Hong Kong: Capillary Bunkers have been installed as part of the renovation of Discovery Bay Golf Club’s Jade Course.

As well as re-shaping all the greenside bunkers at the Hong Kong venue, the renovation includes work on all greens and tees. The nine-hole layout will re-open at the end of 2021.

The club chose to install Capillary Bunkers as part of the course renovation after Centaur Asia Pacific carried out a trial bunker in 2020.

Eric Liu, Golf Course Manager at Discovery Bay Golf Club, said: “We were impressed with the performance of this (trial bunker), so we decided to renovate all bunkers using Capillary Concrete.

“During this project, one of my main objectives was to re-shape the bunkers to minimise the flow of water into the bunkers from the greens and surrounds.

“Sand contamination was always a big issue with our bunkers. After heavy rain we would have to remove this dirty sand and add in new sand, which took a lot of time. With Capillary Bunkers, our washouts and sand contamination has reduced significantly.”

The installation process was completed in a four-week period and was carried out by Asian Sportsturf Ltd.

During the installation, the Capillary Bunkers ‘Wash Box’ system was installed also. This is a new feature from Capillary Bunkers and allows the user to wash their bunker sand to remove any silt, algae or unwanted debris from fertiliser or soil amendments.

“I was surprised with how efficient the actual installation process is. All 24 bunkers on our nine-hole Jade Course were completed in less than one month. I plan to continue using Capillary Bunkers for the remaining 18 holes we have here at Discovery Bay Golf Club,” added Liu.

Capillary Concrete and Centaur Asia Pacific are both members of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.