Pierre Fulke Design has overseen a bunker renovation on the Stora course at Frosaker Golf & Country Club in Sweden.

The club appointed Fulke’s firm to renovate pot bunkers on the course, so they would tie in better with the landscape – former farmland around Lake Malaren.

Fulke, a former European Ryder Cup player who had previously designed the nine-hole Links course at the club, said: “It was clear from the outset that this course needed to move away from small pot bunkers and a very small sand footprint, towards much larger bunkers with gentle flowing lines and more sand presented to the golfer’s eye.

“At first, the owner, Christer Ral, was a little reticent to move away from the deeper revetted faces built on the short course, such was the positive feedback from the members. But over time and with the help of Durabunker’s owner Rhydian Lewis, I was able to convince him to move away from the links-style bunkers to an entirely different look and experience on the championship course, which has large greens, wide fairways and generally the feel of a big course.

“Designing bunkers that were more in proportion to the size of the green complexes was important. The original bunkers looked a little like pin pricks on a sumptuous piece of artwork… what we wanted to create were more classic bunkers to match the artistry of the landscape and the scale of the sprawling, gently rolling terrain, which is essentially a traditional parkland golf course.”

Durabunker’s edging product was selected and shallower bunker edges (between six to 12 inches) were created to seal and frame all bunkers.

Lewis visited the site several times throughout the project, discussing bunker design and to also lead the early phase of bunker construction.

“The two projects at Frosaker are a perfect demonstration of the versatility of the synthetic bunker edge as a design tool,” said Lewis. “It offers architects the opportunity to create multiple different styles and finished looks for bunker renovations, whilst delivering long-term benefits such as the safeguarding of design objectives due to the permanency of the bunker edge. Both the traditional pot bunker and shallow rolling edges have been utilised by Pierre Fulke Design at Frosaker, the results are two distinctly different types of bunkers, which helps to differentiate between the two different golf courses and give the golfer two quite different experiences and challenges.”

“Members have really enjoyed the contrast in style between the short course and the championship course,” said Ral. “I love the traditional revetted look of the pot bunkers on the academy course, but the new bunkers built on the championship layout give a feeling of grandeur and space, which is in keeping with the original ideas Pierre, Rhydian and I spoke about at the outset of the project.

Frosaker was awarded ‘Swedish Golf Club of the Year’ for 2020 by The Swedish Association of Golf Journalists. “We are all very proud of the results here at Frosaker, the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the membership with regards the look and playability of the bunkers has been reward enough, but to be formally recognised is great for all involved,” said Fulke.