Ground Squirrel Rejection Experiment

While inspecting the greenside bunker on hole #4, we came to a conclusion that it has won the award for the most ground squirrel damage to a bunker's edge on the entire golf course. This bunker sits very close to the native grass which is a prime location for the ground squirrels to dig their tunnels. #4 bunker shows this fact very well. Most, if not all, of the tunnels are created within 2' of the soil surface. With this idea in mind, we decided to take the trench digger and excavate a channel around the bunker nearest the native edge where the ground squirrel tunnels are located. Once the channel was dug to about a 3' depth, we decided to insert a vertical layer of heavy wire mesh fence. The idea is to prevent the ability for the ground squirrels to dig towards the bunker edge. With this wire mesh in place, they will be stopped dead in their tracks and be forced to turn around.