Each week we spend as many as 150+ hours in the bunkers to keep them in their current state, that’s a large percentage of the total hours available within a normal week’s labor. Repairing faces and raking bunker bases is a very demanding task on the guys and with the time frames we must keep, sometimes small structural changes must be missed to complete the job in front of the days play. Other maintenance practices are required on our hazards to keep them in a playable and aesthetic state which include snipping edges, hand weeding, spraying, levelling, sodding tongues, removing debris/tree roots and hand watering edges, all of these other duties come on top of our standard maintenance and must be squeezed in with our mowing, spraying and irrigation programs where possible.
Over the life of the west course bunkers, wind and play has naturally shifted large amounts of sand around within them as well as blowing out across the landscape. I have had a number of comments in recent times suggesting bunker depths are now becoming an issue and stairs into some of our bunkers would be a good option. A number of bunkers have been flagged as potentially requiring better access, with the 3rd west waste bunker being our first area to trial the steps in the coming months. When positioned correctly the stairs will be inconspicuous from the tees and will rarely interfere with play. But will assist all golfers in accessing the bunkers and will also help our staff maintain our turf walk-in points. West bunkering also lends itself quite well to the incorporation of the steps and will add character to the bunkers as they grow in and become a part of the bunker. On a trip to Barnbougle Dunes a couple of years ago I took this photo which shows how seamless the stairs can be and how they can enhance the visual aspect as well as the functionality of the bunkers. The steps will be positioned down existing bunker tongues, once the timber is inset the turf will consolidate the steps and provide the look we are after.
Tree roots continue to be a nuisance for us and at this stage large scale work is needed in multiple bunkers on each course to slow down the problem. We hope to do a lot more structural changes to bunkers over the coming winter and tree root eradication will be on top of the list.
Rowan Daymond
Course Superintendent