I received an email from a Design Associate with a Golf Course Design firm in Australia asking how the 17th bunker project had gone and what the processes involved were. He had come to visit North Berwick last year and we had a great course walk talking about the West Link's intricacies and nuances. As I was writing a response to him, I pulled some photos together and started writing this post. The bunker has been back in play since the 15th of April, but I realise that I haven't written anything about it since the middle of January (see link - https://nbwlgreens.wixsite.com/nbwlgreens/post/17th-bunker-rebuild-the-beginning-and-middle), so this is how we got to the finish line.
I finished the last blog entry talking about how the team, with Chris Haspell's guidance, had started laying the revetted wall. This was a very intricate process that really took a lot of patience and time to get right. Following Chris's plan, the team worked hard to ensure every piece of turf went in level with a tolerance of ±2mm - very fine lines as we found out. The bunker has an elevation of 2 metres which is quite substantial and the turf was going to be laid in steps all the way up to save on turf from laying a 4 metre-plus revetted wall at the high side.
The "stepping" of the revetted turf to rise in line with the elevation of the bunker.
The higher/further the wall got the more important it was to ensure it was level at every stage. We did have a blip where it was clear the wall was starting to drop which at the time might not have felt like a big deal, but the higher the face got, the more critical it would have been. It was decided to take out a few rows of turf to get things back on track. This was actually a great learning curve as it illustrated how vital it was to make sure everything was level and that the team couldn't become complacent. Following this, the team identified the best process to lay the turf slabs flat and really found their stride.
The team running like a well oiled machine by this point. Richard T and Scott backfilling and compacting/leveling the soil.
Gavin checking the levels with the Staff with Luis making any minor adjustments. Alex and Daniel laying the next layer of turf.
As this photo shows, essentially the highest line of revetted turf on the low side (left side), formed the base layer on the high side (right side). It was cruicial that every line of revets went in level to form a strong base for the high side.
As they got closer to the finishing height, Clyde Johnson came in to help mark out where he thought the top line of turf had to be. We spray-painted out a few guiding points and a couple of the boys got to work chamfering and finalizing the top line.
Clyde marking out the edge of the bunker where the ramp was.
The really tricky part was the far-right corner where the wall turns and then falls quite sharply. There were a lot of headaches trying to figure out the best way to turn the corner, drop the height of the wall and still be able to make the shape blend in with the surroundings - and they absolutely nailed it. In the end, they realized they had to almost raise the height of the wall at the highest point slightly to come down sharper but in line with the surround. This was not an easy part to figure out and it took a bit of "jiggery-pokery" but as I say - they nailed it.
The difficult top end of the bunker tied in beautifully.
Before finishing the revetted wall, the base of the bunker was shaped and then covered with new bunker sand up to about 2/3rds from the bottom. We had a ramp in place for tractors and trailers to have access and to remove any spoil/dump sand. We had fielded a lot of questions from concerned members wondering how they were going to get in and out of the bunker (access and golf shots) to which we assured them when the sand went in, it would look and feel a lot different.
Gavin compacting the sand using a Whacker Plate.
When putting the sand in, it was a good opportunity to show members what the finished sand level would look like. We have also decided to rake all the bunkers using the "Aussie-style" method which uses flat boards to flatten the sides helping to create a crust which will become firmer over time and will help golf balls roll down the side and sit in the middle which will be raked using rakes with teeth. We wanted to show how firm we could get the sides, so we used a whacker plate to go around the sides 3 or 4 times to really compact the sand.
Finshed and ready for play. The Aussie Style of bunker raking - flat raking the sides compacts the sand and should allow a golf ball to roll back into the middle where the sand is raked with a normal rake and is softer to play out of. Small posts used to stop people from jumping into the bunker from a high point.
The ramp was then removed and the final pieces of the revetted wall were put in place and the top line of turf was laid. The final delivery of turf came for surrounds along with an application of fertiliser. We were lucky that the weather in March was quite wet compared to previous years which meant we didn't have a fight on our hands with a cold dry spring. The rain helped to root the turf in really well and we were able to pull the opening date forward by a couple of weeks.
The feedback we have had so far has been very positive with many people saying how much fairer the bunker is now with the front edge compacted and allowing balls to roll back into the middle to play a shot from.
The most important aspect of the bunker project for me was the invaluable lessons we as a team learned, not only on how to revet a bunker, but also the problem-solving the team had to deal with and the development they all experienced which will stand them all in good stead for the future (and future projects). I am immensely proud of what they produced and achieved, and they all deserve the plaudits for an incredible project.
