Jim,
Excellent questions. As the one that came up with the idea to put a bunker short of the green on the 7th at Rolling Green, I guess I should explain my thinking on the subject. I wish I could recall Tom Paul's analysis because it was very well presented to Knucklehead Malone. It was all for naught in his case--he doesn't like the idea. He doesn't want to make the change because he thinks if Flynn wanted it there he would have put it there. Never mind that he likes the chipping area to the right of your first green while Flynn's plan called for the green was to have it surrounded by rough with a deep bunker on the right; sort of like the 12th at Merion West except it has a steep drop off to the left. Never mind about his desire to see the fairway on your 11th moved to the left. I don't see consistent logic in his decision making but at this point it comes as no surprise
The bunker in the fairway short of the 10th green at ANGC is a vestige of the original hole design where it was a greenside bunker. I don't know when, but the green was moved 50 yards down the line of play and the bunker was kept. It is a beautiful bunker but does not come into play for the professional golfers that visit every Spring for the Masters. I've never been to the course, but I'm sure it comes into play for the membership and guests.
I would like to point out that in general there's nothing wrong with some hazards or features being in play for higher handicappers that are not in play for low handicap players. Although I think topshot bunkers such as used by Ross were taking things too far. All golfers should have the thrill of being challenged and overcoming the challenge. I haven't met too many high handicappers that want to play golf without appropriate punishment as it is not golf. It is good to have hazards and features in play for all golfers, and there is no rule that they need to be the same hazards. Certainly there are hazards in play for good players that are not in play for high handicappers.
However, the bunker concept on Merion's 5th and proposed for Rolling Green's 7th is not just for high handicappers and do/would come into play for all classes of golfers because of how it integrates with the whole hole. By the way, I thought the concept at Rolling Green, which was lauded by the consulting architects, was approved on some committee/board level but tabled indefinitely. Is the idea going to happen?
Let's consider the bunker on Merion's famed fifth hole. I believe it was there from the very beginning of the course. I find this hole one of the great holes in golf and a brilliant use of natural features including the stream and cant of the fairway and surrounds from landing area to finish. I think the bunker on the right complements everything going on with the hole. A bunker at Rolling Green replicates some of this but it is different as Merion's is a long par 4 and Rolling Green is a short downhill par 5. At Merion, the leading edge of the bunker is about 40 yards short of the front of the green with 30 yards between the rear of the bunker and the front of the green. A golfer that challenges the stream along the left has several advantages. They take a shorter route to the green, have an open look at the green, can hit into the right to left slope and they have a flat lie. These are all terrific rewards for assuming the risk of playing near the stream. Golfers that slice or push their drive or elect to steer well clear of the stream are left with a longer approach, have a sidehill lie and need to play over the bunker to feed off the sharp right to left slope onto the steeply pitched green.
At Rolling Green, the hole is 490 yards with the first half being significantly down hill. It is a very short par 5 which tempts better players to go for it in two, especially with the difficult three hole stretch coming up. You need the architecture to integrate with that temptation. The first desire is to get the 4 evergreen trees in line along the right short of the green taken down. The topography there is too good to leave them in place and reduce recovery options on a difficult pitch to a green falling away from you. Now we know that all the high handicappers cannot reach the green in two, they play the hole as a true 3 shotter. Given the slope of the second fairway, nearly all second shots will end up on the left side of the fairway leaving an opening for their short shots into the green similar to that of a well placed drive down the left on Merion's 5th. Playing from this position presents them a corridor between the green and the bunker to approach the green from if they choose to play a ground shot. High handicappers that play along the right side, maybe they were in the rough or sliced their second shots to the right will have to play over the proposed bunker (I thought there was a natural roll to place the bunker about 40 yards short of the green--you say it is either 50 or 20 yards. If that is the case, I would certainly elect to place it 50 yards short) and have plenty of room to land the ball and feed it onto the green.
Low handicappers can easily reach the green with two good shots. I would restore the fairway more to the creek to bring the creek into play and present a more off angle to the next shot with the last tree on the left requiring a shaped recovery shot. With the evergreens out on the right (2 remain to be removed, right?) low handicappers have nothing to fear at all unless the rough was grown high. The club doesn't seem interested in having deep rough along the right side as the rough is about 2.5 inches everywhere else on the course. So without high rough, the best defense is a bunker. Low handicappers or players with more brawn than brains will find the bunker in play on a variety of outcomes off the tee. If a player is in the rough on their tee shot and their approach ends up in the right rough in the second fairway, that bunker will be in their minds as they play their delicate approach to the green. Longer players that hit the first fairway know they have to take the long approach up the right side to feed the relatively low trajectory approach shot onto the green in two. Having to fly this shot over a bunker is a worthy addition to the demands on a short par 5. There would be plenty of ground beyond the bunker. It is a relatively small hazard but one with great psychological impact. It works very well from a strategic point of view and it gets the low handicappers to agree to take down that horrible tree line on the right before the green. The natural rolls make an ideal placement point for the bunker. The bunker should be placed so that it is on the edge within the current fairway line and if it is to be built, fairway should be extended around the bunker and behind.
I have to do some grocery shopping. I'll try and address this later. I'm looking forward to comments from those that know the hole.