Every year we set money aside for projects into our normal budget. We strive to re-level and sod a forward tee, middle tee and back tee. We also plan on renovating one bunker during the summer. We have some irrigation projects, but those we tend to do in the fall.
This update will deal with our bunker renovation. My first 9 years, we had done little to our 14 bunkers, (12 greenside, 2 fairway). Starting in 2012, we had a bunker holding water, (well we had more than the one bunker holding water) but started on this project of removing sand, repairing and/or replacing drainage, and then installing new sand. That first year, the project went well, and we put the plans of replacing one per year into place. Cost wasn't much, it would take typically one load of sand, which would cost us about $600, drainage parts would probably run between $50 - $150 dollars depending on the needs, and labor was about 90 hours. We would start on a Tuesday and would usually finish up on that Thursday. We would budget $1,000 for the project. For our sand we would use our topdressing sand, since it would be splashed up onto the greens.
In 2013, we renovated a second bunker, and in 2014, we started a third. After finishing that bunker, our two bunkers on our par 3 8th hole had deteriorated into 2 mud pits, so we went ahead and renovated those 2 bunkers in 2014 as well. Well the positive responses started rolling in and we were asked when we would do the other poor bunkers, so in 2015 we renovated 4 more of our poor bunkers, which at that point left us with 5 bunkers we hadn't done. In 2014 and 2015 we held off on any of the tee renovations.
In 2016 our 5th hole started holding water, so we renovated that, but we had heard of some other courses using a different type of sand and after some investigation, decided to use this sand (Osage Bunker Sand) in 2016. It seems to hold in place better in heavy rains. We used the same sand in the bunker we did this year as well. The real test will be when we try that sand on one of our more sloped bunkers. The picture on the left shows how little the sand moved after a very hard and fast rain. If I remember this storm, it was 1" of rain in under an hour. The picture on the left shows the crew cleaning up some of the Bermuda runners that are seen in the first picture, which was a little embarrassing with all the runners in it.
We don't have a lot of tools and staff to work on these projects, but with the limited resources, the crew did a very nice job.
This is the front bunker on a short par 5, which protects about 3/5ths of the left side of the green. A small approach is just to the right of it.
The bunker does set out from the green maybe about 15', so it isn't really that tight on the green, but for those trying to hit the green in two is when it really is in play. 3rd shots with wedges aren't as much of a challenge.
These pictures show us removing the old sand to get to the base of the bunker and exposing the drain. We at that point will try to flush the drain if possible. The old sand is taken to our nursery area where we are trying to establish different turf plots.
In the picture on the left we had exposed the drain and found the pipe crushed. On the original renovation done in 1993, the contracted used sewer pipe for the drains. When we've been able to clean them out we do, but in this case with the crushed pipe, we replace with corrugated pipe, installed the pea gravel and cleaned up the base of the bunker.
As seen in the pictures below, new sand, the Osage Bunker sand, with it's orange tint is being installed. We dump it into the bunker using a dump truck and large utility vehicle. We spread it out with our front bucket on our tractor, and eventually start pushing it around with our bunker rake. The photo on the right shows the finished product. And a golfer actually raked their footprints out of the bunker.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this project. We will be keeping our eye out for next year's bunker candidate for renovation.
Thanks for reading!
Mel
