The suggestion for altering the 5th bunker was mine. Even though Tom hadn’t had the opportunity to visit until last week, Pennard have been keen to push-on with things. Those two pots were very penal – both walking into them, and playing out. It seemed that extending the rear bunker a touch closer towards the tee, while also tapering it out slightly, with the remainder filled as a shallow hollow would help. That the green complex wasn’t original made the recommendation easier.
Apart from two days that I spent trying to get to grips with the ‘ecobunker’ at the start of the process back in October, neither of us have been on site to guide the details. These bunkers have lifespan of 20 years plus (no one really knows yet, of course)...bringing the cost savings, but locks things in from an artistic perspective! They plan on spreading the bunker work out of three years, tackling the most problematic ones this winter.
If the anticipated economics ring true, I wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a few more courses in the UK follow suit!
Clyde
There are a number of courses in the UK, Europe and US following suit either with 'Ecobunker' or 'DURAbunker', both are successor companies of the original company that brought the product to market as 'Envirobunker'. There are a variety of reasons these courses are making the move to synthetic but without a doubt the primary driver is cost and maintenance savings over the lifetime of the product.
Tom is absolutely right, we don't really know how long our synthetic bunkers will last but we do know that the research carried out on the material used suggests it will be 200 (two hundred years) before it begins to break down when buried. What's really obvious though is that the shaping and design work becomes even more important and crucial (if that were possible) and I write from a course just outside London where I am currently advising on the shaping work at the outset of a full course bunker renovation using synthetic bunkers edge (on an inland course). There are huge time savings to me made on edging work alone.
The difficulty as has been suggested, is that many clubs want to save on costs by getting their own staff to construct the bunkers (far more popular option here in UK than in rest of Europe and certainly the US). This means that we have a tough balancing act between supporting courses in this key aspect of the project (as well as others) and keeping costs within budget. Not easy!!
Even the most traditional of British Links such as Royal North Devon (Westward Ho!!) are now renovating all their bunkers using the synthetic method and whereas Pennard is working with Ecobunker, RNDGC is working with DURAbunker. Tiburon GC, Naples, Tennessee National GC, Medalist etc have all used synthetic bunkers working with one company or the other and there are now probably more inland courses than links working with synthetic edges so I hope for both companies sakes that the trend continues!! In the meantime I'll keep myself in check as I am accutely aware as a newbee on the forum that is exactly that a 'forum' though I will probably try to balance out some posts regarding the product and it's origins for the sake of clarity and balance.
Hope the work at Pennard goes well for you and Ecobunker.
Rhydian,
First off, welcome to the site. Good to see another member of the profession on here to keep us wannabees in check.
From a market point of view, do you see your product catching on in a big way on inland courses that wouldn't traditionally have used revetted bunkers too much if at all, or do you see it mainly see your business on traditional links ?
Niall
Thanks for the welcome Niall - I love the site and have been following for some time so great to be part of it!!
I'm really aware of not abusing the forum in any way so I will tread carefully and answer questions as impartially as possible. The truth is when we first established the original company back in 2010 (Envirosports Ltd) we were aiming at Links courses, but as the product developed and we came up with a few different construction methods / designs and as we learnt more about some of the issues all courses were facing, it became apparent to us that inland courses could also benefit from the product. It was unfortunate that the original company split into two in 2014 but both successor companies have had success since that time and continue to grow.
I am currently writing from Winter Hill GC just outside London, a classic 'Inland / Parkland' course with gentle rolling landscape typical of many inland courses in the UK. We are using the product to edge bunkers along with our synthetic liner. The combination of liner (whichever type - we have worked with Capillary Concrete, Blinder Bunker Liner. BunkerMat etc) and synthetic edge forms what we call a 'Fully Sealed Bunker' with both base and edge taken care of and no points of weakness. As I just posted the savings on edging work alone are huge, our clients have done some analaysis on this facet alone and the numbers are really good reading for us. Added to that the fact that the bunkers on this course have excessive amounts of stone means sealing the edges as well as taking care of the base is critical. The argument from a design point of view is that revetment doesn't belong on a parkland course, Heathland yes, Parkland, maybe not so much. My own opionion is that by shaping and sizing bunkers appropriately and building a synthetic revetted 'edge' that seals the bunker rather than giving it a look of a links style revetment is perfectly acceptable on the majority of inland courses. At the risk of re-itteration, the reality for many of these courses dictates that they have to explore better and more sustainable methods of building bunkers and maybe a slight change of style is a very small price to pay, one that most average club members wouldn't even bat an eyelid at. Deep pot bunkers on an Parkland course, that's a little more debateable.
Clyde has made the point that there is maybe a limiting factor in terms of artistry which I understand but we are continually pushing the product and have built all styles and shapes of bunker with it and of course if you get it right another benefit is that the integrity of the design will not be compromised over time by natural erosion, animal damage, edging, general wear and tear etc. Some architects are really picking up on this, we work with Pierre Fulke in Sweden (former Ryder Cup Player) and have a project in the pipeline that will use the product on a style of bunker not yet tried, again on an inland course so it's continually evolving. Statistically I believe more inland courses than links courses have used the product (though of course the ratio is heavily in favour of inland courses). In fact we are in the process of renovating bunkers at a course called Frosaker Country Club in Sweden with Pierre where there are a number of pot bunkers. We are demolishing the pots and creat much bigger bunkers with sweeping sand faces and a revetted edge. Given the revetment is more than an 'Edge' in places but it is more of a hybrid between a links style and traditional parkland style which the owner loves.
I'm wary of posting photo's of our work on a forum and when I did try I got an error message anyway, maybe there was a message there!! Happy to try answering any questions though as subjectively as possible.