Limiting bunkers on a golf course is in my opinion not the way forward. The real problem is how people and golfers define a golf course or their expectation of one and I believe bunkers are a must.
My own thoughts are that a golf course no matter its location should have bunkers. They are as much about golf as the hole. Certainly for centuries they were far more important than the Tees being perceived as hazards, a fundamental part of a golf course and obstacles for golfers to navigate.
I feel the modern bunker or should I say the idea of the modern bunker has been much reduced in functional importance and more or less appears as a decorative statement. Perhaps trying to convince golfers that this IS a Golf Course of merit, to be taken serious yet ultimately the majority of its bunkers are just there for decoration and the enhance the claim, After all do not all links courses have bunkers.
Bunkers are not for decoration, they are not there to make a statement on the type of golf course, they are there to be a hazards, to challenge and test the skill and foresight of the golfer. Yet we can look at many new courses built over the last quarter of a century and note the large selection of big shallow bunkers that seem to defend our Greens like the WW1 trench systems, yet only a few are any serious deterrent, some in fact being a useful option to chip to the pin.
Bunkers are part of the designers arsenal, they should be limited to where they do the most good and once sited they should be made to do the job they are there to do.
The problem as I see it is in our interpretation of the word Strategic. Again, I question if strategic and penal are they really separate, are they two different concepts of design or are they as I believe part and parcel for the strategic design package. With this in mind I believe that the modern designer may have concentrated on what is called a strategic design but with a well watering down penal aspect. As we see in our modern society, strategic policies without a penal element are a sign of weakness and rarely works. This I see in golf.
So IMHO ALL golf courses should have bunkers, nevertheless, I do agree that quantity is not necessary but strong strategically placed bunkers will get the golfers thinking, after all is that not the real reason for hazards on a golf course or have we forgotten the very early principals behind good design. Thats a question which only designers can answer.
Melvyn
PS Thanks Kalen for proving my point