Deepest Bunker?

[Evan_Green]

Was just having this discussion with a buddy the other day...

Does anyone know what the deepest bunker in the US is?
Is it the 16th at PGA West??

How about the world?
Is it the 6th at St. Enodoc?

Thanks!

[Scott_Burroughs]

This one's pretty deep (courtesy of Neil Regan), #4 at Sand Hills:

[Rob_Waldron]

Possibly the left greenside bunker on #2 at Yale GC?

[Sean_A]

Scott

That is seriously deep!  I would put it just below #6 at St. Enodoc and probably #4 at Sandwich. The Sand Hills bunker doesn't look nearly as difficult to escape as the other two!  It has a flat bottom.

Jeepers, that course looks outstanding!  I have never seen a profile across the the landscape before.  This could easily be mistaken for a links.  The members musy feel blessed.

Ciao

Sean

[texsport]

I'll nominate the bunker in the bottom of the quarry fronting the 7th hole at The Quarry@Giants Ridge in Biwabik,MN.

Much, much deeper than the Sand Hills bunker plus it's in a quarry far below the 7th green. You can't explode it up to the green from there! Direct contact with the ball will be necessary. The bunker in question is about 20 feet below the green side bunker, which is 10 ft. below the green.

This monster can be viewed in the Quarry Virtual Tour site at:
http://www.giantsridge.com/QuarrySiteVT/q-vt.html.

Just click on the red dot at the 7th hole and view it from both the green and from the tee options.

Brutal!!

[George Pazin]

There is one at Tobacco Road, I think the greenside bunker on #11, a par 5, that is the deepest I've seen in person.

Sean -

You should peruse the archives - that photo is one of many outstanding photos of Sand Hills.

Found one:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=6376

[Scott_Burroughs]

The one at #11 at Tobacco Road that George referred to (taken from the green):

[Brian_Gracely]

Scott,

I think the one that you have to carry on #18 at Tobacco Road might be even deeper than the one on #11.....but they are both pretty close.  

[Scott_Burroughs]

Scott,

I think the one that you have to carry on #18 at Tobacco Road might be even deeper than the one on #11.....but they are both pretty close.  

Good point:

[PThomas]

the 16th at the Ocean Course is nasty too

[George Pazin]

Scott,

I think the one that you have to carry on #18 at Tobacco Road might be even deeper than the one on #11.....but they are both pretty close.  

Good point:

I didn't think of this as a bunker, more like a ridge.

And let me say, that is one intimidating tee shot for a high handicapper. It looks a mile away and you don't see any fairway.

#11 greenside bunker was deeper in my memory - I must have been shorter back then.

[Robert Thompson]

The bunker on the front of the first par five at World Woods is pretty deep. I'd also suggest there is a bunker at El Diablo in Florida, a Jim Fazio design, that is remarkably deep, though it is also quite small. Kinda like an extreme version of Devil's Asshole at Pine Valley.

[Brian_Gracely]

George,

The bunker on #11 is definitely deep....the picture Scott posted doesn't due it enough justice.  My friend likes to joke to first-time players that they filmed the opening scenes to Saving Private Ryan in that bunker.  

To this day I haven't had the stones to go for that green in two.  

[Dan_Callahan]

Left greenside bunker at #8 at Yale is pretty deep as well.

[David_Madison]

#13 at the Governors Club in Chapel Hill, NC has a bunker that is 22' below the putting green surface. It may not be deeper that #11 at Tobacco Road, but the shot up the hill to the green is steeper.

[Scott_Burroughs]

#13 at the Governors Club in Chapel Hill, NC has a bunker that is 22' below the putting green surface. It may not be deeper that #11 at Tobacco Road, but the shot up the hill to the green is steeper.

David,

I thought of #13 at Gov Club, and the shot up to the green is
quite difficult, but the bunker itself is not deep.

Say hello to Ed M. and Jim B. for me, both of whom post here infrequently.

[Steven_Biehl]

I remember the eleventh at Tobacco Road as very deep!  I don't think
that picture does any justice.  I remember a few bunkers at Arcadia
Bluffs where I couldn't see anything but sand.  But the one that stands
alone the deepest one I have seen is on the right side of the 15th
green at Harrison Hills.  The bunker on the left side of that green could
rank as the second deepest I have seen.  Both are near 20' deep.

[Peter_Herreid]

Left greenside bunker on #6 at Pacific Dunes is pretty formidable, as is the swept-out area to the left of #18 fairway, but maybe that one's not a "bunker" per se...

[Scott_Burroughs]

The mention of the two bunkers at Harrison Hills, the one at
Gov Club, the ones at Yale, the ones at PGA West, etc. all
make me wonder what the definition of a "deep bunker" is.  
Does deep technically mean that the faces/slopes of the
bunker must be sand or is it just how far below the (usually)
green the flat bunker is?

Here is right of Harrison Hills to illustrate the point of a
technically flat bunker deep below the putting surface:

[Steven_Biehl]

I see your point Scott.  According to the rules, a bunker extends down
vertically, but not up.  I was certainly thinking of the bottom of the
bunker to the green surface.  If someone wanted to get out to that
bunker on the 15th at Harrison Hills, they could play backward, and a
putter would provide sufficient loft to get out.  Now I opened a whole
new can of worms with that playing backward comment.

[Bill Gayne]

Portrush

[SPDB]

The 6th at St. Enodoc looks positively tame now relative to its former composition:

Then:


Now:



Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to be in either of them.

[Philippe Binette]

The Banks course at Forsgate, near New York...

It's not only one or two natural features....

The shallowest one is about 4 feet deep... and it goes to 20 feet deep protecting a lot of the greens

[Ian Dalzell]

Yeah - the Big Bertha bunker at Portrush is very deep when you consider it from the lowest point in the bunker to the top of the lip - of course, you really cannot even play that way, you are forced to come out backwards or sideways towards the old golf shop location.  
Does anyone have a picture that would do it justice?

[Hunt]

I'll go with Purgatory or its cousin in America which is #16 at Loblolly Pines GC in Jupiter, FL.

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