ve spoken about these before but when you compare how they have performed compared to the old ones, you can see why we need to move forward.

The bunkers this year have been receiving constant attention (like every year). 

Firstly we re shaped some if the bases, giving them a smooth finish so the ball would run back to the middle rather than sitting on old ledges. 

Next we topped up the sand levels in all the bunkers (see picture below). Did you know that the average bunker loses a ton of sand a year through play, wind blow, animal damage and in our case the clay soil cracking when dry allowing the sand to filter through like a sand timer! 

The bunkers were then given a good edge using edging irons. This is very time consuming but gives a fantastic finish. 

During the playing season the bunkers are edged with strimmers.

This is then spread evenly around the bunkers, keeping consistent levels.

Then just when we think the bunkers are looking ok this normally happens. Heavy rain which washes the sands off the banks. This also exposes the stones that maybe along the edges (this does not happen on the new bunkers as the revetted face doesn't allow this to happen).

Following heavy rain, we renovate the sand up and move it again back onto the faces and other low areas.

Now a quick look at the everyday set up of the bunkers - stones and weeds are removed as the bunkers get raked.

The sand depths are also checked.

Fox damage is repaired when required

The sand levels are again checked normally moving from the backs if the bunkers as golfers tend to only pull the rake. This causes more sand to build up along the back edge (this happens at every golf club in the world :-) 

We also repair foot prints from golfers who show no respect to other golfers.

So I ve given you a quick guide to the everyday work that goes into the bunkers. 

So what else are we doing with them? 

For example on the new bunkers we are trailing flat raking the edges. This leaves them smooth around the edge meaning the ball should run back into the middle and firming up the edges at the same time. We have also noted that doing this we have had less wash out following heavy rain. 

  So why does there seem to be less sand in the bunkers in the summer?

Particularly this summer as the sands dry out the texture of the sand gets very flat but following rain the sand levels rise. 

This is caused by the moisture mixing with the different particles that make up the sand ( if you imagine flour v flour and water). The picture below shows the same amounts of sand on paper. The levels are different but the only ingredient is water. Some of the big clubs are now adding missters to there bunkers to add water every night to improve consistency. 

  

I hope this helps to explain some of the challenges that we face daily with our bunkers. If you wish to ask me any questions please feel free to ask me when you see me around the course.

Many thanks 

Matt