What was wrong with this bunker (above?)  It had no drainage, soft sand that promoted fried egg lies,  required costly hand maintenance (push mowers and hand raking), the soft sand also stopped the release of the ball off the grass face to the middle of the bunker...in most cases the ball would rest up against the edge.  The argument was that a bunker is a hazard so golfers should adjust...my answer to that is that golf is all about heroism and the execution of skill as depicted by this ad:

 

"What you did 10%, what you do next 90%" would not apply if all golf hazards were jails.

 

This finished bunker allows for mowing and raking by machine, allows for a recovery shot, and drains freely.  The sand is firm and smooth which allows the ball to release into the center of the bunker.

 

From this point of view, one can see how steep the faces are and how they are pushed to the side of the fairway.

 

This bunker renovation fits the bunkers into the landscape naturally and brings them into play in the fairway which is a key to offering a defense against the technological advance of the ball.  Although the bunkers are more in play, the higher handicappers will most likely end up short of the bunkers, while the low handicappers have decide to carry them or lay up (or thread the needle!)  This is a much more friendly approach to defending the course than narrowing the fairways which penalizes the average golfer more than the skilled golfer.

 

We had to move the irrigation mainline in order to build the bunkers out into the fairway.  We stripped the sod and started digging out the new bunker.

 

We started to dig out the drainage trenches.  This drainage design is unique in that we have installed drainge pipe right under the lip of the bunker to prevent washouts.

 

The bottom of the trench is bedded with two inches of crushed stone (3/8" ).  The small stone we use is important as it has enough pore space to let water quickly through, but fine enough to not allow sand or soil to wash into the pipe.

Above is the drainage completed with stone filled all the way to the top of the trenches, burrying the pipe.

 

This is the installation of irrigation around the bunker.  Note all the rocks.  This type of trageted irrigation allows us to water just the bunker surrounds rather than running fairway heads to keep the bunker banks healthy.

 

Despite the rocks, one can see the great job that the crew did to rake out the bunker slopes and prepare a fine surface for sodding.

 

Getting water on the sod as it goes down is very important.

 

This is the seventh greenside bunker prior to the work this fall.  This bunker had many of the same problems as all the bunkers...high maintenance design, no drainage, etc.  In addition, this bunker has many strategy flaws as it is basically built as a volcano with a sand pit in the middle.  Balls would not bounce or roll into the bunker, they would collect at the bottom of the approach or be kicked into the pond.

 

While not the final look, this is how the bunker stands today...we were shut down by the winter weather.  While the bunker is deeper and bigger, I would say that this bunker will be much more forgiving in collecting balls rather than rejecting them into the pond.  We used 1938 aerial photography to restore this bunker original location and size.

 

 

 

When the bunker was originally taken out of play in the 1960's, the fill that was used was from the pond dredgings.  The material was bulldozed from the center of the 8th pond  up the side of the seventh green...one can see by the rocks that the material was not friendly to work in.

 

This picture shows how we are moving the fairway into the bunker to bring it into play.  Balls will bounce and roll into this bunker.

 

The painting of the shape of the bunker which we scaled off the old aerial.

 

 

The ground froze every night after we were done for the day.  This made it challenging for fine grading.

 

The drainage trenches were installed to not only drain the bunker, but to prevent washouts.

 

Our material handler on the back of the tractor has been a huge labor saver as you can see.  The speed with which stone and sand can be installed is amazing.

 

Finished the following spring: