Kiawah Island Club in South Carolina, USA, has completed a bunker renovation project on its Cassique course, using synthetic revetted faces from DuraBunker with the Better Billy Bunker liner.

The private club has two layouts, the Tom Fazio-designed River course and the Cassique, which was designed by Tom Watson’s firm and opened in 2000. It is close to the famous Kiawah Island Resort; whose Ocean course hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup and 2012 PGA Championship.

According to Rhydian Lewis, the founder of DuraBunker, the new bunkers are a mix of classic ‘Golden Age’-style bunkers and revetted traps more typical of links courses. He says that some have been modelled on famous bunkers from other courses, such as two on the sixth hole which closely resemble the ‘Spectacles’ on the fourteenth at Carnoustie.

“Any golf course set near the shoreline is particularly susceptible to the effects of coastal erosion and extreme weather conditions,” said Lewis. “Our US partner, Better Billy Bunker, discussed the benefits of our product with the client and explained how a combination of their seamless liner and our synthetic bunker faces would offer what we christened the ‘Fully Sealed Bunker System’, which eradicates problematic issues associated with bunker bases and bunker faces.”

Charlie Arrington, director of design and planning at Kiawah Island, is overseeing the renovation of the Cassique course. “All golf courses change over time. They evolve sometimes in a direction that wasn’t part of the original design, sometimes they evolve for the better. DuraBunker gives a much crisper edge on bunkers as well as stronger shadow lines.”

“The biggest thing that the membership will notice is the artificial stack sod bunkers that we put in,” said Dylan Thew, director of golf at Kiawah Island. “The bunkers on hole eight demonstrate the versatility of the product. We haven’t just built high walls, we’ve actually used DuraBunker to add contouring and permanent edging around the outside of some bunkers.”