your favorite hazard

[Michael Dugger]

Named hazard like the Road bunker or Tillinghast's Glacier stick with me.

What are some of your favorites?

I always liked the Devil's A-hole, Hell and Sahara.  What are some other not so well known hazards?

What architects build unique hazards such as these anymore?  Do some courses simply lack these types of hazards?  I think of a place like Shinnecock or Winged Foot and I cannot think of one unique hazard.

Does a "Hell's Half Acre" or "Lil' Devil" add to the quirk factor that we all love around here?  

[Tim Gavrich]

Do you mean 'hazard' in terms of the golf definition (i.e. bunker or water), or any "architectural impediment/obstacle" on a course?  If the former, I quite like the marsh which surrounds the small green of #13 at Pawleys Plantation on 3.5 sides.  If the latter, I like the huge swale to the right of the 6th green at Wintonbury Hills.  Very grand.  These are among my favorites.  Not the be-all-and-end-all, but still pretty good, i think.

[Dan King]

Out here in California we are partial to our barrancas. One of the best is the hazard that crosses across the line of play but plays as a lateral hazard on the 11th hole at Pasatiempo. The objective is to drive close to it as possible to give the best shot into this difficult green. Bobby Jones avoided the whole dilemma on opening day by playing down the 12th fairway (but back then the 11th tee was further back making that passible.)

Click here to view a graphic and pictures of the 11th hole at Pasatiempo

Dan King

This is how the Australopithecus felt, one or two million years ago, when he first hit something with a stick. Puny humanoid muscles were amplified by the principals of mechanics so that a little monkey swat suddenly became a great manly engine of destruction able to bring enormous force to bear upon enemy predators, hunting prey, and the long fairway shots necessary to get on the green over the early Pleistocene's tar pit hazard.
 --P.J. O'Rourke

[Sean_A]

One of my favorite hazards is the fairway bunker on #8 at Turnberry.  It is fantastic to see how one bunker turn a hole from good to great.  

Ciao

Sean

[Ted Kramer]

I don't know that it has a proper name, but I love the cross bunker on #4 Bethpage Black.

-Ted

[TEPaul]

In my region (Eastern Pa) there're a number of old quarrys that were used well as hazards. Those that come to mind are #8 Manufacturers, #4 LuLu, and #4 at my course, Gulph Mills G.C. All three quarrys were used on very short par 3s (although the same quarry was used at my 1916 Ross course for the redesigned short par 5 #7 by Perry Maxwell in the 1930s). Hit the ball in any of those quarrys and you have a pretty challenging recovery shot. One of the more unusual characteristics of the quarry hole at my course was that Ross put a rather large bunker in the base of the quarry. It was removed decades ago. Gil Hanse in his recent restoration was dying to restore that quarry bunker but unfortunately the committee voted its restoration down.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Micheal,

I'm with ya on named hazards.  I love the church pews, and in fact, did have a "come to Jesus" moment (or soiree) there once.  I like hazards like the CP that double on two holes.  There is a U shaped bunker at Inverness in Ohio, and Mid Ocean has a windy, snake like bunker that serves two holes.  I call it the "bunker that got lost" and have designed several, but all have been axed for budget reasons.  I do have a "U" on the drawing boards right now.

As to modern unique hazards, Fazio left a cave at Barton Creek's 18th, and my Quarry has several remnants as hazards that give the course its character.  My Wilderness at Fortune Bay also features several natural rock outcroppings.  I think there are probably more modern unique hazards than we think about as a result of the recent golf boom, its just that fewer of them are famous.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Michael,

I like the combination of uniqueness, setting and probability.

Probability refers to the likelihood that you'll encounter the hazard one way or another.

The setting refers to their surroundings.

That, coupled with the unique features of the hazard combine to attract and fix my interest.

TEPaul,

It's interesting that you mention quarries and par 3's.

Rock Spring has a very unique par 3 with a DEEP quarry that requires a partial carry and reminder not to hook the ball.

It's a great use of a feature that would be otherwise difficult to incorporate into the golf course.

# 3 at Hidden Creek also used a shallow quarry quite effectively, on the right side.

[RJ_Daley]

I prefer the recoverable hazard to the watery graves or bottomless pit gulches or gorges.  I like a good old scary bunker.  The Lions Mouth at CC of Charletson 16th comes to mind.  No, it isn't the deepest, meanest, but it is striking and will exact the appropriate measure of penalty unless you play an awesome sand shot out.  

I always thought there was something kind of sporty in some of the edge of the bush hazards that Boab speaks of from his native land.  You get too close and there might be some creature lurking to drag you in deeper and take a lunch.

[Patrick_Mucci]

RJ Daley,

I'd agree.

There's an incredible satisfaction that the golfer gets when he manages to salvage a great shot or score, from a unique hazard.

I think that's part of their attraction.

Water and OB or too final, with no hope of a positive outcome.

Although, one would be hard pressed to find a better hazard than the creek on # 13 at ANGC.

[RJ_Daley]

Pat, if it has to be a watery hazard, I like the trickle of a babbling brook playing into, across or along a fairway, as you say like the 13th at ANGC.  When they are very shallow like 2-4 inches and sand or pebble bottom, it can tantalize the fanatic golfer into shedding his shoes and socks and trying his water splash, usually offering great comic relief.  We won't soon forget the Barry Burn at Carnoustie and Vande Velde.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

My favorite hazzard is the one I walk past and look at on the way to play my ball safely in the fairway or on the green.

[Jeff_Brauer]

RJ,

I don't disagree, for most hazards, but the idea is to name the unique ones, which in my mind could very well be unrecoverable (like Fazio's Cave Bunker)

Lets not forget that the Biaritz valley could very well be considered one, as could the valley of sin.

[Bill Gayne]

The road hole bunker and the road.

[RJ_Daley]

Jeff, the VoS and a Barritz swale?  Wouldn't we be more accurate to call them features than hazards?  Isn't Forrest compiling a list a glossary of golf terms?  What does Forrest say on this point.

[Mike_Sweeney]

The Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean a close second!

[Bill Gayne]

Raes Creek at ANGC. With the damming that has been done it comes into plays on holes 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16. My favorite is the way it's used to run along the 13 fairway and then in front of the green.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jeff, the VoS and a Barritz swale?  Wouldn't we be more accurate to call them features than hazards?  Isn't Forrest compiling a list a glossary of golf terms?  What does Forrest say on this point.

Semantics perhaps? Look at the thread on green contouring a while back.  Modern challenge must be created (for the highest level golfers) with green contouring that accepts or rejects shots, as bunkers are now "too far away" from the dispersion pattern to affect strategy.  If green contour is the main challenge, isn't a a hazard?

Maybe the Biaritz swale, completely within the green is a feature, but the VofS is partly outside the green, just like it was a bunker, but with one more option - putting, so I don't care what Forrest thinks   - I think its a hazard.  

I have used the valley of sin on several greens, usually short par 4's similar to TOC 18.  Golfers moan like crazy, saying its a goofy recovery that they don't have a chance to practice,  "because its different." (I said, "That's the point (and under my breath, added "jackass."  I hope he didn't hear that! ) etc. etc. etc.  

When I ask them if a sand bunker in the same location would be acceptable and not too difficult they always say "yeah, but....."  A pond?  A grass bunker?  A OK to all, even the pond with no recovery shot.

So, why is the VofS not an acceptable hazard alternative to most golfers?  

BTW, Wiley is now advertising Mark and Forrest's Hazards book on their flyers, so it is out, or very, very close.

[John Goodman]

The walls at The Pit and elsewhere at North Berwick.

The Shepherd's Hut at the 6th at Kingussie.

The electric fences around the greens at Brora are OK, but I like the cows and sheep better -  

[A_Clay_Man]

The rightside bunker on 17 at Sand Hills. It has it's own 15 foot wall of a sand mesa, that looks as natural as they come,

[Sean Leary]

The tarantula bunker at SFGC....

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I loved the Avro Vulcan bomber parked on the left of the 9th hole at RAF Waddington near Lincoln when I played there many years ago.  It makes a grand noise when you hit it.

 

[mark chalfant]

The ravines that grace so many holes at  Hyde Park,Camargo,
Shoreacres, and Longmeadow

[Jerry Kluger]

My favorite hazard is the restored hazard such as those which have been brought back to life at Essex County.

[Doug Wright]

The bunker greenside left at Pacfic Dunes #6. It's one of the few hazards I've actually aimed for and hit into for the sheer challenge and fun of extricating myself.

Runner up: Hell (Is there a pattern here?)