When can I call bunkers a waste area? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Michael Williams

   

   0 posts
   
   9/30/2014 8:09 AM

   I'm consulting for a public GC that is looking for some outside ideas on how to improve conditions, increase play while watching the bottom line. When I first started the owner noted that all of the bunkers have not been maintained & have become GUR due to staffing & resources. They have been overgrown w/bermuda from the roughs as well as weeds & would require many man hours to turn them around again. The owner asked if the bunkers could become a waste area if left in their current condition.
   I always thought a waste area was a planned area w/a sand base & various native grasses amongst the area. The USGA lists a bunker as a "prepared" area while a waste area (bunker) is unmaintained & natural to its surroundings. All rakes have been removed not to confuse anyone on any rulings but there is the unknown of what an unmaintained bunker can be called a waste bunker or not.
   
   Any feedback would be great

   
   
   
   
2. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   10/1/2014 6:10 AM

   Excellent question in which I look forward to the discussions. I was under the impression that a waste bunker is a bunker that is not maintained on a daily basis like the rest of the bunkers (my pro told me this). he said that by giving it a waste bunker definition you can ground your club in it without a penalty. We have one such bunker on the course. It was built as a bunker that sits in a flood zone on the course and gets flooded when we get .5" of rain. It drains out but cannot be kept in bunker shape due to the contaminants from the flooding.
   
   I am interested if this is right or not to be honest because my Pro has not proven that he knows a lot about a golf course.

   
   
   
   
3. Steve Nelson

   

   0 posts
   
   10/1/2014 10:10 AM

   Mike in that situation I would suggest just removing them and having a grassy depression or just shape them even as if they were never there. I think most peoples concept of a waste area is what you and James described- a large area planned to be not maintained to bunker specs because of its size or other considerations. I think that a regular sized bunker in traditional bunker locations that through neglect is somehow ruled a waste area won't be a satisfactory outcome for most folks.

   
   
   
   
4. David Stone

   

   9 posts
   
   10/3/2014 12:10 PM

   Michael,
   
   We switched some of our largest fairway bunkers to waste bunkers two years ago. The first year we told the members if it did not have a rake it was a waste bunkers. We allowed some grass to grow in the sand. When the grass became too thick we thinned it out with Round-Up. We machine rake them once or twice a week.
   
   Caddies would sometimes throw the rakes from our normal bunkers into tall grass so golfers might not see the rake and think a regular bunker was a waste bunker. A member came up with an idea that has worked well. We hand planted some clumps of Lovegrass in all bunkers that are waste bunkers. We still allow some other grass to grow in them but the clumps of Lovegrass shows the golfer right away that it is a waste bunker. I have attempted to attach a picture. If I did it correctly perhaps it will help give you some ideas.
   
   David Stone
   The Honors Course
   Chattanooga, Tn.