What to do with this bunker..

[Don_Mahaffey]

Send someone out to rake the bunker after it rains. If you don't have someone, get rid of the bunkers. There is no magic in golf course management    

Don is correct, there is no magic in golf course management but also there are a lot of practical, economical and common sence solutions out there, that are often overlooked by the industry!

Randy,
I understand what your saying here and I liked your drainage ideas, but read this thread. You've got all kinds of ideas including the "call me if you want the best" approach. All I'm saying is you can do whatever you want, add drainage, klingstone, sportcrete, bunkerwall, sand mat, sand trapper, astro turf, sod, billy bunker, yada yada yada, and your still going to go out and rake the face of that bunker after a substantial rain. The first thread says the bunker face is a problem, bunker faces are always a problem. The #1 issue here is a poorly constructed bunker. As Ron White says, you can't fix stupid, and in this case you either fix the bunker using someone who knows what he's doing, or just rake the sand. Raking the sand probably makes the most sense. Its not a sexy alternative, but what would everyone do if it were your money? Adding some perf above, or just below the lip, of the bunker will help, some, but it will not prevent washouts.

[Jimmy Cavezza]

There are a lot of good ideas here.  I've had success in the past with 4" perforated drainage pipe near the base of the slope to catch the water before it gets moving to fast and taking the sand with it.  It looks like it would be difficult to re-route the water via Swales with the bunker so close to the green.  It would be a difficult tie-in without any ridges in the green and would look out of place.  How much sand is in the bunker and how well does the existing drainage work?  I've seen a lot of bunkers that supposedly had 6" of sand in them that actually had 2-3' with a nice silt layer in the middle.  Before you start any small project do some research so it doesn't turn into a major project.

[Jerry Lemons]

Randy,

I recall Winged Foot did some bunker drainage work about 20-years ago under something called the Alonzi Method; the super at the time if I recall correctly. They cut drainage trenches into the face of the bunkers so the water had somewhere to move vertically after working through the sand.

We have been doing a tremendous amount of work with The Better Billy Bunker Method. It is an improvement over the Billy Bunker in that it does not use a cloth liner but does have a layer of drainage rock in the entire floor of the bunker. We have seen bunkers  renovated using this method withstand 4.5" rain events. Winged Foot, PeachTree, Bethpage (Black & Red) Gleneagles, Valhalla are just a few who have used this fast drainage method and swear by it's effectiveness. WWW.betterbillybunker.com Cost is similar to installing a geotextile liner. The Asphalt matrix works very well too but is more costly to install. We won't use any cloth liner again. Period.

IF a bunker has too steep of a slope for the sand (slope exceeds the angle of repose of the sand), or if water is directed into the bunker, no method of construction will prevent sand movement.  Good bunker design should always consider the sand used, slope of faces, drainage, drainage drainage, along with location and depth.

[Lester George]

Now that Jerry has chimed in, the Better Billy Bunker is the method of choice for me.  I have used almost every one mentioned by Don, including the pourous asphalt and the BBB out performs them all, and is more cost-effective.  Emile, I do agree with Mike, hire an architect and save yourself time, money and reputation (yours).

Lester

[Bradley Anderson]

The green is two tiered. The lip of the bunker is probably 2 foot higher than when it was originally built and obscuring your view of the lower tier of the putting surface. The original lip of that bunker was probably more along the lines of the bunker to the left which receives a lot less activity.

It is a perfectly placed bunker, by a master architect and it should be restored. I would remove all the sod around it and shave the sand deposits down to the original grade.

The drainage issues might be solved after the sand build up between the bunker and the green has been removed, but it wouldn't hurt to install a curtain drain between the green and the bunker with a couple well paced risers.

Add new sand and re-sod.