POT Bunkers - ?

[Anthony_Nysse]

Thats a good point about Medalist but Normans tinkering tore all of them out after a few years?  I haven't played there in maybe 5 years but it seems that they now have grass face, not sod walls and the course has taken on a whole new look.

Joel - The same change was made to the bunkers at Cherokee Plantation in South Carolina. The sod walls were crumbling with every rain storm and constantly needing to be rebuilt. The grassed over faces have effectively the same playing characteristics but require considerably less effort to maintain.

Mike,
  I think that those bunkers have been allowed to grow over in the last handful of years, meaning that you cant see the sod layering, but they have not been redone and grassed. Alot of sodwalled bunkers will take on this look over time, especially bermudgrass. normans Oldfield GC just outside of hilton head has the same look. they have just evolved over time and actually the bunker face is stronger.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[Scott Warren]

Jamie: 8th Dunes?

To me a revetted bunker is a) a thing of beauty and b) a formidable punishment.

Mark, I don't recall you were suggesting Option A when the below photo was taken, with 150m to the green!

[Jamie Barber]

Scott -yes 8th Dunes. I've seen 4 people in it recently. All 4 have blobbed the hole after failing to get out, including a pro (not just us hackers!)

[Scott Warren]

I'm starting to think I parred all the hard holes that day and wiped the easier ones!

[Jamie Barber]

Yeah - although it has been re-done since you played - enlarged and new turf walls. I planned to take a picture when Tony and I played on Saturday but batteries went on the camera

http://www.princesgolfclub.co.uk/course/dunes8.html

[Bill_McBride]

After seeing the bunkers built on the new course course in Germany I'll bump this thread.

Why aren't these used in America and how difficult is it to be constructed and maintained?

Joel,
  It's my undertanding that the sod walled bunker faces are usually rebuilt every 5-6 years or so because they weather and that they erode...

I had the good fortune to play Muirfield in 2007 when their team was rebuilding several of the stacked sod bunkers.  That is really an art form.  I think you would have to import some of those craftsmen if you wanted sod bunkers in the U.S.  The new ones are really lovely.