Post by Asian Golf Industry Federation | AGIF

EcoBunker Expertise Provides Edge :- Asian Golf Industry FederationLondon, England: When Westerham Golf Club decided to introduce larger bunkers with more interesting shapes that provided the challenge they wanted for the course, they called in the expertise of EcoBunker. Westerham Golf Club. London, England: With five courses across Surrey and Kent, including three of the top four most played courses by England Golf iGolfers, Altonwood Group is known for high quality courses and exceptional customer experience. To maintain those standards, the group has undertaken a programme of improvements at its original course, Westerham Golf Club, with significant upgrades in play over the past four years. Simon Hodsdon, Altonwood Group’s Managing Director, said: “We’ve been through a huge programme of course improvements, including significant tree clearance and improving paths and tees, but the one thing that kept coming up on member and visitor feedback was the bunkers. “The shapes of the old bunkers were very simple and had become un-defined. With the help of course architect Alan Walker, we decided to rationalise the number of bunkers, make each of them larger and more visually interesting and provide the golfing challenge a good hazard should be.” Andy Royall, Group Course Manager, added: “From a maintenance perspective it was a constant battle with weeds, stones and contamination of the sand. We spent such a disproportionate amount of time on them, and they didn’t really add to the golfing experience, so it was clear that we needed to find a practical solution that would lock in the improvements we wanted to make.” Faced with a full reconstruction, and the introduction of larger, more elaborate shapes, Hodsdon and Royall set about researching options that would not only deliver the golfing experience they required, but would offer benefits throughout the course. Hodsdon said: “We knew that turf didn’t work for the long term, so we researched options that would look great and required the least possible amount of maintenance. “After speaking with several courses, EcoBunker was the standout option. Their synthetic edging was widely recommended, but what surprised us was that we ended up using their EcoTec liner, too, as it wasn’t initially on our radar.” Royall added: “We really did our homework on liners but every option had drawbacks. When Richard Allen (EcoBunker CEO) showed us a sample of the EcoTec liner it took us 10 minutes to see that it would be forgiving if a club ever made contact, it would hold sand well and if a ball impacted it directly, it wouldn’t bounce straight off. From there it was a simple decision to create fully sealed bunkers using EcoBunker liner and edging.” With 12 bunkers scheduled for phase one of the works, EcoBunker conducted training over two days, before the team at Westerham took on the rest of the project. Royall said: “Laying and sealing the liners has been so simple, a