Stacked sod bunker faces

[Don_Mahaffey]

When I visited Scotland I was expecting to see quite a few sod wall bunker faces. What I didn’t expect was almost every bunker I saw (Turnberry, Western Gails, Prestwick, St. Andrews Old, New and Jubilee, Carnoustie) had a stacked sod bunker face. We know that many of the architects favored by GCA hold the courses in the UK in high regard. Why then, are there so few sod wall bunkers in the U.S.? Maintenance? I don’t think the courses in the U.K. use as much labor as we do and yet they seem to be able to keep their bunkers in good shape.
I love the look of a sod walled bunker, very dramatic and they look very penal, although most are no more difficult then the average bunker, but they sure look tougher! Why don’t architects build them here in the US?

[Ran Morrissett]

Doesn't the wet, cooler weather in the UK mean that the faces last a lot longer (like by a factor of 2) over a humid place like Secession?

Artistically, sod face bunkers seem limiting as they a) are obviously man-made and b) make it more difficult to tie the bunker into its surrounds. Picture Cypress Point with stacked sod bunker faces  

[Craig Disher]

They are very expensive to build and maintain compared to grassed faces. The clubs mentioned are ones that don't have serious financial problems and can easily absorb the expense. One estimate I've seen tripled the bunker construction cost.

[Paul Richards]

Don:

When I first played the Medalist, it had the stacked-sod
bunkers.  The next time I had visited, it no longer did.

Perhaps someone familiat with the Medalist can comment
on why this happened there.

[Mike_Young]

From my experience I have found that stacked sod in Scotland and stacked sod in the south are two different animals.  If you will grow the sod that will be stacked in a clay based soil you will have much better results than stacking a bermuda sod that has been grown in sand.  It will disintegrate within a year.  And the sand base falls.  I have seen it done in a clay base and it has lasted several years.
Mike

[TEPaul]

I have no idea whether this is really accurate or not but I can tell you a bit about what I've heard from clubs and course that are planning or constructing when the issue of stacked sod bunkers vs the more traditional American style bunker comes up for consideration.

Those making the decisions seem to view it something like this. Generally the stacked sod bunkers might be a bit easier to maintain manpower-wise and cost-wise day to day and year to year, but the stacked sod bunkers just don't last in their overall construction anywhere near as long as the more traditional American style (which can last for decades).

So in their minds it sort of gets down to a bit of an "operating cost" (maintenance) saving year to year with stacked sod but that the "captial cost" of the stack sod bunkering comes up too often and that's too much for them to get comfortable with overall. I think it's really only the much more frequent "capital cost" problem that scares clubs and courses with the stacked sod variety. I wish it weren't so and I don't really even know if they're looking at it accurately but I think that is the way they're looking at it.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Ran,
They certainly are not natural looking, but I'm a little perplexed by the whole natural argument as I haven't seen many golf course features in the wild.
CDisher
As far as resources for course maintenance in Scotland, I understand what you mean about the big boys, but I don't think a course like Western Gails is rolling in the dough, but every bunker on that course had some stacked sod. And as I explored Scotland I was amazed at how many lower end unknowns (to me) also had sod wall faces.
Mike Young,
While in St. Andrews I had a chance to talk with some of the guys on the crew. They told me that they actually built foundations with vertical timbers set in the foundation to act as a "skeleton" for the large vertical faces like what hell bunker has. Have you ever heard of that?
TEPaul,
The capitol expense argument is certainly valid, but for the cost of upgrading the clubhouse just imagine the bunkers you could have

[Patrick_Mucci]

Paul Richards,

It may be a case of maintainance, coupled with membership aversion to the penal or "unfair" nature of those bunkers.

I too liked them, but they're becoming as rare as the Sand Hill Cranes.

[TEPaul]

I sort of like what Hanse and Co did at Applebrook on the stacked sod bunker thing! As far as I can see they only built one--anyone can live with that, cost or capital cost-wise.

But, credit to Hanse Co, they got that stacked sod bunker in just the correct place and done just right in juxtaposition to their other more rugged looking bunkering to somehow make the stacked sod one really blend in. That was a neat trick in my opinion! Most golfers may not even notice that it is stacked sod although if you walk up to it and look you can certainly see that it is.

Actually the bunkering of Applebrook is really good, it's very rugged looking in most of the surrounds and "out of play" bunkering has been done too to tie the look of the "in play" bunkering into the overall site. It also completely avoids the look of so-called "eye candy".

The general "rugged" look too is just different enough from hole to hole or set or bunker scheme to others to give all of Appelebrook a very natural bunker look--sort of a little of this a little of that--just about the way the wind and rain would probably do it themselves!

[Jeff_Lewis]

Pat and Paul,

The loss of the stacked-sod bunkers at Medalist has not changed the difficulty of the course at all, but has made the course considerably less distinctive looking. The sod walls were evidentally a maintenance issue, or perhaps they were not built correctly. They are still evident on the front nine...The 2nd, 3rd,  5th, and 7th greens are still extremely interesting looking from the fairway, but I fear they will be removed this summer.

[Tom Doak]

FYI, David Kidd wanted to build a bunch of sod-wall bunkers at Bandon Dunes, but Mike Keiser asked him not to.  He was concerned that resort guests would have too much trouble getting out of them, and that it would leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

That's one of the few sites I've seen in America where sod-wall bunkers would have looked right in the landscape.  I suppose we could be doing some in Lubbock, because it's so stark, but I'm sure they wouldn't last long in the summer heat.

[Richard_Goodale]

Tom

That is a very interesting comment about Keiser, Kidd and Bandon Dunes.  When one of the seemingly most enlightened developer/owners asks one of our most talented young architects to essentially "dumb down" a great golf course because it might turn off some of his resort guests, is it any wonder the average golf course we see these days, old and new is so, well........"average?"

[Jim_Kennedy]

Rich,
You wouldn't want to be stepping back to line up a putt and find yourself down in the bottom of one, would you?  

[Richard_Goodale]

Haven't done that, jim....yet.  But, as I've putted into many a greenside bunker on courses bold enough to allow that sort of thing and fallen over backwards into burns after attempting recovery shots and backed into the electric fences at Brora while lining up putts, there is still time!

[Don_Mahaffey]

Tom Doak,
I am planning to build one or two sod wall bunkers this summer; not real tall, maybe three or four feet. The key, IMHO, is irrigation to keep the face from becoming desiccated and then crumbling. I'm going to install mist heads a few inches above the base of the wall that will pop out and be angled to water the face. Before anyone says this is maintenance overkill, understand that in the desert we often have to use smaller heads around bunkers to irrigate the edges and this is just another way to do it. The bad part with building a sod wall bunker in the south is the heat can cause the face to crumble, the good part is you can grow bermuda, and if you can get water to it, its the perfect grass for this application.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Don what a both touchy subject and interesting topic!

Yes, it would be inane to try to build sod wall bunkers in such a warm clime, but ultimately, as much as I would like it to work, it doesn't seem to.

But wait a second! I think the Gil Hanse method of bunker building requires stacked sod, eventually covered over with fescue, that gives it that former "Merion" type lip. (Do any of you know what joy it is going to be, knowing that Rustic Canyon's bunkering is going to be better then modern day Merion's? Like it or not Bill Greenwood, it is fact!)  It seems to be working at Rustic Canyon quite well.

Don, Personally, I think the crumbling stuff is what bunkers are supposed to look like However, givent hat you are dealing with a modern mentality, I'll take whatever roughness and fear the actual look of the bunker instills in a player whist addressing a shot.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Don,
The TPC at Sugarloaf when built had stacked sod bunkering. They used a fescue sod so they would not get thatchy. Have they been changed over the years? I think the bunkering was met with good reviews at the time the course was built as they were flowing and not just the rounded version of sod bunkers. I remember seeing a photo of the bunker at greenside 13th and it was impressive looking, something like the Sand Belt style but with a steeper sheer face abbutting the green.

[Chris Hervochon]

Replace sod with pieces of carpet.  You get the same effect, and I am hearing it is much more economical.  I have seen it done, and it took a very close look to determine that the face was carpet and not sod.

[TEPaul]

This particular topic is both really interesting, filled with fascinating minutae of both construction methods and maintenance methods and also somewhat hilarious and even ironic!

There may be some very interesting facts revealed in Tommy Naccarato's post too. I really don't know for sure but I suspect what Tommy says about Hanse's bunker construction methods (not bunkers considered to be that kind of European stacked sod variety most are referring to on this topic either) is true.

Gil and his boys do read this site from time to time and maybe they will come on here and explain how they do make most of their normal bunkers--stacking sod or not!

But then again, maybe they just may not come on here and explain how they make them! Maybe they don't feel like revealing some of their "secret ingredients!"

But say they do make them with stacked sod. This brings up something that Don Mahaffey just said; ie, how do the stacked sod faces or the stacked sod just above the sand upsweeps get watered to prevent them from "dessicating" and eventually breaking down? Well, maybe they don't get watered on purpose! Maybe they want them to dessicate or semi-dessicate, maybe they want those sod layers to start to slip and break down here and there of their own semi-dessicated accord.

If the grass performs the way Hanse and company does this,  it's long enough anyway to semi-cover the "breakdown" or "slip" and create one helluva cool random and rugged look, it might be what some of us think of as the little known "three dimensionality" of really great bunkers to the eye at golfer level! AHA, maybe the secret ingredient to really good hand detailed bunker making afterall.

Maybe I'm all wrong about this but if I'm right maybe Hanse and Co. may not or should not admit it anyway. The alternative rugged "three dimensional" bunker construction method of Hanse & Co maybe the highly prized but not that prevalent Kittleman method of simply pitching clumps of sod at bunker faces and surrounds and seeing how they look and if they look cool and random just let them be and come back a while later to see if they took--sort of "survival of the fittest" Kittleman/Darwinian thing.

I've not seen this method during creation but I've heard that the Kittleman method works best while smoking a cigar and even when he gets into some sidearm sod pitching, even backhand or over the head sod pitching. Sometimes they even say a certain amount of giggling indicates a great product under construction! I'm sure this is apocryphal too though.

But if any of this is true they should deny it and it's probably all apocryphal anyway. Just as apocyphal as the way the old bunkers of Merion may have been maintained for many decades. If something broke down maybe just leave it be or with a major breakdown just prop it back up by sticking a piece of carpet or something up under there and cover it up. Some say that was a time tested maintenance practice that was used for decades, in more recent decades generally done near evening or at night when any and all golfers were at least somewhere having drinks!

What if someone would see that maintenance practice though? The risk was too great someone might conclude this indicated the course was ultimately some kind of junk yard! I heard a rumor once that Jimmy Hoffa and his welded shut metal casket was up under the bunker face of a little used bunker on the right ridge on Pine Valley's #6 hole, but I'm almost 100% sure that story is apocryphal.

Anyway, this is all in fun Gil. I know you or Bill and your boys would never consider doing anything this unimmaculate!