GOLF
The sustainable choice Richard Allen, CEO of Ecobunker, talks bunker sustainability
S
ustainable: A word we read and hear more and more in all forms of media. It’s a word that is becoming increasingly powerful in all sorts of debates even at the highest levels of national and international politics. In my sector, civil engineering, the concept of sustainable development has been reasonably well understood for quite some time, and for over 20 years I have personally been involved with the promotion and design of hundreds of projects where sustainable drainage (commonly known as SUDs) has been a key requirement. However, the interpretation of what is and what isn’t sustainable is still widely misunderstood. For
22 | TURF MATTERS | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023
example, in a range of dictionaries there are multiple definitions of the meaning of the word ‘sustain’. Confusion is still very common as to what ‘Sustainable’ means, and, in my experience, it is often used incorrectly, both innocently and deliberately. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Playing the Health and Safety Card’ which refers to a tactic used to close down a debate into uncomfortable issues. I believe that the ‘Sustainable Card’ is also being played in order to cut short debate and arguments, thereby avoiding proper scrutiny. I’d like to give an example from the golf construction industry where I now work. I will start with A short story. The setting is Radyr Golf Club, an
excellent Colt designed course just outside Cardiff, where evidence of the master’s original routing and features is still retained. In 2006 the club embarked upon a bunker rebuilding project. Being a Radyr member at that time, with a passion for golf course design, I took a close interest. It’s fair to say I wasn’t a fan of the proposed designs, which removed the existing Colt Style (irregular edges with pronounced, varied height lips). I’ve still got the correspondence I exchanged with the Greens Committee: In one letter it was explained to me that the club would have preferred to continue using natural turf revetting, but the rate of erosion and resultant maintenance