#4 Bunker Liner Project

Both bunkers on hole #4 were a bit more challenging than expected. As described in the previous entry, the greenside bunker had major ground squirrel damage. Along with the ground squirrel damage, the greenside bunker needed quite a bit more drainage added to sufficiently handle the amounts of water that feed off of the hillside in the winter months. We decided that it was best to add the drain lines adjacent to the slope of the bunker. This would prevent much of the water to reach the bottom of the bunker and instead redirect downhill ultimately flowing into the nearby wetland. Aside from the extra drainage and ground squirrel damage, everything else went as planned in the greenside bunker.

































The fairway bunker on #4 seemed like everything was going great. This was until after the bunker liner had been installed and sand was almost filling the entire bunker. I noticed that there was an area in the middle of the bunker floor that was very soft, wet, and potentially problematic. The idea of leaving a poorly drained site in a newly renovated bunker was unacceptable so we began to repair the problem. We started by removing the new clean sand from the top of the bunker liner exposing the soft area. This area was mapped out and cleared for repair. We used a carpenter razor blade to cut the liner fabric to expose the saturated area. It was soon after, that we realized the problem. This was an existing low area where excess water would sit and have no area to run off. This area needed to be either re-graded with the slope to feed into drainage or drainage needed to be added. Since this area was mere feet from the nearest drain line, we decided to re-shape the area making the low spot's slope decline into the drain line trench. Once we removed the dammed area, the moisture fed into the drain line and was dry the next day. This immediately solved our issue so we stapled the liner back in place and continued to pour sand to finish the bunker.