The "Perfect" Storm

It never fails. With the second Men's Invitational looming, a large storm cell tracked through the Northville area on the 11th and left a swath of destruction in it's wake. Numerous trees around the course had large limbs knocked to the ground in the 50mph+ winds and two trees were lost (on the 12th and 17th holes). A shocking amount of debris cluttered the greens, tees and fairways making the course unplayable and led to the closing of it on Thursday, the 12th.
The crew was hard pressed, working two 11+ hour days to bring MCC back into some semblance of a golf course. A tip of the hat is in order to all staff members and another one to first tee employees who came out and helped with the clean up.  Due to the storm, the bunker sand project was placed on hold but with the clean up coming to an end, will commence again next week. The following video highlights some of the damage. 

Bunker Sand Project

Meadowbrook's bunker sand has remained relatively the same for the past 30 years, with only small additions of more sand to replace what is lost during the course of a couple seasons.  An increasing number of "fried egg" lies however, has prompted the staff to remedy the situation. 
Fried egg lies are a result of bunker sand being too soft, or unstable.  There are many attributing factors to this type of problem.  The main factor effecting MCC bunker's is the individual particle shape and size of each sand grain.  Sand particle shape can be classified as spherical, angular, sub-angular or sub-rounded.  Spherical particles are not desired, as they can lead to very unstable conditions (Lake Michigan beach sand is spherical in  shape and obviously unstable to the foot).  MCC's current sand is spherical in shape but the newly added Pro-Angle, as the name suggests, is angular and particles "bind" or crust together preventing softer conditions.  Also of note, Pro-Angle is much coarser than the current sand mix and as our avid readers know, this leads to better drainage.  The USGA measures bunker stability based on a ball lie rating, using KG/CM2 as units.  A 2.5 rating or above is desired, which Pro-Angle provides.  The sand to be replaced only had a rating of 1.67.   
A 2-3" layer (based on the depth of existing sand) of Pro-Angle will be added to the top of each bunker, capping them.  As one would expect, this is a very labor intensive practice and the crew will be spending more time on the beaches than David Hasselhoff.  After the sand is applied and checked for appropriate depth, it is leveled, raked and than watered.  The watering settles the sand, giving it immediate stability. 

 

Mixing of the Pro-Angle and current sand will not have any negative effects on bunker playability however, there is such a stark difference in color that if the old sand is brought to the surface it stands out like a sore thumb.  The depth the crew is applying at is sufficient to keep these two materials separate but the flashing's have such a steep slope that walking up the front faces of the bunker can potentially bring the old sand to the surface.  That is why it's more important than ever to follow proper golf course etiquette and enter/exit bunkers from the far side of the green.  Enjoy.