“Help for your hazards” – GCI Magazine
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.”
