Journey Along the Shores – Part 17 (14th Hole Bunker Rebuild)

While the planning process continues to unfold, we are on the lookout for little ways to make the course more interesting and fun. The golf geeks were itching for a creative bunker project to finish off the year, and we found one on the 14th.

With help from our volunteers and support from local Superintendents, we knocked the project out in two days. There was a trench style bunker left of the green and a cart path left of that. Both had fallen into a state of disrepair.

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CanalShores14-BackLeft_070117

By the street on this same hole, we also wanted to get rid of an old post & cable fence, and so we thought it would be fun to fix the bunker and recycle the posts in the process. The fence was ripped out and away we went.

We borrowed Westmoreland’s skid steer (thank you Superintendent Todd Fyffe) and scraped up the old path.

We borrowed a sod cutter from Bryn Mawr CC (thank you Superintendent Brian Bossert) and prepped the area around the bunker. I cut out the shapes for two bunkers – one at the start of the old trench, and one at the end. The posts were laid out in between, with the intention of sinking them into the bank and letting them get partially grown over. We want them to look like something we found and uncovered.

On the final day, we had a great volunteer crew out. Andy Johnson (@the_fried_egg) and Peter Korbakes (@sugarloafsocialclub) dug the bunkers out and Coore & Crenshaw Shaper Quinn Thompson sunk the sleepers. Along with John and Nick from our grounds staff and several of our local volunteers, Tony Dear and Graylyn Loomis from Links Magazine pitched in with shaping the surrounds and sodding.

Great group of guys and we had a blast talking golf, travel, life, etc, while getting the work done. Very grateful for all of the support, and excited for our players to experience this creative improvement to the course.

A few weeks later, with the sand in, the sod has received its first few mows after being lovingly tended by John Lee. Our new green-left setup looks like it has always been there.