Maintaining Steep Faced Bunkers

[Jerry Kluger]

I was viewing another thread where an inexpensive course had some steep-faced bunkers which looked really cool and could be a very important strategic feature.  The question I have is how costly is it for a course to properly maintain that type of bunker?  Also, how difficult is it to keep the grass healthy?  It would seem to be time consuming to cut the grass and then to clean up the grass clippings which fall into the bunker, and watering the grass and keeping a good edge or line at the bottom of the grass could also be maintenance issues.  Can all of these things be done when budget considerations are important part of course operations?  

[Paul Payne]

Jerry,

I was the one describing those bunkers. In this case the steep faced is comprised of thin shaggy rough in a sandy soil. The actual sand in the bunker sits lower in the bowl. The sand is not intended to reach op the face of the bunker. It creates a bunker with a steep face so you cannot just clip the ball out. It also privides a playable but tricky shot if you happen to get caught on the face in the shaggy rough rather than in the sand.

[Jerry Kluger]

Paul: I take it then that it is the content of the natural ground that makes this a viable feature otherwise, it would seem to me to be labor intensive to maintain the face of the bunker and difficult with a limited budget.

[Paul Payne]

Yes that is correct. I don't think there is much maintenance on those faces. It is not treated like a mown rough.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jerry Kluger,

Mother Nature can trump the maintainance goals in determining the viability of steep faced bunkers.

Areas prone to heavy rains, seaonally or annually wouldn't seem like the ideal spot for steep faced bunkers, unless they had an unlimited maintainance budget.

[Jon Wiggett]

Jerry,
wash out in bunkers is usually caused by top surface run off from the area surrounding the bunker running into the bunker its self. If the surrounding area is properly modelled and the bunker sole allows the water to sink through the sand and into sub-surface drainage then wash out is less likely to occur.

[gookin]

Our course has 92 bunkers.  They are a collection of the steepest bunker faces on any course I have seen.  They are a real challenge and require a crew of six workers close to full time during the season to maintain properly.  A tremendous number of conflicting issues between turf health and playability since a ball caught in the grass on many of our faces will be unplayable. Too long of a discussion for me to handle here. Send me a message if you want to exchange numbers to discuss our experience.

[Doug Siebert]

A lot of American courses don't even mow fairway height up flat edge of the bunker, leaving a 1-6' collar of rough around them, even when they are completely surrounded by fairway.  If they can't even be bothered to mow up near them, I'm not holding my breath for this...

[Jerry Kluger]

Based upon what David has stated above, these bunkers are very labor intensive to maintain and without some unique soil conditions, they are a feature which should not be included in a design where maintenance funds are limited.

[Paul_Turner]

Apparently these bunkers from St Germain in Paris (Frank Pont's pic) need only moderate maintenance and very rarely wash out.  

And it's not a sandy site.  For the greenside bunkers the water doesn't drain through the faces...little/no wash out.