Was it C&C or Tom Doak who started this....or Alister?

[Ron Farris]

The jagged bunkers are turning up everywhere.  Did Crenshaw and Coore start this rage with the Sand Hills GC or was it Tom Doak?  Or was it Alister or some other archie?

I use to think that Pete Dye was the most copied designer but now with the jagged edge bunkers dominating the scene today who really deserves all the credit?

I use to think of a RTJ II bunker style as "cookie cutter".  Chambers Bay makes me think he is on the copy-cat bandwagon:

[Yannick Pilon]

Ron,

I feel "jagged bunkers" are only making very strong comeback.  C & C and Tom Doak, as well as all the others, are not re-inventing the wheel.  These bunkers were made by countless architects in the early days, but they have been transformed and formalized over the years by god knows how many superintendants/architects/course committes/etc.

I personally find them very attractive, if the setting is right for them.  However, I also feel we will see more and more of them.  With the pressures golf courses have regarding water use, I beleive new and old courses will start to look a lot more natural and less manicured, which will fit with this type of bunkering.

YP

[Garland Bayley]

It was God.

All Tom, Alister, et.al., ... are doing is trying to create a natural look mimicing nature.

[Ryan Farrow]

I have to agree with Garland here. I don’t know about other parts of the country but from my drive from Pittsburgh to New York over winter break you could see this look on the banks of the turnpike and highways, it is called erosion. It is nice to finally see some people appreciate this.

[Philippe Binette]

I think it was four-legged architect John McSheep that started it all is 1432 in Scotland.

I actually saw his grand-grand-grand-grand-son shape a bunker edge while in Scotland... too bad I didn't have my camera.

[Matthew Hunt]

I think it was four-legged architect John McSheep that started it all is 1432 in Scotland.

I actually saw his grand-grand-grand-grand-son shape a bunker edge while in Scotland... too bad I didn't have my camera.

I thought it was in 1429 and it was a Co-Design with Jack Goat, but the old GCA's always argued about whose design it was

[Rob_Babcock]

The sheep on Achill Island in Co. Mayo Ireland create bunkers with quite tidy edges:

[Garland Bayley]

The sheep on Achill Island in Co. Mayo Ireland create bunkers with quite tidy edges:

yes, but those are Irish sheep as opposed to the original work done by Scotish sheep.
 

[TEPaul]

It wasn't any of those guys even Alister Mackenzie, in my opinion, even if he may've been pretty close to the time it started to look like that in a few places. There are some really old photos of a few courses that proves it. For man-made bunkers that look like that it was probably the original Heathland guys around 1900---Colt, Fowler, maybe Park et al.

[Matthew Hunt]

The sheep on Achill Island in Co. Mayo Ireland create bunkers with quite tidy edges:

My Couisn played that course and he hated it but I would like to do it for the craic

[Tom_Doak]

Ron:

I don't think it was either Bill Coore or me who started it, but it sure is becoming popular, just like island greens and railroad ties and waste bunkers twenty years ago.

Kinda makes you look for something new to try, which is why none of the courses we worked on last year (Rock Creek in Montana or Archerfield in Scotland or the Bay of Dreams in Mexico or the nine holes at Aetna Springs) has those ragged-edged bunkers.

I do know that Mr. Jones and the contractor at Chambers Bay sent a bunch of their crew down to Bandon to see what they could pick up from the success of those courses ... don't know why, but it does seem they chose to imitate Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails more than Bandon Dunes.

[Ron Farris]

Having grown up in the Sand Hills I am aware of the jagged edges created by Mother Nature.  Allison's bunkers at Hirono have certainly changed over the years. It seems like TIME (and superintendents) tend to get rid of all of the wonderful looking bunker edges. It will be interesting to see what all of these bunkers look like 40 years from now.

It just seems a little like "follow the leader" when I see Chambers.

[Joe Bentham]

wouldn't conventional type bunkers looked out of place on Chambers Bay?  We should be happy that RTJ II chose that style and feel...