Calm throughout the storm at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club
We’re very proud to have been working with Dun Laoghaire Golf Club just south of Dublin, Ireland for the past six years. The whole team was delighted when the club was selected to host the prestigious 2016 Curtis Cup match, the biannual contest between women amateur teams representing Great Britain and Ireland and the United States.
The course was built in 2007, after the club accepted an offer to relocate from a property development company. The new site at Ballyman Glen is nestled at the foot of the attractive Sugarloaf Mountains. Designed by Marc Westenborg during his time at Hawtree Ltd, it is a spectacular course comprising three loops of nine holes set on 330 acres.
In the years running up to the Curtis Cup, we have worked on a number of projects with the club, including new sleeper-lined buggy paths throughout the course, the remodelling and extension of tee boxes, construction of new stone-faced bridges and walls, installation of a new lake liner and pipelines, and the creation of a new practice facility that includes putting and chipping greens and bunkers.
But perhaps the biggest project we have completed for the club is the installation of new bunker lining throughout the course. The club was having problems with washout and flooding of the bunkers, leading to a major strain on manpower to reinstate bunkers from sand distribution after significant rainfall events, which arise quite frequently on the East coast of Ireland.
In 2012, as a test project, we rebuilt two of the most severely-affected bunkers using our SportBond liner product. This involves the installation of a uniquely bonded polymer/pebble base that is completely porous. The base is mixed and applied, rather than sprayed, giving it a consistent strength throughout. Sand is then added on top of the base.
Water filters through the sand and into the SportBond layer where it is provided with the easiest path to the drainage, eliminating sand wash, soil erosion and flooding. This keeps bunkers player-friendly all year round and reduces the club’s maintenance burden.
After a year of monitoring the two test bunkers, DAR Golf Construction was awarded the contract of upgrading all bunkers on the course using the SportBond liner.
The bunker project was carried out in two phases. Phase one began in 2013 and phase two in 2014, with the entire project complete in early 2015. The projects involved tweaking of bunker surrounds to divert water on some bunkers. Other bunkers were completely remodelled and some holes had the number of bunkers reduced and grassy hollows and swales installed to replace them. All disturbed areas were turfed.
102 bunkers had new drainage installed and 16,000 sq m of SportBond bunker liner was installed. Turfed areas on the surrounds of remodelled bunkers had lateral and slit drainage installed which was linked to existing drainage throughout the course. The course remained open throughout all phases.
The Curtis Cup match began on Friday 10 June, but the following day play was suspended due to flash flooding. 26 mm of rain fell in little over an hour. Greens were submerged in water and rivers were running through the fairways. But the bunkers remained immaculate. After the rain had stopped, play resumed only 30 minutes later.
Des McGann, the course superintendent at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club, explains: “In front of a crowd of 6,000 spectators, to have the course fully back in play with no water lying in any of the bunkers is testament to this amazing bunker liner created by DAR Golf.”
Julian Mooney, director of the club’s agronomic consultants, Turfgrass, agrees: “The Curtis Cup match provided the ultimate test for the renovated bunkers, specifically when thunderstorms suspended play. As a result of their attention to detail and conscious nature, DAR Golf has become a reliable partner to Dun Laoghaire Golf Club.”
It was the sternest possible test of our product and workmanship that we could imagine! Having already proven their performance under a range of conditions, we were confident that the bunkers would withstand such pressure, and delighted that they did so when under the gaze of the golfing world.
“Not alone is SportBond an amazing product, but DAR Golf’s attention to detail in design, construction and drainage of bunkers is simply outstanding. Their attention to detail is impeccable and the golf club’s demands are continuously met,” says McGann.
James D’Arcy is the managing director of DAR Golf Construction, based in County Wicklow, Ireland
This article first appeared in issue 45 of Golf Course Architecture.