GOLF COURSES pened in 1924 , Dubsdread in
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Orlando is the oldest public course in Central Florida . Formerly the site of the Orlando Golf Open , it played host to great names such as Hogan and Snead . The course was rebuilt by architect Mike Dasher in 2007 / 8 , and its bunkers were reconstructed at the same time , with new sub-surface drainage lines , but no liners .
Superintendent Alan Lichter says it became clear to him fairly quickly that those bunkers would not stand up to the amount of play the busy course receives , especially in Florida summers , where signficant rains are an everyday occurrence .
“ The bunkers just kept washing out all the time ,” he says . “ So we started talking about bunker liners in about 2012 , and did a demonstration project on our chipping green bunker using a liner from a company that later went bust . So we started looking at the alternatives , and that ’ s when I came across Capillary .”
Installing liners across the golf course was a significant investment for a municipal course , so Lichter began tracking the amount of time it took to fix the bunkers
after rain events . “ It wasn ’ t pretty , and that convinced the powers that be at the city that it was a good investment ,” he explains . “ The payback to the city was pretty obvious , and the improvements in playability that would follow were also a big issue . So we started the project in 2017 , working with Benson Construction , a Georgia-based contractor . It took three months to install the liner in all the bunkers .
Six years on from the installation and Lichter is still extremely happy with the performance of his bunkers . “ I love them ,” he says . “ They are still draining as they were the first day . We had seven tenths of an inch of rain last night , there ’ s no water in the bunkers .”
Given the extremes of the Florida climate , Lichter ’ s bunkers have had to face up to some pretty severe weather – and he says they have come through with colours still flying . Even after Hurricane Ian dumped eleven inches of rain on Dubsdread last year , the Capillary Bunkers still performed . “ It took one person – me ! – about twelve houtrs to fix the bunkers after Ian ,” he says . “ Before we installed the Capillary liner , it would have needed three guys working solidly for a week .”
GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | July / August 2023 41