Chipping green renovation

The practice bunker at the chipping green is a busy place. Lots of people take advantage to practice their greenside bunker shots. The only problem is the amount of sand that is hit out of the bunker smothered some of the green.

It is easy to see where the excess
bunker sand was smothering the turf.

Splashing sand out of a bunker is a common occurrence. The sand builds up on the edge of the bunker. Each bunker on the course may only have a few golfers in it each day so the sand accumulation is slow. However, the chipping green bunker sees many people per day, all hitting in the same exact place. In this case, the sand is blasted out much faster and onto the same spot every time. So, the sand did not just build up on the edge of the bunker, but also on the chipping green itself. Here are some pictures from the last time we stripped the edge of the chipping green bunker and removed the excess sand. In that same link, you can also see that we had to scrape sand from under the green sod. Our goal was to not have to do that again because it is very hard and time consuming.

Removal of the trash turfgrass

The amassed sand on the green smothered the turf. The sand was being added from golf shots faster than the grass could outgrow it. The turf was very week, thin, or non-existent. All this sand was also wreaking havoc on our mower blades. We decided to remove a portion of the green and replace it with rough grass. We chose to transition to rough because it will be able to handle the sand better, but more importantly, it is much easier to replace each time there is too much sand.

First, we removed the grass that we would be trashing. Next, we carefully transplanted the collar from where it had been, in along the new edge of the green. Finally, we laid fresh rough sod down where the old green sod had been. We were lucky enough to have a cool, rainy day to work and we were able to finish in just the one day.

Moving the collar sod in towards the new
green edge

All in all, we lost about 400 square feet of putting green surface, but in the long run, everything will be easier to maintain. Our mower blades will not cut through so much sand and renovating the bunker will be much easier going forward.

 

Final prep just before the new rough sod
was laid

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org