News from our Superintendent, Derek Nicholson

Sand trap that will be re-built to prevent water pooling

Wilderness Ridge is a beautiful place to enjoy both as a customer and as an employee. I can't think of a place I would rather be on a daily basis than on our golf course taking in the views I have helped create. Top to bottom I am proud of Wilderness Ridge but it is not without problems. Looking with a critical eye at our golf course reveals that our number one area of concern is our sand traps. Sand traps take an unbelievable amount of labor to maintain and we are trying to keep 91 of them in top shape at all times.

New liner being installed to protect from sand contamination.

The key to a good sand trap is what's under the sand, not what is on top. Traps must have liner under the sand stapled to the subsoil of the bunker. The liner looks like a furnace filter and serves several purposes. It holds sand in place during a rain event and it keeps the subsoil from collecting in the bottom of the trap and contaminating the drain tile. Our traps at Wilderness Ridge were built without liner. After 10 years they now have contaminated drain tile and hold water like a pool every time it rains.

Re-built sand trap on hole 1 of the Champsionship Course

This all leads us to today and what we are doing to fix our sand traps. I put together a sand trap repair plan, identifying the problems and solutions of every trap on the property. Some traps have already been re-built, and some fo the traps we are filling in with soil and sodding them. The others will be re-built and as a group we decided to re-do every trap on 1, 17, and 18. To date we are on hold 17, with hole number one all done. We have finished two traps on 17 and will soon be moving to hole 18 to go.

Our goal is to eventually get through the entire golf course. A plan is in place and thankfully the resources have been approved to get the job done. It's quite a challenge thinking of how far we hae to go but every tiem we complete a bunker, the way we look at it, it is one less trap we have to pump out and push sand every time it rains. I hope our members and the rest of our patroms understand where we are going concerning out traps and continue to enjoy everything Wilderness Ridge has to offer.

Derek Nicholson

Superintendent

Wilderness Ridge Golf Club