Klingstone installation at the Country Club at Castle Pines

Josh Rigbee well into his full course Klingstone bunker renovation at Castle Pines Golf Club (Nicklaus Signature) with Armen Suny.

Louis Quick CGCS at Anglebrook Golf Club (T Fazio) in Westchester County NY continues his full course renovation this year. “I am really pleased with the results so far… the bunkers we did look great.”

 ”I am really pleased with the results so far… the bunkers we did look great.”

Eric Richardson of Essex County Club (Donald Ross 1917) in Manchester by the Sea, MA has begun renovating the historic club’s bunkers with Klingstone. Donald Ross was the head pro there from 1913 to 1917 and also redesigned the course as it is today.

Clay Putnam CGCS of Serviscape Golf iscontinuing the renovation at The Meadows Golf Club in Blue Island, IL

Mike Wallace CGCS of Simsbury Farms GC in West Simsbury CT is underway with his full course KS bunker renovation.

Ken Williams CGCS is using KS in his practice facility bunker renovation at Stanford U GC in Palo Alto, CA.

Vergeer Golf Inc, a Canadian golf construction firm, has been named the exclusive distributor of Klingstone products for the Province of Ontario. Contact is Tedd Hopkins CGCS.

Dave Beik of Spirit Hollow GC in Burlington IA continues his gradual Klingstone renovation of the course’s bunkers.

Bryan Eddy, ass’t supt at Byrncliff Resort in Varysburg, NY has begun restoration work with Klingstone.

Jamie Cutting at Dundas Valley Golf & Curling Club in Dundas, Ontario is continuing his renovations this year with Klingstone… “The application went really well and we are really pleased with the results.”

“The application went really well and we are really pleased with the results.”

John Casady of Kenwood CC in Bethesda MD continues its gradual renovation program this spring.

Desert Reflections of Scottsdale, AZ is starting work on the second phase of bunker renovations at Saddlebrook CC (Keith Foster) in Tucson.

Marty Moore of Birnam Wood Golf Club in Santa Barbara, CA, is pleased with his trial and moving forward with Klingstone in his bunkers a few at a time.

Steve Fackler CGCS at Serrano CC (RTJ Jr) in El Dorado Hills, CA continues the gradual renovation with Klingstone.

Jason Van Buskirk is pleased with the Klingstone trial at Stowe Acres CC in Waltham, MA.

Wolf Creek Golf Club in Mesquite, NV is currently installing Klingstone in an effort to solve a rock migration problem in their bunkers.

Klingstone is a polyurethane-based liquid that cures to a strong polymer that permanently binds and stabilizes soils and aggregates by essentially gluing them together. Once applied, stones cannot migrate up from the bunker cavity to contaminate bunker sand.

Renovation of greenside bunkers — including Klingstone application — at Castle Pines Golf Club (Castle Pines, CO) has been temporarily halted due to snow conditions, according to Josh Rigsbee, golf course superintendent. The project is expected to be completed by mid-April, in time for the club re-opening.

Renovated bunker with Klingstone applied awaiting sand installation. Castle Pines Golf Club, Colorado.

Here’s a video of superintendent Jason VanBuskirk applying Klingstone to one of the bunker cavities:

Jason has documented his bunker issues and solutions in his blog:

• http://stowacresturf.com/2010/04/20/whats-wrong-with-the-sand-traps/
• http://stowacresturf.com/2011/12/01/bunker-renovation-on-18-north/
• http://stowacresturf.com/2012/01/02/bunker-renovation-complete-and-post-christmas-work/

Spray-On Bunker Liner Option

Just like truck bed liners, there is an option out there for bunker liners that can be sprayed on: polyurethane-based liquids from Klingstonewww.klingstone.com. The bunker barrier, according to the company’s Web site, “permeates and binds soil particles in the bunker cavity to stop contamination of the sand, eliminate erosion, stabilize bunker faces and enhance the effectiveness of you drainage system.”

Tim Johnson is superintendent at Spring Hill Golf Club, which began construction in 1997 and opened for play in 1999. Johnson, who was the construction superintendent at the Wayzata, Minn., course, says, “We began experimenting with Klingstone in spring 1998 and began using it in all our bunkers by the end of that year.”

The course features a total of 84 bunkers. “All of our bunkers, fairway and green, have high flash faces on them per architectural design,” he says. The course was designed by architect Tom Fazio.

“The reason we sought out this type of product for our installation was because of the ease of installation and the permanent nature of the product. We did not want to be reconstructing our bunkers in five years because of liner problems,” Johnson says of the spray-on liners.

He says, “There is virtually no maintenance to the bunker liner because the Klingstone is permanent. The only areas we have had to rework are the areas [where] we installed the product incorrectly.”

Spring Hill was the first course that installed the Klingstone product. Johnson says, “We were the guinea pig for the product, so the bunkers we did early on in the project, where we were establishing an application rate, are the bunkers that received the application incorrectly (too light of application rate).”

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From a January 11, 2011 article in Golf Course Industry:

Help for your hazards

Polyurethane. The first objection Bob McCormick, general manager of Klingstone, will hear about his product – a polyurethane bunker liner that binds the soil substrate together to prevent it from moving – is the cost.

“We understand going into a discussion with a superintendent that the first thing we’ll hear is that our system costs a lot more than other bunker liner systems,” McCormick says. “And it’s true. You will not get an instantaneous savings. But in the long run, you will save money.”

A spray-on polyurethane bunker liner costs superintendents about $1.20 per square foot to install, whereas a geotextile liner will cost anywhere from 20 cents to 50 cents per square foot (not including labor). But McCormick argues the extra costs are worth it because of the polyurethane’s durability and ease of installation.

“Tim Johnson, superintendent of Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn., first installed Klingstone’s product in his bunkers 13 years ago during a renovation. He is currently the company’s longest-standing customer, and he says the extra cost up front is worth it.

“The only failures we’ve had are places where we didn’t install it properly in the first place,” Johnson says. “We decided to go with permanent liners because weather conditions here in Minnesota can get pretty nasty in the winter.”

Johnson doesn’t have to replace sand after a heavy rains because the polyurethane bunker liners do a solid job of channeling the water into the drainage systems. He adds it’s also a labor savings during the installation.

“It’s easy to install,” Johnson says. “You can send a two-man crew out to install it, and it’s no harder than spraying for weeds. Once you put it on, you’re good for the next 10 years.”

Johnson can’t stress strongly enough how important it is to calculate the proper rate of the product before installation. “You can’t skimp on the rate,” Johnson says. “You will have problems if you do.”

Sometimes it’s difficult to sell a greens committee or board of directors on the initial cost, so superintendents have to convince them to look down the road 10 or 15 years, Johnson says. The bottom-line for the product looks much better the further out you go, he says.”

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Bob McCurdy, golf course superintendent at the Country Club of Detroit, posted this photo of the pile of staples removed during the tear-out of the fabric liners from the bunkers at CCD.

“To date, we have completed removing the staples on 21 of 71 bunkers on the course and this photo shows just how many staples are in the old bunkers. By our counts, we estimate that there are 9 staples per every square foot. That means a single 2000 square foot bunker contains as many as 15,000 – 18,000 staples, maybe more!!”

Check out Bob’s blog here.

From Bob McCurdy, Country Club of Detroit, after the first major test for newly-installed Klingstone:

“Last week we applied the Klingstone product to five bunkers and installed the new Pro-Angle sand in them. Although we did that test bunker on #6 earlier this year, yesterday was the first large scale test of how the two products would hold up to a good downpour. The course received 1″ of rain during the day yesterday. 0.4″ inches came as a steady rain the morning, but later in the day we got hammered with 0.6″ is less then 15 minutes. One of the hardest downpours I have seen in some time. I am happy to report that there was not one single issue with the 5 completed bunkers.” – Sept 17, 2010

Photos from the installation:

This spring, Bob’s Green Chairman updated the Board of Governors and Green Committee as follows:

“The bunkers have held up beautifully. There is a lot of accumulation of silt on the sand surface owing to water washing in from outside the bunkers, but no sign of compromise in the Klingstone. .. The sand is essentially dry in many places which is a wonderful deviation from the sand we had prior to the project!”

Clark Standish, Greens Chair, Country Club of Detroit after torrential rains – May 27, 2011