Snow White Sand

[Jim Nugent]

Adam -- why is non-white sand any better than white?  

In most courses, bunkers are artificial, aren't they?  What difference does it make if you truck in white sand?  

I personally think it looks pretty cool.  Though I also like other colors as well.  Which just reminds me of a resort course I played back in 1970, about an hour outside of St. Louis MO.  Their bunkers were all different colors: red, blue, white, yellow as I recall.  I managed to miss them all, but it did look a bit weird to me.  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Jim,
It must have been 4th of July weekend.

or

The crushed white marble was so bright that it burnt holes into the cornea of your eyes, and thus your seeing red, white & blue spots...

or

You failed your first grade art class.....

[Jim Nugent]

Ha ha, Tommy, or maybe I had a temporary case of color-confusion, similar to Mayday's color-blindness that prevents him from seeing green posts.  

All these other explanations aside, I'm real sure that is what they did.  Course had opened shortly before I played there.  Got publicity in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, both for its design -- was supposedly a notch higher than most other public-access courses back then -- and the unusual sand traps.  Colored bunkers probably didn't last too long.  Can't remember the name of the course, and have no idea if it still is around.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Darva & Tommy,  

Using the sand that's natural to the site may be preferable, but, it may not be practical, and that condition only exists if the golf course is located on sandy soil.

One can't think in terms of retaining "opening day" status.

Sand must be replaced over time, hence availability becomes a critical issue.

If your "local" supply runs out in five years, then what ?

[Adam_F_Collins]

Adam -- why is non-white sand any better than white?  

In most courses, bunkers are artificial, aren't they?  What difference does it make if you truck in white sand?  

As I mentioned earlier white sand seems like an odd choice if it contrasts to the natural sand on the site (if there is any) Like in the pictures I posted - to me, that looks just plain wrong. Miles of natural, reddish sand on "The Red Earth Island", natural dunes of it, an endless beach - and you truck in glaring white sand - doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?

[Patrick_Mucci]

AFC,

With all of the environmental hoops that golf courses have to jump through, excavating and taking sand from dunes or beaches is next to impossible.

Sand has to be quarried, not just scooped up from any location that has it.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

At Cuscowilla, the bunkers are of a reddish nature due to the native soils from around the site.

In Hawaii, I think it's RTJ's Manu kea has bunkers of a black pumice nature due to the natural soils of the site.

So when is the best time to use Crushed white marble? When in Rome........

[Eric Franzen]

With all of the environmental hoops that golf courses have to jump through, excavating and taking sand from dunes or beaches is next to impossible.

Sebonack is a rare exception to that.
If my memory not fails me completly, I am quite sure that my host, while touring the course a month ago, told me that the bunker sand that they used was found on site.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Eric,
  This was exactly the case at Friar's Head. The sand for the bunkers was excavated from the dunes located between #15 and #16 fairway. Very good sand actually....

Tony Nysse
Sr. Asst. Supt
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Adam_F_Collins]

AFC,

With all of the environmental hoops that golf courses have to jump through, excavating and taking sand from dunes or beaches is next to impossible.

Sand has to be quarried, not just scooped up from any location that has it.

I'm not suggesting they do that, Patrick. I'm just saying they should make an attempt to match the imported sand to the local sand in colour, so it doesn't look so out-of-place in the environment.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

... and in Rome they use crushed marble mosaics – very golf friendly as they are aesthetically pleasing and the ball on landing will bounce clear– as the saying goes  « when in Rome do as the Romanians do »

[Bill Gayne]

Bill, Hang with me a bit. We'll change that attitude!  

Actually, Adam has pretty much hit my critique of it squarely on the head. Before you were on here, about four years ago, I was commissioned by a very astute observer of the website, to apply my Photoshop abilities to a photo of Royal County Down with bunkers that were from a Rees Jones course with blinding white crushed marble. (Just to reinform my good friend Patrick Mucci, there is a H-U-G-E difference between white sand and crushed white marble, and the dunes of Friar's Head are not even remotely close to the same charateristics in color and consistency! THANK GOD!)

When I displayed the two photos, it was obvious that there was a huge difference--rough scraggley bunkering to clean edged and just plain F-ing BRIGHT WHITE.  

The reason why is--and I'll quote my friend who sponsored these notions and commissioned the photo--that we all have different lenses, different eyes. The same can be said of tasting wine. Some of us have different palates so things taste differently.

Then there are some of us that are limited because we don't know how to open up the aperature, focus it, let alone do simple cleaning and maintanence. But we do have the ability to see, and when you do--WHAMO!--You'll suddenly be able to see it!

I know this because I have been on that side of the fence.

The very first time I saw it was in The World Golf Atlas when reading the review of Merion for the very first time. Looking at those bunkers, I was sort of like, "well that doesn't look very appealing"And  in fact, your going to get a HUGE laugh out of this--I thought Ted Robinson's pot bunkers looked great! How's that for dirty and out of focus?!?!?! (this is in fact the truth) But then where it really took hold was when I saw for the very first time what the bunkers once looked like at Riviera.

And that was my epiphany!

So in my best Morpheus-like voice, (from the movie, The Matrix.)

You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Take the Red pill Bill. You won't be sorry.

Tommy, I'm hanging and taking the red. Though the greatness of the bunkers at County Down is the positioning, the way they fit the land, and the rough whiskered edges.  I probably need some more red.

[Mark Hissey]

With all of the environmental hoops that golf courses have to jump through, excavating and taking sand from dunes or beaches is next to impossible.

Sebonack is a rare exception to that.
If my memory not fails me completly, I am quite sure that my host, while touring the course a month ago, told me that the bunker sand that they used was found on site.

That is correct. All of the bunker sand at Sebonack was mined from on site.

Also, when the range was being cleared, we found some very deep and large holes which had been dug decades ago which appeared to have generated sand. I suspect it may have been sued for the bunkers at NGLA as it was right at the side on National's second fairway.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Pat,
I know it's not always practical. In fact, I've heard stories of just how much it costs to ship Crushed White Marble from Idaho, let alone a sand color that is more palatable to the eye.

If your "local" supply runs out in five years, then what ?

You find yourself a new one!

Bill Gayne, Glad you 've made the right decision! Not lets go kick some Matrix ass!

[Doug_Feeney]

It has been a few years since I played there, but at one point the Bear's Club had brooms in the bunkers rather than rakes.  I don't remember how "white" the sand was but it was the most perfectly unnatural bunker surface I have ever played off of.

Can anyone comment on what type of sand they have there?

[Patrick_Mucci]

If your "local" supply runs out in five years, then what ?

You find yourself a new one!

Tommy,

It's not that easy.

When you introduce new sand to select bunkers they begin to look and play differently from the other bunkers.

And, the cost to remove and replace all of the old sand with new sand is very high.

Being able to provide a long term supply often influences where the sand comes from.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Pat,
From what I know, the major cost for sand is in the transportation of it. I'm also not disagreeing with you. But I think your trying to find something to disagree with me. (if that makes sense)

However, there are companies that do mix sand to color and especially for golf courses. some of them will even mix CWM ith sand. In all, it's just like mixing a fine wine. But fine wine costs alot.

John C-S,
Go back and read my quote, "When in Rome..."

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tommy,

I wasn't trying to disagree with you, I was only trying to point out that there are other factors that inflluence the type of sand selected by the golf course.

[Tim Bert]

I don't mind the snow white stuff as much as the thick, orange looking sand.  I'm not sure what it is, where it is found naturally, or anything else, but I'd rather hit my ball out of the white stuff.  As a point of reference, Tanglewood  in NC is one course that comes to mind with this stuff.

I think I'll take a nice, relatively soft, off-white or tan looking sand over either, but snow white definitely isn't at the bottom of my list.

[john_stiles]

Cuscowilla has the orangy/red fine sand and leaves you with some difficult recoveries.  

You really have to use 'your feet' to judge what the shot will be like at your lie, two feet   away.