[Anthony Gray]

  Don't you get tired of the repitition on some courses. How about the bunkerless hole from time to time. Should every course have one?

  Anthony

[jeffwarne]

  Don't you get tired of the repitition on some courses. How about the bunkerless hole from time to time. Should every course have one?

  Anthony

Yes,
Every course should have a bunker

[David Cronheim]

I would agree - bunkerless holes can be more interesting sometimes. I'd much rather hit it in a greenside bunker than a deep grass bunker, but I'd rather be in grass than a fairway bunker.

[Matt Wharton]

I love bunkerless holes!  Fun to play and always makes course setup go just a little quicker 

[Tom_Doak]

Anthony:

I think courses should have fewer bunkers, and perhaps holes without bunkers.

But, I've seen quite a few modern courses that had one, token, bunkerless hole.  Weiskopf and Morrish used to do one on every course ... if I'd gotten to 13 and hadn't seen it yet, I knew it was coming!  The thing is, that hole never seemed to be a hole that was just so good they didn't think it needed any bunkers ... it was more of a token.

There are lots of great holes without fairway bunkers.  There aren't as many without any bunkers at the green.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Anthony,

I agree about the repetitious nature of fw bunkers, whether its the RTJ or Dick Wilson "guard both sides of the LZ" to any number of nice outside the dogleg, beyond the LZ target bunkers, which I found myself too prone to several years back.

I penned a piece for Paul Daley basically asking "why?" Why, when there are so many viable and intersting bunker schemes a gca COULD use.  I listed some, based on carrying, skirting, laying short of, one bunker patterns, and a variety of staggered multi-bunker schemes, and as you mention, a no bunkers scheme (bi-secting that into flat fw easy hole, and one where the slopes of some kind make up for no bunkers, etc.

I think I came up with over 30 "basic" ideas for bunkering a fw LZ, and it made me wonder why any course with 14 long holes would ever have the same one twice, excepting perhaps a cape style (or other strong concept where the land supported it) hole left and right to balance the challenges out.

I might fall into the Morrish trap, looking for a spot to do a bunkerless hole.  I like to think I look first for holes that don't really need one, and suspect they do too, but that would be a matter of opinion. 

I also don't mind a bunkerless green, but only if there is some compelling natural hazard or a man made substitute - like steep bank - which might actually be more punishing than a bunker in a similar location.

I will also say that when golfer surveys are done on my new courses where I used less or no bunkers in naturally beautiful areas with other hazard potential, the favorite holes always come back as the ones with more bunkers and average scenery.  Golfers like bunkers, probably for looks.  They do provide sharp contrast, as opposed to most of the day with shadows, or other subtler grass hazards.

[Sean_A]

I don't feel the need to delineate between fairway and greenside bunkering.  I do, however, think that unless a handful of holes are bunkerless and perhaps that same number using one or two bunkers, then the archie more than likely hasn't properly explored the options for "hazards".  Often times I find courses with as many as twice as many bunkers as necessary and nowhere near enough mounds/hollows.  This always perplexed me - folks seem to love the heave and roll some courses are famous for, but we see it so rarely in designs - instead the old stand by is chucked in and meant to make do.  Heavy sigh.  Of course, less bunkers means more meaningful and imaginative placement is required.  I know archies are at the mercy of clients, but it would be nice to think that creative archies can actually lead the way and I suspect many have, but won't push the boat out too far - its just as tep too far.  This topic always takes me back to Lederach - the most imaginatively bunkered modern course I have played or seen pix of.  How is it that a relatively no-name archie working on a muni can "get away" with this sort of design and the many much more famous guys cannot? 

Ciao 

[Mike Nuzzo]

Wolf Point has 3 bunkerless, non-token, holes.
15 & 6 are par threes and two of my favorites and the 10th a short and wide par 4.
The one shared bunker between 11 & 12 is not much in play
In total: one bunker between 5 holes.
Cheers

[Melvyn Morrow]

Hazards be the bunkers, are a must on a golf course, but I do love deep Sand Traps, so yes give me bunkers, bunkers, bunkers but not all around the Green, let the ball run away from the Green. Bunkers on the front fairway anytime, but not the rear, it’s just a gift for the poor shot.

Let the rough do its job and the Fairway bunkers do theirs. Make the long hitters pay for their testosterone by well-placed fairway bunkers and blood deep too).

Melvyn

[Jeff_Brauer]

Make the long hitters pay for their testosterone by well-placed fairway bunkers

Melvyn, I will use that quote, as politically incorrect as it may be.  And yes, just letting the ball run from the green is the classic Scottish defense from the old days.  Should be used more, but has fallen out of favor in the name of fast play.

It would be an interesting grad school study to compare a roll away fw cut around greens to a bunker surrounded green to see which extracted a higher toll in both strokes and minutes.  Maybe the EIGCA can use one of its student interns to do such a study?  Yes, I know it might not be a full replica, givne bunker depths, how wet the fw cut is, etc. and would have to be conducted over time.

[Tim Bert]

I like the occasional bunkerless hole an I also like a nice single bunker hole.

The 12th at Kingsley is a great bunkerless hole that many may consider a token since every other hole on the course has both fairway and greenside bunkers while the 12th has neither. I don't think it detracts from the hole in any way. It is a long, challenging holes with interesting fairway movement and a natural "hazard" down the entire right side of the hole. The green site, in my opinion, is one of the most special on the course.

[Howard Riefs]

Anthony:

I think courses should have fewer bunkers, and perhaps holes without bunkers.

But, I've seen quite a few modern courses that had one, token, bunkerless hole.  Weiskopf and Morrish used to do one on every course ... if I'd gotten to 13 and hadn't seen it yet, I knew it was coming!  The thing is, that hole never seemed to be a hole that was just so good they didn't think it needed any bunkers ... it was more of a token.

There are lots of great holes without fairway bunkers.  There aren't as many without any bunkers at the green.

Was this Morrish's influence on Weiskopf? I've encountered at least two Weiskopf solo designs -- Forest Dunes and Shanty Creek (Cedar River) -- that don't feature a bunkerless hole.

[Bill_McBride]

I also don't mind a bunkerless green, but only if there is some compelling natural hazard or a man made substitute - like steep bank - which might actually be more punishing than a bunker in a similar location.

"Foxy" #14 at Dornoch is a great example of this, with all that broken ground and rough short and a steep bank left.   Foxy is one of the best examples of a hole that doesn't need bunkers.

[Ian Andrew]

Highlands Links has:
2nd, 9th, 12th, 14th and the 16th.

Bunkers are generally very over-used.

At Pac Dunes (standing on 16 tee) I was told by a well known architect that "if there was no risk, there was no strategy."
We argued about the value of position for the entire hole - this might explain why so many bunkers are placed in landing areas

[Tom Kelly]

I also don't mind a bunkerless green, but only if there is some compelling natural hazard or a man made substitute - like steep bank - which might actually be more punishing than a bunker in a similar location.

"Foxy" #14 at Dornoch is a great example of this, with all that broken ground and rough short and a steep bank left.   Foxy is one of the best examples of a hole that doesn't need bunkers.

One of, if not my favourite hole in golf.

[Tom ORourke]

I play at a Bob Cupp course down in South Carolina (Woodside Plantation) that has minimal fairway bunkering. We have tremendous elevation changes and the slopes and cants of the fairways are enough of a challenge. Most of the par 4s have 0 or 1 fairway bunkers. We also have a few holes without greenside bunkers. This is not an easy course, and I can think of the reasons why. Often bunkers prevent balls from going into more trouble, like the pines. And sometimes playing out of a fairway bunker is easier than playing out of a tough lie in Bermuda grass. It is cool to figure out your lines of play based on where you want to play your next shot from, rather than have your shot mandated by bunkers.

[John Shimony]

When I think of my neighborhood muni, which is sparsely bunkered and strategically uninteresting, I wonder if the use of cop bunkers here and there would make economic sense and add some strategic interest.

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