How Much Does It Cost To Build A New Bunker?

A typical bunker costs around £1,000 to build and another £1,000 to line

A bunker being built
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Most golf courses have dozens of bunkers and over time many of them will need replacing or new bunkers will need to be built to cope with the modern day game.

Lots of clubs are developing or re-designing their golf courses with the original designs slightly outdated in terms of strategy and how far modern day golfers hit the ball.

"Obviously you've got all the little slabs of turf that goes into a revetted bunker and on average a revetted bunker will now cost £1,000 each to simply revet," John told Golf Monthly.

"When it comes to a normal bunker on a parkland course, there’s generally a lot more sand there because in parkland courses the bunkers are generally a lot bigger than on links courses. So they don't have to pay for the revet but there's often a lot more work involved in rebuilding the bunkers so again it would be around £1,000.

"And then if you wanted to line that bunker, so a lot of clubs now are lining their bunkers with rubber crumb or with astro turf or with a carpet-type liner and you’d probably be looking at another £1,000 to line the bunker as well."

Bunkers pictured in the building process with liner

(Image credit: Future)

Whilst £1,000 for a bunker and then another £1,000 to line it is a general estimation, the prices will likely rise for larger bunkers, and the price of sand as well as other materials continues to creep up with the cost of living crisis, which is one of the biggest challenges facing greenkeepers.

"Sand for bunkers has gone up 25% within the last year," John said. "So sand costs because of transport have gone through the roof and obviously the process of mining the sand with the cost of transport and fuel to run the machines and the plant to excavate the sand to transport it. So, sand has gone up considerably and obviously plants as well have gone up considerably as have fertilizer costs as well."

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews.