Bunkers

The bunkers begin to deteriorate at five years +/-. Drainage, definition and contamination are all part of the failure of sand bunkers. The recommended life span of a bunker is around  five years before renovation is needed.

Luckily Indian Summer has a good sandy loam sub-soil.  Little to no rocks are present for contamination. The problem I have observed is the lack of drainage.  With a little more investigation, I found that the depth of sand is quite a bit more than USGA's recomendation of 4" on the bottom and 2" on the sides.

Most bunkers do have dry wells installed to allow the water to drain out of the bunkers.  Over time, consistent rain has brought fines to the surface and has basically reduced drainage of the sand dramatically.  A thick layer of sand before it can get to an area that drains is also impeding the movement of water.



Another project that we are looking at this winter is to re-distribute the sand throughout the bunker to get closer to the USGA recommendations.  Some bunkers have more than enough sand while others might be shallow.  We can make use of the extra sand and spread that around to bunkers in need as we make our way through the course.

If you have any questions about the bunkers or any comments about the course please contact me,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com