GOLF COURSES hen we had a tournament ,
W before we redid the bunkers , our biggest fear was rain in the days before the event ,” says Kyle Swart , superintendent at the semi-private Oakwing course in Louisiana . “ If it rained on a Friday and the tournament was on a Saturday , the bunkers would be ground under repair . If the rain came a few days before , my crew would have to spend all their time putting the bunkers back toghether when they should have been preparing the course .”
Located on Heritage Park in Alexandria , central Lousiana , the former England Airforce Basem , the home of the 23rd Fighter Wing , Oakwing was designed by Jim Lipe and opened in 2001 . “ There isn ’ t any real military installation here any more , but the England Air Authority owns the land and manages the property ,” says Swart . “ About 75 per cent of our play is from members .”
The course ’ s bunkers – which are large , with steep faces – had never been properly renovated since opening . “ We tried to do our own bunker liner , using concrete , about ten years ago , but it failed ,” says Swart . “ There were fabric liners installed originally , but they were never going to last twenty years , and before we renovated , we would pull some up with the Sand Pro every now and again .”
Swart researched the options available to him and settled on the Capillary Bunkers product from Capillary Flow . “ I didn ’ t know when there might be another renovation , so decided I had to go for the best longterm option ,” he says . “ What I like about the Capillary Bunker product is that the entire bunker bottom is covered . It doesn ’ t matter where water enters the bunker , you know it will always flow down to the drain at the bottom .”
Architect Nathan Crace handled the renovation , and Swart is ecstatic at the results . “ Before we started , around fifty per cent of our bunkers simply didn ’ t drain ,” he says . “ In the first three months after we renovated , we had 22 inches of rain – we went from an incredibly dry summer to an incredibly wet winter . There is not a bunker out there that has held water or washed out , or retained any silt . They have been the best addition to this golf course .”
He says the benefits to Oakwing will be enormous . “ All year long , we were trying to keep sand in the bunkers to a decent depth and now we don ’ t have to ,” he explains . “ I have a crew of ten , and it used to take three or four days to get the bunkers back into condition after heavy rain . Now one guy goes out with a rake and in a couple of hours they ’ re fine . My guys love them ! The look on their faces when they come into work after rain has transformed . They used to come in and know they were going to spend the next three or four days in the bunkers . Now , they know they don ’ t have to .”
But the most dramatic change is to the bottom line . Swart says the savings from his new bunkers will be substantial . “ We are going to save $ 50-70,000 a year just on labour from the new bunkers , and there will be another $ 12-15,000 from not having to replace sand ,” he says . “ For us , that is a big , big difference .”
GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | May / June 2023 31