When is a Bunker’s Renovation Absolutely Needed?

Of all the working parts of a finely designed golf course, the untrained eye doesn’t give a bunker much thought. After all, it is just a pit of sand that only requires a bit of edging to keep shaped, right? Even grass bunkers are easy to maintain when kept cut to the right uniform length. However, maintaining bunkers is typically where much of the resources of a golf course go. As bunkers get older, they need more resources to maintain, so it is essential that one knows when it becomes more cost effective to renovate a bunker.

The two main factors of a bunker that needs to be considered when it comes to renovation is drainage and location. If a bunker sees a lot of traffic, it will want to be the first to be renovated. It is getting a lot of action and even regular maintenance cannot prevent decay. If a bunker is starting to retain water, it could mean a build up of silt in the drainage lines or the back filling. Once this happens and drainage becomes compromised, a bunker because unpleasant to look at, more difficult to play, and it means you will have to change out contaminated sand more often.

Drainage is one of the biggest reasons to choose bunker renovation, but if regular maintenance is starting to fail and that bunker isn’t the perfectly shaped outcropping it once was, this can be reason enough for a renovation as well. As a golf course is a combination of beauty and function, and if a bunker is neither beautiful nor functioning, it needs to be fixed. The tell-tale sign that your bunker can no longer be maintained is fraying edges. Those shaped edges will break down eventually, and when this happens, a maintenance project needs to turn into a renovation project.

If your bunkers are looking less than beautiful and you are considering a renovation, contact us today to see what we can do to get your course back on track.