[Tommy Williamsen]

Twenty years ago my wife was a pretty good bunker player.  On many courses she could just putt out of them.  Most of these courses have deepened them.  Her bunker play stinks now. 

Over the years bunkers on new courses have grown deeper than many of the courses that were designed in the fifties and sixties.  I played a course today whose bunkers were reworked.  The pro told me that some of them are so deep that you can't see out of them.  New courses all are designed with deep faced bunkers. 

I am just curious, how deep is too deep?

[Jeff_Brauer]

New courses ALL have deeper bunkers?  In general, I see a trend to lowering greens and shallower bunkers than say the RTJ era......

That said, I think most golfers prefer a bunker that they can see out of, ususally about 3-4 feet deep.

[C. Squier]

Twenty years ago my wife was a pretty good bunker player.  On many courses she could just putt out of them. 

Doesn't sound like an ideal hazard to me if you can simply putt out of a bunker.  I don't necessarily believe that a ball in a trap should be 1 shot lost automatically, but I do draw the line somewhere before being able to just putt out of one to recover.

[John Moore II]

I would also agree with Jeff that that is a very blanket statement. It all depends on the designer. I can't really comment on Tom Doak and the other naturalist designers, but Pete Dye seems to have gone for small and shallow bunkers, at least at PGA Golf Club. While Fazio works with deep bunkers. So it is not blanket deep bunkers on modern courses. Not to mention, Wilmington Golf Course, which is profiled on this site, has several deep bunkers, one that is like 8 feet deep. So, this is not a totally modern idea.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Jeff, I found you comments interesting.  Do you consider your bunkers at the Quarry deep? 

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jeff, I found you comments interesting.  Do you consider your bunkers at the Quarry deep? 

Touche!

The bunker on 7 is deep enough that your feet get a bit warm from being so close to the center of the earth.......and some golfers have reported actually hearing chinese voices, since they are so close to the other side of the earth.

But, nah, they aren't deep.....

PS - look at the Legend or Wilderness for more "standard" Brauer bunkers.  The Quarry was a unique site.

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

The depth of bunkers was once somewhat based upon  the soil and lay of the land.  Obviously, with modern earth moving equipment, attaining a deep or shallow bunker has little to do with ground conditions.   As for bunkers getting deeper--have any bunkers been built that are deeper than the front bunker on Yale #2 or left front Yale #8, not to mention a few at Tamarack.  As a counter arguement, the bunkers at Oakmont were deepened--I remember the back left bunker on #16 being  pretty flat and above the green and it is now below the green.

[Mark Chaplin]

Woodhall Spa the home of the English Golf Union must have some of the deepest bunkers on the planet!

[Tommy Williamsen]

I  should have been a little clearer.  Bunkers in GB&I are generally very deep.  So are bunkers from the "Golden Era."  It just seems that when I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties that bunkers were not as deep as they are now and that courses that were designed then have deepened them. 

I learned the game around DC where Ed Ault did most of the new work.

[Garland Bayley]

So Tommy, how is your wife's play out of water hazards? Did she used to putt out of them, but now finds that too difficult? The bunker is a hazard. Clearly she should know the dangers of playing close to one. If the courses you play don't allow a way to play the hole without taking several significant risks with bunkers, then Alister and others would not approve. If the courses you play don't allow a way to play the hole without taking several significant risks with bunkers, then make a stink about it. As Geoff S says, somehow we forgot that golf is supposed to be fun.

[Tommy Williamsen]

So Tommy, how is your wife's play out of water hazards? Did she used to putt out of them, but now finds that too difficult? The bunker is a hazard. Clearly she should know the dangers of playing close to one. If the courses you play don't allow a way to play the hole without taking several significant risks with bunkers, then Alister and others would not approve. If the courses you play don't allow a way to play the hole without taking several significant risks with bunkers, then make a stink about it. As Geoff S says, somehow we forgot that golf is supposed to be fun.

Actually I made her finally get a lesson in bunker play.  What used to happen was I would hit the shot for her.  Fun for me and I miss it.  I'm not making a stink.  I like deep bunkers and actually enjoy playing out of them. I practice bunker shots all the time.  I was merely making an observation.  My wife doesn't complain either.  Don't confuse observations with complaining.  I selmdom complain anyway.

When we played Muirfield in Scotland years ago we had a caddy who would pick her ball out of the bunker when she hit one, "I'm sorry Mrs. Williamsen, I miss clubbed you."  She loved it and didn't realize he probably did it to speed up play.  But he got a big tip.

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