Saving money and improving practice with Rangeline

Chris Thuer CGCS, superintendent at the Bear Slide club in Indiana, says that the use of the Rangeline product from ZLine Bunker Systems has transformed the look and feel of his practice facility. 

“Our course dates from 1991, and was designed by Dean Refram, who was a PGA Tour player during the sixties and seventies and later became a golf course architect,” he says. “It is a pretty well regarded daily fee course – quite challenging, and we strive for high standards of maintenance. But we aren’t a high budget facility – there are six guys, including me, on the crew in winter, and that goes up to thirteen in summer. The range is quite nice, and, as is normal on daily fee courses, it is an important asset for us – we get a lot of good golfers here, and they like to practice. But its big flaw was that the target green areas we had were very bland – there was a bit of mounding around them, but no real features. There were no bunkers, they would have been too expensive to maintain.”

Thuer says he had been thinking about ways to upgrade the range for several years. “I’ve been going to the GCSAA Show for over thirty years, and I’m always on the lookout for new products that might help us,” he explains. “I noticed ZLine a few years ago, and in particular the Rangeline product, which uses artificial turf to replace sand bunkers on practice ranges.

“I pulled the trigger last year, and installed the product on our range in the spring of 2024. It was very easy to install – we just cut the sod out, laid the material down and then pinned it in place. We laid a small amount of our bunker sand on top to help match the colour. For each little bunker we did on the range, it took about two hours start to finish. If the guys had finished mowing and the range was empty for a couple of hours, we could go out with the sod cutter and install one. This installation method allows the range ball picker to drive directly over the bunkers.

“Initially I had questions about how much money we spent – people didn’t believe how little it was. Especially my owners! We watch our pennies pretty tightly and it was so cost effective. The benefit far outweighed the cost. They look so much like real bunkers, when our owners first saw them, they were concerned I spent too much until I told them how much they really cost.

Thuer says he installed a total of nine ‘bunkers’ on the range. “We put ‘bunkers’ around the three target greens that were closest to the tee, but not the two furthest away,” he says. “They’re not real big, but from the tee they look much more impactive. We didn’t have to do any dirt work or excavating. It has been a real upgrade for our range.”

About Zline Bunker Systems

ZLine Bunker Systems has created the ideal solution to never-ending course maintenance issues and one of the most common complaints from golfers: poor bunker quality. We give your golf club the opportunity to drastically reduce the amount of labor and material costs associated with maintaining sand traps. This results in savings for the club, while golfers gain an improved experience with consistently well-maintained, clean, high-quality bunkers.

Our systems provide a complete solution for the protection of your golf course bunkers. Our system is an accumulation of years of trials and testing to deliver the best dollar-for-dollar liner system available: industry leading protection that provides complete bunker cavity protection without compromise. The benefits of our systems are not only proven to protect your bunkers, they also create a yearly savings that will pay for the system in a short number of years.