Bunkerless Greens

[Matthew Petersen]

Vista Verde in Scottsdale features a couple of greens with no bunkers. The one on the back nine (12?) is especially nice.

[Benny Hillard]

I have seen a number of bunkerless greens recently (im currently working in scotland)
but ive always loved the 4th at woodlands.

I also walked Cork golf club lately and really liked the par 4 6th with three tiers!

[Scott Warren]

RMD:

Baltray has a great green complex on the back nine that is bunkerless

Do you mean the 12th? Long par four that runs through the saddle between two dunes with a semi-blind approach? That is a great hole.

From memory the 16th green, obscured behind a dune from the RHS of the fairway but visible from the left, is also both fantastic and bunkerless.

[Carr Harris]

No. 8 at Dormie club immediately sprang to mind, as does 11 at Bandon Trails (I guess there is a bunker about 45 yds short of the green there but I still say it counts )

[jonathan_becker]

No. 8 at Dormie club immediately sprang to mind, as does 11 at Bandon Trails (I guess there is a bunker about 45 yds short of the green there but I still say it counts )

Carr,

11 at Trails counts

8 at Dormie



11 at Trails

[Mac Plumart]

7 at Inverness

[jonathan_becker]

7 at Inverness

Not only a bunkerless green, but a bunkerless hole.

[James Boon]

RMD:

Baltray has a great green complex on the back nine that is bunkerless

Do you mean the 12th? Long par four that runs through the saddle between two dunes with a semi-blind approach? That is a great hole.

From memory the 16th green, obscured behind a dune from the RHS of the fairway but visible from the left, is also both fantastic and bunkerless.

Scott,

I suspect RMD is referring to the 14th at Baltray, the short par 4? I can't believe I forgot about that one! Thinking about it, there are several bunkerless greens at Baltray, and both short par 4s are, the 4th as well as the 14th.

Sean,

I knew if I left off the 7th and 15th at Burnham I'd get a response  Thanks to your Obi Wan like guidance I know love the 7th, but I think I prefer the holes as a whole rather than just its green complex and I sometimes think that those couple of little mounds on the right are a bit daft. Now the 15th green is great so I'll just have to say that I defend my right to change my mind about any list I post on a day to day basis...   

Cheers,

James

[Grant Saunders]

Great pics of Paraparaumu Leo. Cant believe I still havent got there to play yet.

Are you going to the conference in Hamilton in June?

How about the very radical concept of a bunkerless golf course?

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,34305.0.html

[James Boon]

How about the very radical concept of a bunkerless golf course?

Grant,

While I suspect few people are going to build new courses without bunkers, there are quite a few here in the UK including:

Royal Ashdown Forest
Piltdown
Berkhampstead
Charnwood Forest*
Painswick*

* The ones I've actually got round to playing!

I believe there are various reasons for this, and I'm sure others could flesh this out a bit, but some are built within large country estates where the landowners didn't let them cut bunkers into the course, others are over public common land and probably not built for similar reasons, plus with people and animals wandering about they would be a maintenance nightmare.

A couple of additional bunkerless comments. A course near to my home, Kedleston Park, is within the grounds of Kedleston Hall (a rather grand National Trust property), and recently they took out all bunkers that were in view from the Hall. Secondly, Sutton Coldfield is over public common land and has no fairway bunkers, but the greens are surrounded by fencing and so there are bunkers within the fencing.

Cheers,

James

[Mark Pearce]

James,

You can add the 9 holer at Chorleywood to your list of bunkerless courses.  I used to be a member there.  Berkhampsted really deserves more discussion on here, it's a course I really like, though it's a long time since I played there.

[Leo Barber]

Great pics of Paraparaumu Leo. Cant believe I still havent got there to play yet.

Are you going to the conference in Hamilton in June?

How about the very radical concept of a bunkerless golf course?

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,34305.0.html

Hey Grant

Pram beach awaits.........

Yes Hamilton locked in

Bunkerless?  I still think hazards in whatever form help shape the interest of the layout.

[Mark Chaplin]

5 & 16 at Paraparaumu are two of the finest bunkerless par 3s to be found, add bunkers to the holes and potential 5s and more disappear for the better player.

For a reasonably well bunkered course Deal has 1, 3, 4, 6, 17 & 18 as bunkerless greens. All have their merits 4 and 17 being my favourites.

[Brent Hutto]

Speaking of Royal Cinque Ports, there aren't any bunkers at the 10th green are they?

If not, then that's my second-favorite bunkerless green right behind Dornoch's "Foxy". And one of my favorite holes overall to play, anywhere. Man I wish I were in England right now.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Preakness Hills had four (4) bunkerless greens, currently, they have two,

[Niall C]

Nice thread and a great opportunity for me to mention Silloth yet again. The 7th and the 13th, being a par 4 and a par 5 respectively don't have a single bunker on either hole never mind the greens and yet they are stroke index 1 and 2 if memory serves me right. The 5th also doesn't have a bunker on the hole and I think its stroke index 5. Simply great use of natural landforms is all that is needed on these holes to make them a challenge.

Niall

[Ken Kearney]

14th Co. Louth... class short par 4 .. Simpson
4th Co. Sligo... par 3 170yards. Just had the existing tee extended to gain 10-12 yards !!! Colt.
Wonderful golf holes with great mental challenges.


KK

[Ron Csigo]

The 15th at Kingsley is a great bunkerless green.  It's an elevated green with run-offs on the front and two sides.  It allows for a lot of recovery options.

[Mark Pritchett]

The amazing 16th at Sand Hills. 

[Ron Csigo]

The 14th hole at Augusta National is amazing!

[Mike Boehm]

The 15th at Kingsley is a great bunkerless green.  It's an elevated green with run-offs on the front and two sides.  It allows for a lot of recovery options.

I actually thought about the same hole when I saw the title of the thread, but then remembered there is actually a bunker or two just over the back of the green.  Seen it come into play on the back pin once or twice.  Great green complex though!

[Ron Csigo]

The 15th at Kingsley is a great bunkerless green.  It's an elevated green with run-offs on the front and two sides.  It allows for a lot of recovery options.

I actually thought about the same hole when I saw the title of the thread, but then remembered there is actually a bunker or two just over the back of the green.  Seen it come into play on the back pin once or twice.  Great green complex though!

You're absolutely right, Mike.  I overlooked those two bunkers because they blend into the hill on the back of the green.  Oh well.  Like you said, still a great green complex!

[Mark Pritchett]

The 14th hole at Augusta National is amazing!

Agreed!  Probably the most underrated hole on the course.  A daunting approach shot for sure. 

[JNC Lyon]

I wanted to bring back the bunkerless greens thread for a couple more observations.

Three of my new favorite bunkerless greens are 16 at Merion (West) and 4 and 5 at Tumblebrook, a very obscure and very bare-bones Ross nine-holer in Saucon Township.  Each of these greens has a steep falloff on at least one side of the green, meaning a shot missed on that side will run well away from the green and leave an exceedingly difficult recovery.  Many of my favorite bunkerless greens (3 at The Ocean Course, 6 at Deal, Foxy) have this sort of feature.  Do bunkerless greens need to be pushed up to be effective?  Will a lay-of-the-land bunkerless green lack for defenses.?

[Kevin Cahoon]

The 17th at Pasatiempo is a striking bunkerless green. On a course that is full of great bunkers, the 17th is a eye opening change of pace.
Number 12 at my home course, Flossmoor CC. is a lay of the land green. The contours of the land and the green contours creates the defense around the green.