As with many golf courses our most inconsistent playable area of the property is our bunkers. In an effort to provide more consistency to our bunkers we have developed a new strategy for bunker maintenance here at HCC.
Most often a member will have issues with inconsistent sand depth. Common practice for our department is to periodically go through the bunkers and measure depth of sand, followed by shifting and or adding sand to areas in need. Where this becomes a challenge to maintain is during season like we have just experienced...wet...washout wet! During the season of 2014 we have had more wash out rains than ever in my tenure at HCC. Our staff has shovelled out contaminated sand at an alarming rate, dare I say that we have removed almost as much as we added in the spring. Going forward we have committed more resources to bunker maintenance in regards to depth control and consistency.
The second largest issue that members have with our bunkers (particularly the green sides) is compacted, hard sand. In a wet season sand will compact very quickly making it hard for the average golfer to hit a bunker shot out of the bunker. This fall we have toyed with a couple of methods to alleviate some of the compaction in the bottom of the bunkers. After a number of trials we found that a rototilling attachment to a weed-eater base does the trick. This attachment will cultivate the sand to a depth of 3" in a relatively efficient manner. The scheduling of this practice will be determined by the weather...the more rain we receive, the more we will be required to cultivate. This practice will also compliment the purchase of our Sand Pro in 2014. The Sand Pro has helped us maintain more regular cultivation in the bunkers while not adding significant labour, in fact reducing!
We feel that going forward by increased sand management and cultivation we can increase the playability of our bunkers and increase the enjoyment that our members have while playing the golf course.
Most often a member will have issues with inconsistent sand depth. Common practice for our department is to periodically go through the bunkers and measure depth of sand, followed by shifting and or adding sand to areas in need. Where this becomes a challenge to maintain is during season like we have just experienced...wet...washout wet! During the season of 2014 we have had more wash out rains than ever in my tenure at HCC. Our staff has shovelled out contaminated sand at an alarming rate, dare I say that we have removed almost as much as we added in the spring. Going forward we have committed more resources to bunker maintenance in regards to depth control and consistency.
The second largest issue that members have with our bunkers (particularly the green sides) is compacted, hard sand. In a wet season sand will compact very quickly making it hard for the average golfer to hit a bunker shot out of the bunker. This fall we have toyed with a couple of methods to alleviate some of the compaction in the bottom of the bunkers. After a number of trials we found that a rototilling attachment to a weed-eater base does the trick. This attachment will cultivate the sand to a depth of 3" in a relatively efficient manner. The scheduling of this practice will be determined by the weather...the more rain we receive, the more we will be required to cultivate. This practice will also compliment the purchase of our Sand Pro in 2014. The Sand Pro has helped us maintain more regular cultivation in the bunkers while not adding significant labour, in fact reducing!
We feel that going forward by increased sand management and cultivation we can increase the playability of our bunkers and increase the enjoyment that our members have while playing the golf course.
Comments
Post a Comment