Test Bunkers

The Test Bunkers on #4, #9, #13, and #14 finally got a chance to show their abilities when it rains.  After finally receiving  2 heavy downpours totaling 3.25 inches of rain on the golf course this week, we got to see how well the new bunker liner and sand handled the rain.  As expected, the new Capillary Concrete liner which we installed to replace the cloth liner reduced washouts tremendously.  Take a look at the pictures below for proof.

 These are pictures of one of the Greenside Bunkers on #5 after the heavy rain Monday.  This is pretty typical conditions of most of the bunkers after a heavy rain event.  Notice the washouts on the edges of the bunker and the displacement of sand.  Our crew has to go through and shovel sand back up to fill in voids on the edges, and then use a mechanical rake to get the bunker smooth again.  One bunker is not too bad, but when you have over 50 to do across all 27 holes is gets to be a lot of labor to fix. 

 These two pictures show the Test Bunker on #4.  You will see how there is only one slight washout on the right side of the bunker.  Most of the sand just needs to be raked, as we do with daily maintenance.  The washout will be easy to fix and will not take any more labor than normal.  This bunker on #4 has a very steep face which is hard to hold sand, much steeper than the bunker on #5 pictured above.  This bunker typically  washed out just as bad if not worse than #5 before we renovated it.

This new construction of bunkers will save us a lot of labor in the future!