Bunker Maintenance

 Before bunker edging
 

Jason Herbert locating bunker edges

 

 After bunker edging

 

Fox damage

 

 

During the warmer days of winter the Green Department staff have stayed busy with golf course work such as limbing trees, cleaning up leaves and debris and troubleshooting irrigation problems.  We have also been monitoring sand depths, drain lines and bunker edges.  Bunkers can quickly lose their original design and aesthetic look, even after only a few years.  The Kentucky Bluegrass bunker edges have the ability to grow horizontal through stoloniferous growth, as the sand provides an ideal growth medium.  To reclaim the original bunker edge we must find the soil edges with probing tools and shovels, dig out the sand and re-attach the sod to the soil edge.

Several factors play a role in sand distribution, sand can be lost or displaced with daily raking, wind, sand contamination and bunker shots where the sand is blasted out of the bunker and into the grass.  We will be adding sand to these locations throughout the winter and early spring months so the bunkers have a consistent depth.  Local fox have also played a factor in bunker maintenance.  The fox seem to prefer bunker banks for their den locations, the bunker banks provide protection from the harsh winter elements and an ideal place for them to raise a family.  As they dig out the den the sand becomes contaminated with soil and drainage gravel and in some cases drain lines become damaged.  In the fox damaged bunkers we will decontaminate the sand and repair lines as needed.