Bunker Maintenance

Comments on bunkers needing major improvement is the number one thing I have heard since getting to Walnut Creek in 2012.  I couldn't agree more. Bunkers, like everything else on the golf course, have a life expectancy.  Our bunkers are well past their life expectancy and it's time they get rebuilt.  With over 20 years of washout rains causing contamination from silt, soil, and rocks, in addition to improperly functioning drainage, a simple addition of sand will not cure our current bunker problems. Currently our bunkers also do not have a liner separating the sand from clay, stone, and drainage pipe underneath which accelerates the contamination process.

With that said, our staff is tackling the huge task of redistributing sand in bunkers as well as adding sand in select areas to allow for better playability prior to completely renovating them as a permanent fix, but adding sand is also not as easy as it sounds. We're working hard to produce a very playable bunker, not a sand beach.  As sand is added, it takes time to settle and become compacted which ultimately offers the most playable lie.  When sand is added to a bunker, tools are used to compact it but the process is very time consuming.  Completely going through all 83 bunkers on property will not happen overnight, but our staff is working on them every day to improve them until they have all been gone through.

Silt contamination from improper drainage after rainfall

Pebbles contaminating sand due to the lack of a proper liner

Hard working staff redistributing sand and adding where needed