Pat,
In the "Scale" thread, Jeff Brauer addresses his design of larger traps which were built for machine maintenance, and the smaller ones which were to be hand-raked. Many of the sharp angles which were left alone in the first 30 years of the 20th century do not work well with modern maintenance techniques. Perhaps one of the reasons that we do not see the so called fine detailed work on courses today is because: a) we have the equipment to easily shape the land economically, and b) today's architects are building courses with the ongoing maintenance budgets in mind, and the fact that these seek to minimize more expensive hand work (in favor of using machines to save labor costs). Since most golfers/members wouldn't know a Redan from a Biarritz and much prefer lush green to firm and fast conditions, is it any wonder that many of the features the aficionados hold dear are going by the wayside?
Rich,
It is amazing how fast the jagged edges on traps seem to disappear. I played a course last week that reopened after extensive reconstruction just last year. In just a few months, I noticed that the beautiful "natural" edges were losing their ragged, random form. While maintenance, primarily edging with a weedeater, probably is largely resposible, I think that normal wind erosion is the bigger culprit. I am thinking that the more angular jagged edges hold the moved sand more easily, and through time these build up and are grassed over. The more curvilinear edges don't hold the sand as easily (gravity causes it to slide toward the bottom of the trap), and this process is accelarated by the tendency to edge in a sweeping, gently curving motion. It seems to me that in order to maintain that jagged, "natural" look, that it would take considerable manual effort.