Sheringham GC takes first step in 10-year renovation plan

Sheringham Golf Club in Norfolk, England, has completed its first phase of a 10-year renovation plan by Martin Ebert of the Mackenzie & Ebert (M&E) design firm.

The club engaged M&E in November 2024 following a member survey that identified bunkers as a primary concern. Other issues such as scruffiness and the course needing to be more challenging for the low handicap players also came up in the survey.

“A key part of the club’s long-term strategy was to have a 10-year masterplan for the golf course,” said David Tilbury, general manager at Sheringham Golf Club. “The masterplan is really interesting as M&E dug into all the available historical archives – some of which we had never seen before – to find all the historical views of the golf course dating back to the early 1900s.

“The most noticeable change over the years was the size of the bunkers, along with their positioning and the overall number of them. Over the last 70 years, we have seen the total number of them reduce from over 140 to 85.

“Naturally, given our brief, there is a lot of work around bunkers and their positioning. Martin and his team have also planned for new tees, reshaping some fairways and the potential introduction of a double green. This plan will be used to help identify key areas of work over the winter months for the foreseeable future. Our first goal is to get all the bunker renovations completed in the next five years as we feel these are the priority.”

Ricky Goodman, course manager at Sheringham Golf Club, said: “Our location and climate meant we needed bunkers that could withstand those environmental factors. Norfolk is the driest county in the UK, and with over 40,000 rounds played each year, traditional revetting simply wasn't lasting.”

Shape Right began renovating holes fourteen and sixteen (main image) in October 2025, with both reopening in April 2026.

Work included the introduction of a large, railway sleeper bunker on fourteen, formed by combining two existing cross bunkers. It sits adjacent to the steam railway line that runs along the southern boundary of the course. The greenside bunkers have been rebuilt with Ecobunker.

“Ecobunker allows us to build the bunker only once, saving huge construction and maintenance costs,” said Goodman. “Another benefit is that we can afford to build them larger and with far more interesting shapes, as they were many years ago.”

The new railway sleeper bunker on fourteen (Photo: Sheringham Golf Club)

Member feedback to the changes has been positive. “These two holes create some more excitement on the back nine, particularly on the fourteenth with the introduction of a statement bunker and a new elevated back tee,” said Tilbury. “The project exceeded a lot of people’s expectations, and this has undoubtably given great confidence to everyone involved. We feel the membership are now looking forward to what comes next rather than asking ‘what if’, or can the greens team actually build this or that? Great satisfaction has been achieved for us all.”

The next phase, covering some par-three holes, is scheduled to begin in October 2026.