Gothenburg, Sweden: Delsjö Golfklubb in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city, is using the revolutionary Wash Box from Capillary Bunkers to make the sand in its bunkers last longer and play better.

The Wash Box, an innovative construction that costs less than US$100, sits in the Capillary Concrete liner at the lowest point of the bunker, above the bunker’s main drain.

Because contaminants – silt, clay or organic particles – float in water for more than a minute, whereas the bunker sand does not, washing the sand separates those particles and enables them to drain away through the Capillary Wash Box.

Delsjö, the club where Capillary Bunkers inventor and CEO Martin Sternberg grew up, was one of the pioneer sites for the Wash Box, which was installed in the third quarter of 2020.

Sternberg said: “In discussions with the Delsjö club, superintendent Kevin Collins told us: ‘Keeping our sands clean with the soils we have always has been a huge problem. Regardless of how good your construction is, you will always get contaminations in the sand here: clippings, algae, clay and silt run-offs and the like. The bunker sands play very differently depending on how much contamination each bunker gets. This is the first solution we have ever seen work where we do not have to replace the sand.’ 

“This spring, Kevin washed his first bunkers and removed all the winter dirt from them – saving a substantial quantity of sand and, therefore, a lot of money. This is a huge sustainability issue for golf – sands are very expensive and it’s not very environmentally friendly to keep adding and changing sand all the time, not to mention all the work involved where instead washing a single bunker only takes a couple of hours.

“Golf’s use of sand is one of its worst impacts on the environment, and the game needs to show that it is moving in the right direction. The Capillary Wash Box is a very positive trend for the game. And it is applicable in virtually every environment in which golf is played. 

“In Florida, for example, courses waste hundreds of tonnes of sand every year because of algae. At some of the most prominent courses in West Palm Beach, a few hours of washing now completely cleans all the algae from the sand and bunkers look like new and stay clean for more than a year until the next wash is needed, saving the crews many hours and dollars.”

Capillary Concrete is an Associate Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.