Busy times in Canada for EcoBunker

By Alistair August 11, 2021 08:42 Updated

Synthetic bunker edging technology provider EcoBunker is reporting strong results in the Canadian market. Since EcoBunker Canada was set up under erosion control specialist Jay Morgan in 2018, the product has been installed a large number of Canadian courses, and Morgan reports that demand is currently higher than ever, in the aftermath of the company’s completion of what is believed to be the world’s tallest revetted wall, at The Pulpit Club outside Toronto.

“People associate revetting with links courses, which we don’t have many of in Canada,” says Morgan. “But all our courses have significant maintenance challenges, particularly caused by the extreme Canadian climate, and the EcoBunker solution is proven to do well in our conditions. We know that we can build in severe environments, and that the product survives the tough winters well. It is a true four season solution. Obviously, golf courses in Canada have to deal with significant freeze/thaw effects – worse still when the soils are clay – and that will move material. But EcoBunker resists those effects in an unmatched manner. Virtually everyone I speak to is interested in what we can do for them.”

As well as the Pulpit project, sister course the Paintbrush is planning a major EcoBunker installation for later in the year. The course, designed by Dr Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, has 108 revetted bunkers, some extremely large. “The course was taken over last year, and the new owners are investing heavily in it, including a planned complete bunker renovation,” says Morgan. “It is a beautiful piece of property, but many of the bunkers still have their original revetted walls from 1992, and they have inevitably suffered. But it is an enormous job. One of the bunkers, on the eighth hole, will need 120 skids (pallets) of material – it is huge, and the wall is 16 feet high!”

At the Innerkip Highlands Golf Club in Ontario, ten bunkers have already been rebuilt using EcoBunker, and more will follow soon. At the club’s sister course, Merry Hill GC, EcoBunker has donated material to rebuild bunkers, in support of the club’s excellent junior programme, run by pro Carly Peister – the programme has over 500 participants. And at Glencairn GC, just west of Toronto, Canada’s first EcoBunker project is still ongoing. “Glencairn would like to build more EcoBunkers, but the post-Covid golf boom means they are crazy busy, over 400 rounds a day with little time for new construction” says Morgan. “It’s pretty ironic that they’re too busy for course improvements! When things slow down, in the fall, they will get back to it.”