History Thread - Use of Slag, Cinder and other odd materials for bunkers

[Ian Andrew]

For the first time ever, I have run into bunkers with slag in the bottoms. The slag was also used to soften the abrupt transitions from bottom to face. Easy to go back ...


Curious if others have seen this too...
Was there an era or region where slag was used as a drainage course in bunkers?
btw, its awful stuff...




I have also seen cinders used as a drainage course on work done in the 1920's.
Another unpleasant material to get rid of...


What other things have people seen or are people aware of?

[Jon Wiggett]

Seen this too. I have come across recycled glass for the base/drainage layer as well as a sand substitute. Of course many courses in the past skipped the sand part leaving a clay hard pan to play off. I do kind of miss this at times as there was a definite techique/art to playing a controlled shot off it.


Jon

[Dave McCollum]

There is Old Works in Montana where slag was used in all bunkers and waste areas.  Don’t know if was used as part of capping material.  This was a superfund site.  As I understand it, the entire site was sealed under some material on which was placed a drainage system to recycle water, then capped with the root zone mix, irrigation, etc.  Construction budget supposed to be around $25M, a fraction of the original clean up estimates.   

The slag is black, resembles sand, and they have a back up supply that is about three miles long and several hundred feet high.  It is quite dense and plays differently than anything I ever encountered.  They even sold OW specialty sand wedges in the pro shop which I found amusing because all you have to do is play the shot with a square face.  First timers that open the clubface and play a normal bunker shot usually end up blading the shot over the green.  Bounce is not your friend.

[Thomas Dai]

I know of greens built in the 1970's in the UK that had a layer of cinders spread on them during construction. Then earthed over, then seeded.


A few years later, apparently because the new generation of rock-like golf balls wouldn't stop easily for Mr Average, the same greens had a layer of peat spread thickly over them. The greens are rather thatchy and spongy these days. It's become a nice business opportunity for deep scarifying, drainage machinery etc supply companies now though.


Atb

[Pete_Pittock]

Another example of recycled glass for bunker sand is in this article. The Ranch at Laguna Beach, a 9-hole executive course near Los Angeles has their own on-site recycling plant. Makes sense since glass is about 3/4 silica.  There is a picture of a bunker mid-article.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/09/10/golf-sustainability-recycled-water/

[Kyle Harris]

Seen this too. I have come across recycled glass for the base/drainage layer as well as a sand substitute. Of course many courses in the past skipped the sand part leaving a clay hard pan to play off. I do kind of miss this at times as there was a definite techique/art to playing a controlled shot off it.


Jon

This induced a bit of nostalgia in me and I agree with the sentiment. The Penn State White Course circa 2001-2002 had bunkers largely devoid of sand on the Willie Park holes and as a freshman who didn't know any better I largely complained about them. That summer had an awful drought that made the golf course play firm and fast. No better education and enlightenment for me than to deal with the fear of the bunker and the firm conditions.

Summer 2002 is when I began to understand because of that combination.

[Richard Hetzel]

What about Hawktree in North Dakota?

[Adam Lawrence]

Sam Thomas from the Golf Environment Organization told me that slag was being experimented with as a replacement for gravel on golf courses when I wrote this article -- https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/digital/magazine/issue66/48/ -- on issues with the global supply of sand for GCA a couple of years ago.

[John Emerson]

Sam Thomas from the Golf Environment Organization told me that slag was being experimented with as a replacement for gravel on golf courses when I wrote this article -- https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/digital/magazine/issue66/48/ -- on issues with the global supply of sand for GCA a couple of years ago.

I believe that once we have the collective minds wrapped around biochar this could potentially replace some putting green materials. I am confident that sand could be eliminated on putting greens altogether and still produce a great surface. Bunkers are a different animal. I have no response to bunker sustainability other than install less and only use locally sourced materials.