Friday 13 March 2009

The Start Of A New Season

The start of a new season is almost upon us and the greenkeeping team are working hard preparing the course for the season ahead. One of the biggest challenges we have ahead of us is getting the new bunkers ready for play. When the bunkers were being refurbished in the winter some of the sand is removed and this now must be returned to the bunker. Before the sand goes back in it is screened to remove any debris then it is put in the bunker and shaped to form the ideal bunker base. Next it is compacted to try to reduce the likelihood of balls plugging in the sand then finally it is raked to provide the perfect finish.
All bunkers are raked on a daily basis, it takes around two hours each day and more if shaping work is carried out, add to this the weeding and cutting work that takes place and we soon find ourselves putting in well in excess of 1000 man hours of bunker maintenance annually. All this for an area of the golf course that everyone tries to avoid!

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