Castelconturbia installs bunker “wash box”

The Castelconturbia course in Piedmont, Italy, recently completed the first phase of a bunker upgrade that involved replacing drainage and adding the Capillary Bunkers liner system and associated Capillary Wash Box technology to the course’s greenside bunkers. The second phase of the project, which is expected to follow shortly under Italian contractor Giuseppe Scaffa, will see the fairway bunkers upgraded similarly.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the 27-hole Castelconturbia complex opened in 1987. Located close to Lake Maggiore, about an hour from Milan, the club has twice played host to the Italian Open.

“Castelconturbia is the third Italian course to install Capillary Bunkers on the entire course, but the first to choose the Wash Box, which enables pressure washing of bunker sand, and thus helps keep sand quality high for longer,” says Edgardo Ticozzi of UNMACO, the Italian distributor for Capillary Bunkers. “It will help superintendent Alberto Peonia keep his sand white and clean.”

“For many years, Castelconturbia has been famous for the bunkers built by Jones, but after more than 30 years, they needed to be rebuilt, especially those at the greensides,” GM Giovanni Malcotti said. “Given the need to rebuild, and the cost of doing so, it was sensible for us to put in the best lining system we could find, to assure us that water would not remain in the bunkers after a storm and reduce maintenance demands. We tried out a number of different lining methods, but none were as effective as Capillary Bunkers. When our contractor explained the benefits of the Wash Box to us, it was an easy decision to add it, one we took in an instant.”