Bunker renovations begin

As we get nearer to the playing season our efforts turn to bunker renovations. Along with the clubhouse showers, bunkers are a much debated subject within a golf club's community. You can never get them right. They either have too much sand or not enough. The sand is either too fluffy or overly compacted. On a parkland site such as ours, it is very hard to please everyone. Drainage is the number one issue on a clay based golf course, with the last twelve months testing the best of bunkers. Over that period we have had numerous washouts and contamination has become a big problem. With this in mind we have commenced work to all 67 of our bunkers on the golf course.

The work will consist of 'skimming' out the top 25mm contaminated area. It is usually the worst bit as the soil from around the area can run in to the bunker. Stage two is to move any sand about to make sure the whole bunker has adequate depth. The last stage is to add up to 25mm of fresh sand, giving it a nice cleaner look. By the end of this week 17 bunkers will have been completed and the plan is to finish all 67 by easter. The programme is being run by Stan Harrison (pictured below) who's job it is to plan and implemented these works with the rest of the greenstaff. Hopefully as we head in to the season, the golfers big discussion will once again turn back inside to the pressure of the clubhouse showers!

Before

'Skimming' top layer off led by Stan on the left hand side

After