With the completion of bunker renovations on the first hole at Toqua Golf Course, the first stage of a complete overhaul of the course bunkers has concluded.
“This whole project, we affected 12 bunkers, which was nine rebuilds and three eliminations,” Jim West, Tellico Village Property Owners Association golf director, said. “We did reduce the bunkers. We reduced the square footage of the actual area of sand. And the sand is much flatter. There’s not flashing in it, so there’s less washing.”
Washing was one factor in deciding to tackle the project this year, as Toqua Golf Course Superintendent Chris Sykes said heavy rain would devastate the old bunkers.
“That was a driving force for sure, but from my perspective just as much as any of those factors was the overall look and feel and how it’s going to impact, architecturally, our golf course,” Sykes said. “It’s going to heighten the status a little bit. It looks more like a traditional-looking golf course versus some of the style that we previously had, which was very poor.
“All in all, the bunkers were poorly constructed, poorly designed,” he said. “You can see the drastic difference in how they perform. The driving force from the homeowners and our golfers’ perspective was just the playability. They previously were not built properly, and they were using not a high quality sand for bunkers. Playability was the driving force, but obviously there were greater issues that needed to be dealt with as far as overall design and construction.”
Golf course architect Bill Bergin was brought into the project to design the renovated bunkers.
Sykes said the old bunkers were “completely demolished,” and the new ones were laid out based on Bergin’s specifications. New drainage was put into each bunker along with a new liner, new sand and sod.
The new sand was one of the most important parts of the entire project. What was used in the bunkers previously caused problems in both maintenance and playability.
“The sand everybody gets out of the quarry in the northeastern part of the state meets USGA (United States Golf Association) spec for greens, but it’s a very rounded sand so it does not pack properly for bunkers,” Sykes said. “It’s almost like you got a bucket of marbles and you were trying to pack them. It never would pack. The sand we went with is the same sand they have at Augusta National. Most every high quality facility in the Southeast has gone to this sand.”
What is being used in the new bunkers is called SP55, named for Spruce Pine, N.C., from where the sand comes. Sykes said the sand is more angular, which allows it to pack better in the bunkers.
While West said he was happy with how the bunkers have turned out so far and that the response from players has been very positive, the project is far from over. He said it is planned to be a three-year project in total.
“The extent of this project, we wrapped it up this week,” Sykes said. “Hole one, we wrapped it up on Friday. We impacted six holes. ... Some of those holes are considered complete now and a few of them still have some bunkers than need work. We’re hopeful we’ll be afforded the funds next spring to finish them.”
As far as whether work will be done on bunkers at Tanasi and Kahite in Tellico Village, Sykes said golf officials will evaluate the next step once Toqua’s work is complete.
“We’re just going to continue to prioritize overall needs,” Sykes said. “Some other pressing needs is that at some point we’re going to have to do something with a few of the greens at Tanasi. ...We just continue to prioritize the needs of the golf courses in total. At this point in time still the bunkers at Toqua are our worst feature. We’ll hopefully finish them and then move on to the next item.”
The work done at Toqua has been another step in what Sykes said was overall improvement of the courses that he has been working on now for four years. He said the goal is to make sure the courses in Tellico Village are competitive with the best in East Tennessee.
“That’s kind of why I’m here,” Sykes said. “This is my fourth season. I figure
in another three to four years we’ll have the golf course up to the appropriate standard. That’s the goal is to keep
making it better.”
