Like sands through the hourglass

Will golf’s struggle with bunkers forever be a part of the days of our lives?

“It’s crazy. Too soft, too firm, too wet, too dry. It’s a hazard — get over it.”

So says Alan Owen, superintendent of Pinehurst Resort Courses 6 and 8 in a video interview on Golfdom TV about the current state of bunker maintenance in the game. “If I’m spending more money on my bunkers than on my greens, then I think we’re going a little too far,” says Thad Thompson, superintendent at Terry Hills GC in Batavia, N.Y.

The video is all of 4 minutes long and features superintendents from North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and New York. All of them agree.The time, effort and money spent on bunker maintenance has gotten out of hand.

In only two months, the video broke into our top 10 Golfdom TV videos ever and has been watched almost a thousand times. Clearly, the message of the video struck a chord with readers.

“At some point we need to stop worrying so much about bunker maintenance,” says Scott Ebers, CGCS, Colonial CC in Fort Worth, Texas. “But I’m not sure if we can wind that back.”

Expectations of bunkers and the way they play may have reached a crescendo in recent years, but bunker companies are trying to help. While golfers may expect a perfect lie in what is a hazard, bunker companies are working to make bunker maintenance more sustainable for golf courses.