[Ran Morrissett]

From analyzing the particle shapes that lend themselves to fried-egg lies to the effect of mechanical raking on architecture to the thirteen factors that determine the cost of maintaining bunkers, Part II takes us to the heart of the matter re: the methods and costs for maintaining bunkers.

My former home club in Australia (Newcastle GC) must have had sand with a penetrometer reading around 1.8km/sq. cm. (I’ve always wanted to say that!  )  because the ball had a way of never finding but so good of a lie. That and the fact that the bottom of the bunker away from the green oft times sloped slightly toward the putting surface and recovery from the bunkers at Newcastle was quite tricky.

This is of course as it SHOULD BE – yes, golfers should avoid hazards. However, as Bob points out in the last question of this portion of his three part Feature Interview, the notion of the bunker as a hazard has taken a beating in modern times   . This is truly sad, with only a few clubs like Friar’s Head showing the leadership to (once again) treat bunkers as hazards.

Hopefully, Bob’s Feature Interview will promote the healthy discussion within clubs of just how hazardous the members want their bunkers. There are numerous answers but the key is communication between the members, their board and the green keeper.

Cheers,

[RT]

Ran,

One of the most informative interviews to come about on this site.

Bob Randquist is a real gentleman too.  He was very gracious when I toured Southern Hills in the early eighties.

Props to this.

RT

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ran,

Bob's analysis is accurate.

It is the dictate of memberships that determines the condition of the bunkers, and sadly, they've become less of a hazard, which was their primary purpose.

I agree with you, Friar's Head has it right, as did Pine Valley, with respect to bunkers remaining hazardous to the golfer.

I don't know that the trend can be reversed.

But, with in depth analysis, like that presented by Bob Randquist, perhaps clubs will begin to rethink their construction and maintainance techniques when it comes to bunkers, and restoring them to the purpose for which they were intended.

His position paper should be required reading for every Green Committee and Board member.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Ran & Bob,
Super job.
Very comprehensive write up.
It would be nice to have a few pictures.

I'd be very interested to know if Bob has any data regarding the costs of mechanical vs. hand raking.
There is probably a break even point depending on the number and average size of bunkers where the total costs are equal.
It is nice to read about all the long term negatives using the mechanical rake that are very useful when confronted with the up-front time saving component.

Can you guess my preference?
Cheers

[Brent Hutto]

4) Some bunkers that are adjacent to native vegetation areas may not be designed to have a defined edge, especially on the side of the bunker farthest away from the green or fairway. The bunker’s definition 'washes out' as it transitions into the native vegetation area. Native grasses with clump-like growth habits often extend into the bunker sand more that 6' from the edge of the sand and provide an extremely natural appearance for the bunker. These types of bunker edges usually require only minimal maintenance. Due to possible interference to the golf club swing path that these native materials provide, and the increased possibility of a lost ball, a very high degree of difficulty may be associated with this type of bunker edge. Factors that golf course superintendents should consider when selecting the correct bunker edge style for the golf course’s bunkers are desired degree of difficulty, growth habit of the grasses surrounding the bunkers, golfer’s attitudes and perceptions regarding highly maintained versus natural aesthetic appearance, and architectural design style of the golf course. Once a standard for the style of bunker edges has been clearly established, maintenance procedures can be developed which produce the desired result.

I can't think of examples I've seen of this type of bunker. Is it more of an "in theory" type of bunkering or does it commonly exist, maybe on certain styles of golf course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Brent,

They exist, you just have to look closely for them.

[BCrosby]

Brent -

You see some of that at PVGC.

My first reaction was that the bunkers looked sloppy. Under-maintained. Then it hit me that they meant them to be that way. Then it hit me that it was pretty darn cool. It gives bunker recoveries a whole new dimension.

It would be hard to make it work in the clay soils we play on in the SE. But in sand, it can be a beautiful thing.

Bob

[wsmorrison]

Brent,
 
Although they man not have survived in very many locations, these sort of indistinct bunker edges melding into undulating sandy waste, hills, and other natural or natural looking features were often found on the designs and in early photographs of Flynn bunkers on courses on or near the ocean including Shinnecock Hills, Atlantic City Country Club, Boca Raton South and Indian Creek.  

Flynn meant for the bunkers to evolve along with the vegetation according to nature leading to a natural look.  This is appropriate where sand is naturally found.  It sure would look out of place in parkland settings.

[BCrosby]

Also check out pictures of Pebble in '29 just after Chandler Egan's revsions. Lots of sandy areas that merge into surrounding grass areas.

Bob

[Brian_Gracely]

Brent,

I think this is an example from Ran's write-up of #15 at Rustic Canyon.  


It also appears that some of the recent pictures of Bandon Trails show some of these types of bunkers.  

[Bob Randquist]

Mike Nuzzo,

Though I use a lot of pictures during the bunker maintenance seminar presentation to illustrate my points,  I felt the "Feature Interview" was not the right format for displaying these photographs.  The presentation is lengthy enough with just the text of the seminar presentation.  As I learn more about posting on this site (and how to add photographs to the posts) I will try to add some pictures.

Seminar participants(about 400 so far) have been completing a bunker maintenance survey that is allowing me to build an accurate data base regarding current bunker maintenance practices, e.g.  raking frequency,  labor hour requirements,  mechanical or hand raking,  use of liners, golfer's expectations, etc.   Because of the large number of variables that influence these costs at a particular golf course I have not asked them to compare the difference in costs between hand and machine raking.  Every golf course's bunkering is different and costs vary widely depending upon the bunkering design style and golfers expectations of bunker playing conditions.  I can tell you in general terms that the survey indicates that hand raking requires about twice the number of labor hours as machine raking,  except in cases where bunkers are very small in size and number.  About 2/3 of the survey respondents are raking their bunkers with mechanical rakes and 1/3 are raking bunkers by hand.  Hopefully the answers to questions like this will become clearer as I collect more data and continue to refine the survey.

Since your preference for hand raking is clear,  could you
please elaborate why?   Is it due to concerns about the potential problems associated with mechanical raking (especially regarding the retention of design integrity), your preference regarding sand surface playing conditions and degree of difficulty,  or other reasons?  


Brent Hutto,

Yes, these type of bunker edges exist.  I will try in the next few days to post pictures that clearly illustrate this style.    

[Brent Hutto]

Thanks, Bob. I really appreciate the education this site keeps providing me but your bunker series is a cut above.

[John Gosselin]

Bob, great interview. I really enjoyed meeting you and hope to get a chance to talk to you again sometime about the your move to FL and the challenges. Thanks again for the hospitality.

[Mark_Fine]

I was fortunate to play Southern Hills with Bob while he was still Superintendent at the golf course.  Unless I played with Maxwell himself, I could think of no one better to spend the day with there!  I took plenty of notes and Forrest and I will even be incorporating some of Bob's observations that day about Maxwell into our Hazards book.  Frankly, Bob's comments were right on (at least Chris Clouser feels that way regarding what we wrote about Maxwell and that's good enough for me).  

Great interview Bob!
Mark

By the way, for all those guys out there who think being a panelist is all about free green fees, forget that, this is one of the real “perks”.  Guys like Bob want to play golf with you and there are few better ways to learn about a golf course than by playing a course with its Superintendent.  

[Bill_McBride]

Other outstanding examples of bunkers naturally transitioning into surround natural areas are Talking Stick North (great stuff) and Pacific Dunes, particularly where some of the bunkers migrate into the giant blowouts ie #13.  

That makes me want to go back to Bandon so much, and the recent photos of the gorse in bloom there add to the feeling.  Those photos looked like Crail in May!

[Mike Nuzzo]

Bob,
Thank you for the response.
When is your next presentation and can I attend?

I'm a designer, and my preference is to not see the bunker details deteriorate through poorly trained mechanical rakers.  Entering and exiting, changing the floor, catching the fabric or creating excess contamination.

I would like to design bunkers that a mechanical rake can't get into, but I once saw a mechanical rake in a pot bunker barely bigger than the rake itself, litterly the guy did one turn and came out.

I'm going to work on a spread sheet to evaluate the actual costs comparing both.

Would you help with a few questions as I progress?

Thank you.

Mike

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