Sandbelt (Oz) Bunkers

[David_Tepper]

In watching the Aussie Masters from Kingston Heath and in watching other events from the Sandbelt courses, I am always impressed with how sharp the top of the bunker edges are and how vertical the top 12'' to 24" inches of the faces of the bunker appear to be. The bunker faces appear to be simply cut into the turf and not reinforced by revetting or any other method. 

If what I am seeing is the case, how hard a job is it to maintain the edges of these bunkers? Are they vulnerable to getting washed out in a heavy rain or damaged by foot traffic or is the turf so firm that they are not easily damaged?

[Tom Kelly]

David,

From my small amount of experience down under the sand/soil is so firm both on the faces and under the surface that the bunker edges survive incredibly well. It seems to take quite a lot to damage them.

Some will suffer from wash outs in extremely heavy rain or if poorly designed so they catch alot of water in certain areas. But most that I dealt with seemed to be relatively easy to repair due to the fact that the stuff you see in the bunkers is in many places the same as the sand/soil under the ground, it has been described as dirt rather than sand by some.

A few of the replies to this old thread may answer some of your questions better as it has a few contributions from people with more knowledge of the area than me.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49099.0.html

[Bill_McBride]

I just love the way the bunkers cut right into the putting surface!  This was really apparent at Metropolitan when it was on TV a couple of years ago.

There seems to be a flat bottom of darker sand in many of those bunkers, with white on the slopes and a bit darker at the bottom.  LaCumbre in Santa Barbara has taken up that look, takes a bit of extra care in the raking.

[James Bennett]

Bill, David

a couple of things to point out here.

1.  Melbourne sand belt has perhaps 25 inches of rain a year, generally spread across the year but with a bit more rain in spring.  It is not like the east coast of the USA when it comes to rain.  So, the issues of wash-outs from deluges is a little less.  A major downpour in a few hours would be an inch - not in one hour but in a few hours.
2.  The sand belt sand compacts really well, hence the sharp faces.
3.  The sand contains larger, angular white particles, and greyer fines.  The fines tend to wash out to the bottom, leaving a glistening white face and a greyer bottom.  If there is any mositure, the greyer fines will go darker in colour.  If they are dry, they will be quite light in colour.

James B

[Kyle Henderson]

DT,

The bunkers also frequenlty feature low-lying tougues of turf that allow golfers to enter and exit wihtout tramping on the faces. Moreover, as Siur Bennett described, the faces hard packed very firmly, so usually the ball is sitting on the flat bottom -- again, this keep golfers (and wind as well, I suspect) from eroding the bunker faces.