Books
  • Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
  • The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Art of Golf Design
    The Art of Golf Design
    by Michael Miller, Geoff Shackelford
  • Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Golden Age of Golf Design
    The Golden Age of Golf Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
  • The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    by Geoff Shackelford
Current Reading
  • Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    by Chris Santella

    Follow up includes yours truly nominating Rustic Canyon. Shocking, I know.

  • Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    by Editors of Sports Illustrated
  • Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    by Darius Oliver

    The highly anticipated second volume comes to America for more design analysis and stunning photography.

  • St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    by Tom Jarrett, Peter Mason

    Another St. Andrews book to warm us up for the 2010 Open.

  • Swinley Forest Golf Club
    Swinley Forest Golf Club
    by Nicholas Courtney
  • Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    by Dan Jenkins
  • The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    by Amy Alcott


  • The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    by Richard Diedrich

    SI Golf Plus calls this the #1 golf book of 2008.

  • World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    by Mark Rowlinson

    New and updated, including contributions from Ran Morrissett and Daniel Wexler.

  • Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    by George B. Kirsch


    Fresh and well researched perspective on the history of golf in America

  • Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    by Bob Smiley
  • Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    by Neal Hotelling
  • Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    by Chris Anderson
Classics
  • The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    by Daniel Wexler


  • A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    by Lorne Ruberstein

    A summer in Dornoch.

  • Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    by Laurence Casey Lambrecht

    Beautiful images of the classic Irish links.

  • Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    by Geo. C. Thomas
  • The Spirit of St. Andrews
    The Spirit of St. Andrews
    by Alister MacKenzie
  • Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    by John Steinbreder
  • Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    by Bradley S. Klein
  • Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    by George Bahto
  • The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    Treewolf Prod
  • Reminiscences Of The Links
    Reminiscences Of The Links
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast, Richard C. Wolffe, Robert S. Trebus, Stuart F. Wolffe
  • Gleanings from the Wayside
    Gleanings from the Wayside
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast
  • The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    by Daniel Wexler
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« La Cumbre Country Club Bunker Renovation | Main | La Cumbre 1st Hole Before and After Photos »
Monday
01Oct2007

La Cumbre Bunker Renovation Process

The following set of photos takes you through the process we used to renovate the bunkers. It can't be stated enough how incredible it's been to watch Wayne Mills and crew work, especially as we've refined the process. Holes were never closed for more than a few hours at a time, so if they didn't want to take a complimentary par, at the worst golfers had to come back and play a closed hole to post their 18-hoel score.

Because we were working with existing bunkers, the process generally went something like this. Though some of the larger bunkers that we were resizing took longer, while others revealed new problems as soon as sand and sod were removed.

Here we go...the captions describe the photos below each.

Below, we sand removed and lines painted in orange to outline new bunker shapes and boundaries. The orange also is easier to see from a distance.

LaCumbreProcess7.jpg 

Depending on the bunker, dirt might have to be added to fill in areas no longer deemed necessary or to create shapes currently lacking. In this instance, three bunkers were being turned into two hazards and a few bays added to spice things up.

LaCumbreProcess8.jpg 

 

If shapes had to be added where there were none, Felix and the boys did whatever was necessary to get the job done, including using this compactor-rope concoction.

LaCumbreProcess3.jpg 

After various repairs and modifications are made to the shape of the bunker, the final shape is painted by the architect and crafted by shovel work.

LaCumbreProcess3.5.jpg 

The final shape is determined in the dirt so that it will be hard to lose bunker shapes with edging and exploding sand.

LaCumbreProcess1.jpg 

Wayne Mills cutting in a shelf for sod stacking after the final outline has been determined. This was the first bunker we built and you'll note the sand and drainage complete, something we now do as the final step in order to avoid sand contamination and to have more room to work.

LaCumbreProcess10.jpg 

Felix laying the stacked sod installed to give the bunkers a little more of that evolved and 3-d look.

LaCumbreProcess11.jpg 

A close up of the shelf created to stack layers of sod. The number of strips of sod vary depending on the mood of the architect, the crew and the superintendent! We have no formula, just to make sure to vary it enough so that you do not have a polished, perfect bunker edge.

LaCumbreProcess13.jpg 

The sod stacking viewed up close.

LaCumbreProcess6.jpg 

Drainage is generally installed before sodding, but lately we've altered it to sod and only leave a small opening to finish drainage and sand installation since the edge shapes were getting destroyed by the process of sand/drainage installation.

LaCumbreProcess9.jpg 

Kikuyu sod is in, and stacking is evident. In just a few days the stacked shelves disappear and look like thick bunker lips that have been around for decades.

LaCumbreProcess12.jpg 

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