My course is undergoing a complete bunker renovation. The sand was inconsistent, drains clogged and had a lot of washouts. Today was the first day out in a while and I saw they had filled in a fairway bunker on a hole I thought was reasonably well placed. The hole is a par 5, 532 yrds from the blue tees, uphill tee shot, sharp dog leg left and downhill approach to the green.
Here is a shot from the tee box:
http://www.greenbriarcc.com/images/golf_layout_14_large.jpgThis gives you some idea of the hole's topo; you can see the bunker peeking out on the left part of the fairway somewhat close to the top.
An aerial view is here:
http://maps.google.com/?ll=38.575171,-90.449023&spn=0.001912,0.00376&t=k[ NOTE: it looks like you will have to cut and past this link]
The bunker is in the middle a little to the left and the green is in the lower right corner.
To me, visually, the fairway is too wide now without this bunker - it really opens up the left side and eliminates the risk of a long bunker shot (our rough is usually not kept really high, so the penalty for being in the rough is not severe). Although, due to the sharp dogleg and OB risk to the left, I don't know if it will really impact 2nd shot strategy. It could indirectly b/c it could free up tee shots which would change the 2nd shot dynamics.
Not sure if the above is enough info, I would be happy to provide other info if it would help.
Thanks.