weeks at a time, we set about making plans and communicating with the membership as to what they thought was required. Ideas were passed back and forth over the summer, before a final drawing was sent to Mr Lacey for his enthusiastic approval. Before any construction took place we met on site to discuss the practicalities of the task ahead. We had decided not to revet the bunkers as, although Castletown has fantastic links turf, it is laid out over a shale bed. Cutting turf to the depth required to revet bunkers is impossible - an inch is about all you get before the turfcutter starts to chuck you about like a ragdoll. We decided instead to go for a very simple formula - stripping the turf, digging a hole, chucking the spoil to the sides and out front, and aiming the ‘snout’ of every bunker we did right down the line of play. I strongly believe that bunker building never needs to be any more technical than this - much as I love the ragged edges of Mackenzie bunkers, or the heather faces of Walton Heath, I think there is hardly ever much call for making unnecessary artistic statements that detract from the beauty of the surrounding landscape. I do think that anybody planning to rebuild any bunker needs to follow this list of architectural rules:
1)Always point the middle of your bunker down the line of play, and
always point the middle of greenside bunkers towards the centre of the green. Then, when a golfer goes in it, he will hardly ever get what he considers to be an awkward stance, and he will usually feel relatively comfortable. You can always follow this rule, no matter what shape your bunker is.
2)Never, ever, create a hump at the back of your bunker. I fail to see what point there is in creating a mound that stops a ball from going into a hazard. At Castletown, we lowered more than half of the entrances in to the new bunkers, in order to increase their effectiveness at catching balls. If you are building your bunker on a side slope, use the same rule - dump the spoil on the bottom side to build up the bank (creating the illusion that the hazard is on the level), and leave the top side relatively open to catch balls that kick down the hill.
3)Resist the temptation to get too fancy. Bunkers are supposed to fit into the landscape, not take it over.
4)When planning how deep to go, think about how your golf course is perceived by the golfing public. If you are redesigning a championship links, as we were, feel free to go deep and toughen things up a bit. If you’re running a busy municipal where slow play and wear issues are problematic,
think about the impact making the course more difficult might have. Try to make the challenge set by your bunkering mirror the challenge set by the overall design of the course. Woodhall Spa and Royal County Down are great examples of this.
5)If you are in any doubt whether an architectural change is really necessary, don’t do it. If you do intend to make changes, consult absolutely anybody who you believe could give you an informed opinion, and make your decision based on all the information you have amassed. An arrogant belief that it is ‘your golf course’ is a sure way to get things all wrong.
Anyway, enough of the architecture tutorial, back to Castletown. The ease with which we executed the first phase of the plan showed that, by doing our homework and keeping our design simple, we could rattle through the work in no time, despite only having a JCB 3CX with an extending backhoe to work with. Machine operator, Matthew Carter, was absolutely brilliant from the start, getting to grips with the design principles immediately and showing a talent for always getting the scale spot- on.
Mark and his team stripped the turf, Matty would dig the pit and scatter it round the faces to the best of his machine’s limited ability, and I would
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