Hampshire, England: Weybrook Park Golf Club has completed the full renovation of all 22 greenside bunkers on the back nine of its West Course, in partnership with EcoBunker.

Faced with an on-going environmental battle born form a chalk-based site, open landscape and menagerie of burrowing animals, EcoBunker and the team at Weybrook devised a fully sealed solution that is already reaping rewards for the club.

“The course was well regarded by members and visitors, but the bunkers were by far the most complained about feature. We are on a chalk-based site so the bunkers were prone to erosion around the faces and edges, which didn’t look great and regularly contaminated the sand,” said Luke Kenney, Course Manager at Weybrook Park.

He added: “In addition to contamination, the wind moved the sand around, and with 800 members, the footfall through bunkers made it very hard to maintain consistent playing conditions. Add in poor drainage and regular sand washout in heavy rain, and the bunkers were a real headache for the greenkeeping team and the club.”

In response to the challenge at Weybrook, the team consulted EcoBunker and agreed that a fully sealed bunker solution would address the issues faced at the club, while a training and self-installation plan would keep the project within budget.

Keeney said: “We knew that we needed a full bunker solution – liner, walls and edges – but we also needed to keep costs down, so a product that the team could fit ourselves was really important.

“Having researched the market, EcoBunker liner and edging was simple to fit in all conditions, incredibly durable over the long-term, and the team was happy to share its expertise and help us develop the necessary fitting skills in-house. Not only has the product been superb, the team at EcoBunker has been great to work with at every stage of the project.”

While EcoBunker synthetic edges and walls are known throughout the worldwide golf industry, a lesser-known innovation is its EcoTec bunker liner, featuring a proprietary filament matrix, seamless finish and forgiving playability.

Kenney said: “As soon as I saw the EcoTec liner I could visualise how efficient it would be holding the sand in place, which wasn’t the case with the alternatives I saw.

“We’ve also had feedback from the general manager on how forgiving it is on impact. He is really happy from a health and safety perspective that golfers will be protected if they do play shots that reach through the sand.”

With the first 22 bunkers complete, the team at Weybrook is preparing for the next phases of the project, with a view to completing all bunkers on the West Course in the coming years.

Kenney added: “The new bunkers look great. The edges are sharp and tidy, we have no erosion or issues with animal damage, the maintenance burden has reduced and, most of all, our golfers are happy. The whole project has been a huge success and we look forward to finishing the course in phases over the next three years.”

*EcoBunker is a Full Business member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.