Bunker Flashing - Why?

[Roger Wolfe]

Is there any advantage to flashing bunkers other than aesthetics?  The list of "negatives"
is endless... (maintenance, washouts, plugging, edges)... but I have yet to find a solid
reason other than it makes a hole look pretty.

Kris Spence renovated our bunkers at CGC in Charlotte to flat-bottom "Ross bunkers."  They
are easy to play out of and very easy to maintain.  The only "con" is the fact that you have
to fly mow the bunker banks on a regular basis and on rare occasions you get in a tough spot
with stance issues.

Is the fly-mowing worse than the washouts and constant raking necessitated by flashed bunkers?

[Joe Hancock]

Roger,

In as much as Ross did many different styles of bunkers(maybe more appropriately, Ross bunkers were built with many styles), I think there are preferences for different styles. Also, every bunker style has it's pro's and con's. Bogey Hendren decries the frilly-edged bunker(and many times, rightly so), but in reality, it works well both functionally and aesthetically in certain settings. The stereotypical Ross bunker has that same aspect....it works well in certain settings.

Joe

[Scott Warren]

As far as plugging, the sand on the faces of the flashed bunkers at West Sussex is both thin and hard enough that the ball always rolls to the botom of the bunker.

My understanding is that it is one major plus of flashed bunkers on a very sandy site - the sand stays quite naturally on the faces because the faces are, more or less, sand anyway.

[Anthony Fowler]

They (flat bottomed bunkers) are easy to play out of . . .

You've just offered a answer to your own question.  Why should bunkers be easy to play out of?  Flash bunkers are more challenging and more interesting because you will get varied stances and lies.  The point of the bunker, after all, is to serve as a penalty while providing an opportunity for recovery.

[Peter Zarlengo]

I guess I would like to know what the difference is between 'flashing'' a bunker versus simply bringing a bunker edge up a grass face?

Is 50 % up a simple, mounded grass face a 'flash'? Or are you talking about 90% up an almost vertical face. Even in the former example, you're likely to get wash-outs.

If the first example qualifies, I guess visibility would be the main concern. If you're using the bunker in the first place to create strategy, as it seems that Anthony would disagree with, then being able to see the hazard from where your ball is would be important in dictating the play. As well as creating some movement and visuals.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Roger,

Good question. I have run the analysis and flat bottom bunkers win on logic.  But, to quote Billy Crystal on SNL, flash bunkers "look mahveloous dahling."

Lately, I have been working on my bunker design to flatten them but still flash them. It takes a lot more bunker space front to back to flash them at say 10-15% vs the 25-45% seen on typical cape and bay flash bunkers.

[Brent Hutto]

If you want difficulty to your "hazards" just move that flat-bottom bunker 35 yards back from the green. That's a harder shot than most 15-yarders from a sand-flashed bunker. Plus it's always a hard shot, not just when you land on the slope.

[Tom_Doak]

Brent:

That's also a great recipe for punishing the poorer player out of proportion to the better player.  A low-handicap player is not going to miss 35 yards short of a green too often.

If we are trying to reduce bunker flashing to cut costs, better just to be more judicious in HOW MANY bunkers one builds to begin with.  A boring-looking bunker or a bunker well away from the green is probably not a hazard worth having anyway.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tom,

I thought you had previously advocated bunkers further from the green?

As to flat bottom bunkers, the rationale on those is that the near miss can plug while the further miss finds a lot better lie in the flat bottom of the bunker - the dreaded proporitionality proposition......But, I generally agree. However, with liners and proper sand, most balls bound down to the same lie anyway.

[Jim_Kennedy]

About 25 years ago I went to a meeting at Waconah GC, up in Dalton Ma.,  where Geoffrey Cornish addressed this same question. His  presence made a big impression on me that evening, and I remember many of the same things that are being talked about here, especially as regards maintenance. My memory is a bit fuzzy after all that time but I seem to think he was a proponent of both styles, and he didn't feel that one type or the other was easier for the average player to hit out of, except that those whose faces were flashed up toward the green already had some 'loft' due to the lie. 

[Tom_Doak]

Tom,

I thought you had previously advocated bunkers further from the green?

Jeff:

I'll do that on certain types of holes ... mostly, par fives and long par fours, where a good player might be trying for the green even though he doesn't have a great chance of making it.

However, on other holes, I generally agree with that old quote about a bunker eating into a green being the most effective form of hazard.  I think that was Dr. MacKenzie's, as well.  I'm quoting him a lot today!

[Michael Dugger]

Gracious, I believe the psychological hazard associated with a flashed bunker is integral to good golf course architecture.

Moreover, at the heart of a flashed face is its' association with sand dunes.  This is a naturally occurring formation on numerous courses....

[mike_malone]

 I believe Flynn saw visual intimidation as integral to flashed bunkers. Certainly that was true originally at Rolling Green. I'm happy to report that the key bunkers that were to be the most visually intimidating have been restored wonderfully and they achieve their goal quite nicely.

[Roger Wolfe]

They (flat bottomed bunkers) are easy to play out of . . .

You've just offered a answer to your own question.  Why should bunkers be easy to play out of?  Flash bunkers are more challenging and more interesting because you will get varied stances and lies.  The point of the bunker, after all, is to serve as a penalty while providing an opportunity for recovery.

Let me rephrase... getting out of the flat bottom bunker is easy to ME.  They drive the members crazy but for good bunker players the consistent flat lie is a wonderful thing.  Sometimes you have to navigate a 4 foot face and hitting anything more than a 6 iron is impossible from the fairway bunkers.  I think flashed bunkers, however, are much easier than the flat bottoms unless you plug.

Remember I work at a golf course, so maintenance (especially wash out related) is probably more important from my perspective.