The Caversham completes bunker project

By Alistair September 30, 2021 09:19 Updated

The recently completed major renovation of The Caversham, near Reading, guided by Canadian architect Tom McBroom, is gaining high praise from members and visitors. Alongside an exciting, revised routing and some new holes perhaps the most visible change is to the bunker style. The course re-design features a stunning full bunker reconstruction recreating heathland aesthetics.

The big site demanded a large sand surface area, approaching 12,000 square metres, and a bunker liner was essential due to stony ground conditions. Previous experiments with low cost fabric liners did not match the club’s quality requirements and higher specification, more expensive resin bound systems could not demonstrate value for money. Turning to EcoBunker Ltd for an alternative solution, the company recommended their Ecosward liner which provided the perfect balance of a robust, free draining textile at a very competitive installed price.

With the project now complete, two years since the first bunkers were built, Jon Scoones (course manager) and Gary Stangoe (general manager) gave their feedback: “The Ecosward bunker liner has performed superbly, during the wettest winter on record and some of the most severe summer deluges, we have not seen one bunker flood. The maintenance time on bunkers has been dramatically reduced. With respect to playability, we have had high praise from elite golfers (including a double English Senior champion) and golf course architects who describe how Ecosward delivers a very natural bounce feedback during shotmaking; something they have not experienced with other artificial bunker liners on the market.”

Richard Allen, CEO of EcoBunker said: “This was a wonderful project; the team, right through from the client, the designer and the lead contractor Mark Ely and our specialist bunker installation team worked very well together. It was a thrill to work on, and The Caversham is certainly a thrill to play.”