Armchair Architect Needed: Help design backyard wedge range

I played a course in Vermont that had crushed limestone bunkers. It was pretty tough to play out of once it compacted (firm) but perhaps it might be easier for you to find in your area.

Was it dirty?

Looks to be roughly the same cost as sand depending on how much you get - $60ish per ton. We would need 2 tons to make it playable.

Did it seem to drain well? May be a dumb question given I am unsure how many times you’ve encountered it. Imagine it was similar color to a white sand?

I only played it for 36 holes and it didn’t rain so I don’t know how it drained. It was white to slightly greyish. It was really firm so you really had to go after it. I suppose if you were pretty good about raking it and fluffing it often it would be softer. Also not sure it long term it would be more or less harsh than sand on club wear.
This is the place if you are interested: http://www.willistongolfclub.com/
you could always call them and ask about it.

Yes, but only if wearing white shoes… it came off easily though

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Thanks for the link. Looks awesome in the pictures. Going to call up a local material provider and see what the word is.

It was pretty cool. I was meeting my wife in Burlington to do some Leaf Peeping. I got into Burlington about 7 hours before she did so I played 36 there while waiting for her flight to land.

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Coal dust? Are you trying to give everyone the black lung, pop? :joy:

zoolander

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I spy #2 green at ANGC…

Called around at some places. They said crushed stone (mostly some types of granite - the limestone options were more of a coarse crush) are used for bocce ball courts. Makes a lot of sense why you felt they were kind of hard. They also wanted something like $11 for a 50 pound bag! Would cost over $500 to fill my single bunker! Leaning more and more to a local river sand at $75 a ton.

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Absolutely correct. Ended up going more towards a Road Hole style bunker and expanding the green to allow for multiple pinnable areas.

More to come in the next few weeks on all this. Hopefully the next 2 week update has some big changes.

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Old Works in Anaconda, Montana is a Nicklaus track built with Superfund money on an abandoned coal mine. They use coal slag for the bunkers. I didn’t get black lung when I played.

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I read on another site that going to a sand pit/rock quarry is your best bet. They will dump the sand right into your truck/trailer for under $10/ton. You can also call a concrete plant as they will have sand. Also, if you don’t have a truck you can rent one from a Home Depot for a day.

Do have access to a truck which is nice. At $10 a ton, we will be filling deep bunkers and top dressing greens. Haha.

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Cool products and great pictures for building bunkers.

That is exactly what we need. Have been thinking about what we will do for the walls of the pot bunker. Awesome find.

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Not quite two-week update:

Found an old flag and hit some shots to the new green area yesterday. Two distinct angels/flags changed the straight away shot from 71 yards to 80 yards for reference.

Right side flag. You can see turf conditions are less than ideal.

Same flag position. Dry creek.

Different angle. Still have so much clean up left.

Few others from up close.

All the vegetation on the hill behind and to the right side of my buddy in this picture will be taken down this weekend. Going to keep the trees behind there for now as the canopy outlines the hole rather impressively and is not in play. The slope and vegetation on it, however, is very much in play. For overall playability, going to keep it manicured with a mower. We do have the option of some bunkering on/around the slope. Any yay or nays on that idea?

This has been quite the undertaking and must say, very happy of what we have so far. Hoping by next spring, it will be totally playable. Lots left to do until we get there!

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Is this the Golden Bell hole? More power to you and everything looks great.
I feel that this hole looks to play into a natural redan hole - you should definitely put a bunker along the front left side if you’re feeling up to it!

Here is my bunker take…the red arrow points to a shaved area so the bunker cuts straight into the green a la Metropolitan. bunker%20shaved

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It absolutely does play like a natural Redan hole. Not a big kicker by any stretch, but has the shape.

A bunker short left would be fairly easy to do. Certainly an option.

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