Hardscrabble Country Club, in Fort Smith, Ark. has replaced its bunkers’ river sand with white sand, to give its golf course a better look and what club officials hope will be better play.

“This is something we wanted to do and the PGA suggested that we do, and we got it done this year,” Bob Meyers, Hardscrabble’s President, told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The PGA Tour has generally rated Hardscrabble Country Club favorably in its post-tournament surveys, with its greens always rating extremely well. But the Tour had downgraded Hardscrabble’s rating based on its bunkers.

“The sand, prior to this year, was generally river sand from the Arkansas River. It was brown in color and very inconsistent as far as the playability of a bunker shot,” Meyers told the Gazette. “Those of us who play golf would often complain that you don’t know what type of trap you’re going to hit out of until you have swung the club and find out where the ball lands.”

Hardscrabble’s maintenance staff removed the river sand from every bunker, refilling each with white sand from Sheridan, Ark.-based Arkansas Decorative Stone. The project started in January and was completed about a month ago. The club also found a way to recycle the previously used bunker sand by topdressing fairways, helping to improve grass development.

“We bought equipment to spread the sand on our fairways,” Meyers said. “We looked at courses like the Colonial in Fort Worth, which has a sand program for their fairways, and it makes a huge difference. When the Bermuda gets mature, we will have a very smooth playing surface and a better turf for the Bermuda to grow through.”