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Bunker Work




The Grounds Dept. staff has begun working on shaping up our bunkers. Most members have noticed that the bunker boards have been removed from the bunkers on #17. We decided to try a different technique of edging on these bunkers. We have "bull nosed" the edges and removed the soil lip that exists on our other bunkers (this creates a grass or "living" edge). There have been a number of "comments" about the height and severity of some of the bunker lips/edges. These have been produced by a combination of inverted edging and the use of bunker boards during construction. This is a very labour intensive task, but I believe this will reduce both contamination and some playability and maintenance issues that we experience.

The process is as follows, we first pull back the sand that is at or near the edge, we then insert a spade horizontally into the lip and pull out a "chunk" of soil. Once the "chunk" is removed, we then tamp down the sod and roll the lip down so that the grass meets the floor of the bunker. This method produces a much more classic and natural look. It will also reduce the bounce back effect of the soil lips that we are all used to. We are going to monitor the performance and member feedback on these bunkers and then make a decision in regard to the rest of the bunkers on the golf course.

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