The LPGA Tour is in Indianapolis this week for the Indy Women in Tech Championship, played at Brickyard Crossing Golf Course.
It's a unique host venue, as the golf course winds through the International Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500 race. Four holes are played in the race track's infield, right in the meat of the course.
Playing up on the racing theme, the Brickyard Crossing staff and the LPGA's setup team present the bunkers with a unique look during the tournament. In bunkers, the staff have raked each bunker to look like a checkered flag, which is waved at the conclusion of a race to indicate the racers have crossed the start/finish line for the final time.
The @LPGA returns to action this week @BrickyardTurf in Indy and, very appropriately, the team made some checkered flag bunkers (how cool is that?) pic.twitter.com/WxYEeLhLzx
— Adam Stanley (@adam_stanley) September 26, 2019
So, how does the superintendent's staff create this look?
The staff accomplishes this by using a square piece of plywood in a pattern throughout a portion of the smaller bunkers on the course. The pattern is then repeated, row after row, with the plywood used to flatten out or tamp down the sand. In the areas where plywood isn't used, the bunker sand is raked as it would normally. The outer edges of the bunker are also raked as normal.
Typical maintenance @BrickyardTurf @IWITChamp @LPGA pic.twitter.com/YXPj6N6DLF
— Missy Jones (@missyjonjones) September 25, 2019
The end look is a thing of beauty but also a presentation which creates varied lies for players who land in those bunkers -- at least until a caddie comes in and rakes behind the work of the staff.
