UPDATE: New Bunker Sand Currently Unavailable

Well, things were progressing nicely with regards to adding sand to our greenside bunkers, but we've come to an abrupt halt with this process as our Baja Tan bunker sand is currently not available to order.  The initial 40 tonnes we ordered in mid-April has been used up on holes #6 through #18, with the exception of a couple tonnes set aside to complete the bunker drain repair on #4 this week.  When we attempted to place the order for 40 more tonnes last week, we were informed that they are experiencing issues with the mining of our particular sand.  We've been told it could be available as soon as tomorrow or up to 90 days from now.  We will be in constant contact with our aggregate supplier to ensure we receive our sand as soon as it is once again available.

In case you are asking yourself, "Why the heck can't we just use another bunker sand that IS available?", here are a few reasons why:

1. Aesthetics.  The obvious answer is that the other bunker sands won't "colour match" with our sand and even "diluted" with ours, the results would not be aesthetically pleasing. 
2. Different sands have different physical characteristics.  When mixed together, we run the risk of compromising the drainage capability of our bunkers.  This is certainly not a risk worth taking as many of our bunkers already don't drain that well.
3. COST.  The Baja Tan bunker sand is priced right for our budget.  Using a more expensive sand wouldn't be very cost effective, especially for bunkers that are well overdue for renovation.

While I'm on the topic of bunkers, I'd like to briefly discuss the liner issue we are experiencing in the fairway bunkers on #1.  I guess you could call this one of those ongoing issues as I wrote a blog post about this liner issue when we started experiencing problems with them last summer: http://qgolfclub.blogspot.ca/2011/07/reason-58-why-i-despise-crows.html.

Well, we've tried to do a few things differently to deter the crows and other birds from digging up our liners for their nests, but unfortunately, nothing seems to have worked as well as we had hoped.  We will be removing approximately 3 feet of the liner from around the perimeter of the bunker as this is where it is most accessible to them.

 

bunker liner being dug up and ripped out by birds for their nests

This process is a tedious one as we must first pull back the bunker sand and then carefully cut the liner out without disturbing the subgrade to avoid contamination.  In fact, this is why we installed a liner in these two bunkers in the first place.  The base material that these bunkers were shaped from was quite contaminated with stones.  The liner was installed to prevent the stones from migrating up through the bunker to keep the sand as clean as possible.  Golfers striking stones in bunkers can cause injury and obviously affect the playability of the sand too.  Believe me, I have NEVER been a fan of using bunker liners, but they were certainly warranted in this case.

Please check back here often for further updates as we work to resolve this issue.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUEEN VICTORIA!