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Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

January 15, 2020/in Press Release, Sport/by Adam Lawrence

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers: The famous courses of the Melbourne Sandbelt, notably Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath, are distinctive for many reasons, but one of the most important is the characteristic bunker style created by Dr Alister MacKenzie and his collaborators Alex Russell and Mick Morcom. Sandbelt bunkers are characterised by their size, by […]

Sea change for Greg Harris

January 15, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

Sea change for Greg Harris: Ex-Royal Navy weapons engineer Greg Harris from Fife in Scotland has won SRUC Elmwood’s annual John Deere HNC Golf Course Management Student of the Year Award, sponsored by John Deere and Scottish turf dealer Double A. Greg was chosen particularly for the leadership and mentoring skills he displayed during the […]

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

January 15, 2020/in Press Release, Sport/by Adam Lawrence

Sea change for Greg Harris

January 15, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

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Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

January 15, 2020/in Press Release, Sport/by Adam Lawrence

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers: The famous courses of the Melbourne Sandbelt, notably Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath, are distinctive for many reasons, but one of the most important is the characteristic bunker style created by Dr Alister MacKenzie and his collaborators Alex Russell and Mick Morcom.

Sandbelt bunkers are characterised by their size, by their swooping shape, with capes and bays dividing them up into different compartments, by their flashed sand faces, and by the fact that they cut so deeply into fairways and greens – and are typically presented with short grass – fairway or even green cut – right up to the edge of the bunker, with no collar of longer grass that can interfere with the architect’s desired short game playability, and create visual interference in an otherwise extremely ‘clean’ look.

That look has been enormously influential around the world of golf. Gil Hanse’s Olympic course in Rio de Janerio and Tiger Woods’ first American design, Bluejack National in Texas, are only two in a long list of courses said by their designers to be influenced by the Sandbelt look. But replicating those trademark Melburnian bunkers is hard. The soil on the Melbourne courses, though sandy, contains a lot of fine particles and grey organic matter that mean it binds together to create a hard surface. Coarser sand – and even more so, clay soil – does not bind the same way, and creating that hard, vertical lip so characteristic of Melbourne is basically impossible; the soil gets wet and crumbles away.

The recent President’s Cup at Royal Melbourne showed very well how the Sandbelt bunkers work. As well as the clean edge, the sand packs down so hard that Melbourne clubs do not rake their bunker faces, rather using a ‘flat rake’ to create extremely firm conditions on the bunker faces, ensuring that all balls that enter the bunker run down to the prepared base, removing the problem of plugged lies.

So Sandbelt bunkers are desirable, but they depend completely on the particular conditions on the Sandbelt to make them possible. Sydney-based golf architect Harley Kruse has found a way round this problem. At Killara Golf Club, in the northern suburbs of Sydney, a successful 1800 member club whose golf course was basically untouched since the 1960s, Kruse was hired to do a significant course renovation. After careful planning, the works were agreed: reconstruction of all eighteen green complexes, reversing two holes, rebuilding some fairway bunkers and eliminating one par three while bringing a spare hole into the normal rotation.

“Greens were suffering; the rootzone wasn’t good and they were all poa,” Kruse says. “They were small, averaging 370 sq, and basically flat, with very limited strategic value. We have increased them to an average size of 500-550 sq m, with lots more interest; we’ve also taken out 300 big trees and opened up the vistas.”

Kruse and the club wanted sandbelt-inspired bunkers, but the clay soil at Killara meant that was going to be difficult. However, they found a solution via a good friend, Rod Hinwood, course manager at the exclusive Ellerston GC in rural New South Wales. Hinwood demonstrated the successful results that EcoBunker was delivering on his pronounced bunker edges, which had previously been vulnerable to erosion. “It occurred to me that we might be able to do something similar at Killara, and thus be able to get the edging treatment that we wanted,” said Kruse.

The new bunkers are lined with Capillary Concrete, and feature a 40cm high lip constructed using EcoBunker Advanced patented synthetic bunker edging system. The sand is then flashed up the EcoBunker wall – and is held in place by the Capillary Concrete – and the bunker surrounds can be mowed short right to the edge, because of the strength the EcoBunker and Capillary Concrete underpinnings provide.

“EcoBunker was designed from the outset to give architects the maximum freedom to create the bunker shapes they wanted,” says EcoBunker inventor and CEO Richard Allen. “The work that Harley has done at Killara is a classic example of that. When I first went to Melbourne last year, the principal reason was to see the Sandbelt bunkers up close; the fact that our product has allowed a great architect to create similar bunkers on unsuitable soil is fantastic. This style of bunker has long been something of a ‘holy grail’ for a lot of golf courses that simply haven’t been able to implement it because of their soil conditions. Now, they can see a proven solution that will allow them to do so.”

“If we had tried to do that edge using the site soils, it would crumble away,” says Kruse. “Getting that stable lip in clay soils is very difficult to achieve. But EcoBunker allows us to do it.”

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Sea change for Greg Harris

January 15, 2020/in News, People, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

Sea change for Greg Harris: Ex-Royal Navy weapons engineer Greg Harris from Fife in Scotland has won SRUC Elmwood’s annual John Deere HNC Golf Course Management Student of the Year Award, sponsored by John Deere and Scottish turf dealer Double A.

Greg was chosen particularly for the leadership and mentoring skills he displayed during the 2018/2019 academic year.

Born in Dundee and brought up in Kirkcaldy, Greg took up an apprenticeship with the Royal Navy at the age of 19 and spent 12 years with the service until he was medically discharged in 2016 with knee problems. However, this paved the way for his next career move into greenkeeping and golf club management, as he was still encouraged and able to play golf.

While deciding what to do next, Greg was playing regularly at The Duke’s Course at St Andrews as well as his father’s local club at Glenrothes, where the pro mentioned the SRUC course.

“I realised I was never going to be a good enough golfer to turn pro, but taking up the greenkeeping option meant I could still be active and involved in the industry,” he says. “I attended an open day at the college, where I spoke to course tutors Paul Miller and Ian Butcher who outlined the opportunities and were very supportive, so I put in my application and was accepted.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the people I met. I think my Royal Navy background prepared me well for many aspects such as planning and teamwork, which are key skills for any greenkeeper. The academic side of things was never a problem, and I also enjoyed the hands-on time spent as part of the tournament support team at Kingsbarns Golf Links during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“Everyone there was really accepting of me, considering my relative lack of practical skills. They recognised that I was there to learn and it was a great experience, apart from my least favourite job, swishing the dew off the greens!

“The John Deere award was mentioned at the beginning of the course, but I never gave it another thought. When Ian told me towards the end of the academic year that they were going to nominate me and I then found out that I’d won, I was really surprised but also very proud of the achievement.

“Since graduating I’ve ended up away from greenkeeping, and moved more towards golf operations – I worked in the pro shop at The Duke’s Course for the season following the course, and currently I’m assistant store manager for American Golf in Dundee. I did plan to return to Elmwood and do the HND course, but as that isn’t running this year we’ll see what happens next. If it runs again it would be a really good opportunity to go back and see how I can progress in my second career.”

Course tutor Ian Butcher, who is based at the Elmwood campus in Cupar, Fife, adds: “Throughout his time at SRUC Greg was a positive influence on the student group. He was a natural leader, and many times supported both individuals and the HNC team as a whole to meet various challenges. He consistently showed initiative, enthusiasm and a capacity for mentoring which is rare. This is of real value to us as an organisation, as we seek to involve our students more in the development of the SRUC programmes.

“Greg is one of a new breed of graduates who are open-minded as to their career paths, and is enthusiastic about gaining experience beyond the golf course maintenance shed. Taking advantage of workplace experience in customer services at The Duke’s clubhouse within the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort at St Andrews is an example of Greg having a more varied role in golf operations during last summer.

“His passion for the game combined with a long-term career perspective opens more doors for Greg, and we trust he finds the right opportunity to progress in his chosen profession. We look forward to him being a great ambassador for us.”

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

Sea change for Greg Harris

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

Sea change for Greg Harris

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Ecobunker enables Sandbelt style bunkers

Sea change for Greg Harris

Sea change for Greg Harris: Ex-Royal Navy weapons engineer Greg Harris from Fife in Scotland has won SRUC Elmwood’s annual John Deere HNC Golf Course Management Student of the Year Award, sponsored by John Deere and Scottish turf dealer Double A.

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