Best holes with only one bunker

[Jim Nelson]

I love holes that have only one bunker that is positioned just right.  No need for multiple bunkers.  Just one.  Let's exclude par 3s.  On my home course, Southern Highlands in Las Vegas, #11 is just such a hole.  That single bunker changes everything.  Do you have a favorite?  If this has been covered in an older thread, let's bring it back.

[BCrosby]

Woking 3rd.

[Tom_Doak]

Jim Nelson:

I'm not familiar with Southern Highlands, so I don't know if it confounds my premise or not.  But, my premise is that a great hole needs two features to be great, pulling at each other.

None of them really has to be a bunker.  But, I think that most of the holes with one bunker that are great, rely on the slopes of the green or some other sort of trouble on one side of the fairway, in order to make if from good to great.  In BCrosby's example, it's not just the greenside bunker at Woking's 3rd hole that makes it great ... it's that bunker combined with the slope of the green and the slopes around the green.

[Bill_McBride]

Valley Club #7, 420 yards slightly down valley.   Mackenzie draped the green over the naturally sloping terrain, high front right falling away to low back left.   Then he put the hole's only bunker in the front right to block off a running approach!    That bunker is in play all the way back to the tee!

[Jim Nelson]

Jim Nelson:

I'm not familiar with Southern Highlands, so I don't know if it confounds my premise or not.  But, my premise is that a great hole needs two features to be great, pulling at each other.

None of them really has to be a bunker.  But, I think that most of the holes with one bunker that are great, rely on the slopes of the green or some other sort of trouble on one side of the fairway, in order to make if from good to great.  In BCrosby's example, it's not just the greenside bunker at Woking's 3rd hole that makes it great ... it's that bunker combined with the slope of the green and the slopes around the green.

Quite right in this case, and so I suspect in other examples.  The bunker on 11 at Southern Highlands is tucked just short of the green on the right hand side.  This is a long downhill hole, so most of us have a substantial second shot.  Running along the left side of the green is a deep swale.  The tallest part of the closely mown hillside is a least 7-8 feet and the player has any number of clubs which could be used. I often use my putter, but it's a very tough up and down.  These two features surely pull at each other.  Good call.

[Jaeger Kovich]

As I happen to be writing about it this morning for my site, #6 at The Addington is a great one, and not just because I love the super deep bunker, that unlike so many bunkers today, is an actual hazard to golfers of all skill levels. Also, I think its good thing to bring more attention to this amazing golf course.

#6 at The Addington doesn't require driver off the tee, but uses the jungle of trees on the left to put that option in the players mind, as the line left v distance is part of the puzzle standing on the tee. The approach has one goal, navigate one of the deepest, nastiest bunkers you will ever see that requires stairs down, and a bridge to walk back across. All of this is made easier the closer to the trees one plays, but bombing appears easier at first, until a direct line over the bunker must be taken on the 2nd. The green is tucked away past the bunker at just the right angle so the throat of the approach is pinched by rough on the left side of the green. This hole is a proper puzzle for a short interesting par-4.


From the tee...

The approach...

The bunker...

And I couldn't help myself, after making 2 pars, I had to toss a ball in on my way back over the bridge and give it a try...

[Niall C]

Jaeger

Not played the hole but if anything the bunker makes the hole easier (maybe not better mind you, I don't know). Its the giant chasm that the bunker sits in that likely defines the hole.

Niall

[Jaeger Kovich]

Jaeger

Not played the hole but if anything the bunker makes the hole easier (maybe not better mind you, I don't know). Its the giant chasm that the bunker sits in that likely defines the hole.

Niall

Bunker/Hazard... I speak of them as one in this case, i see what you are getting at, but i think its picking away at my words rather than the spirit of them... remember in America, there are few hazards that aren't bunkers or h2o. If the bunker was built up above grade we wouldn't be having this conversation, but since its located in a ravine its a different.

[Bob_Huntley]

Jim,

I am not sure this counts but at MPCC the 9th hole on the Dunes Course has one bunker left of the green. However, a shot missed to the right and short lands in a sand dune which is seldom raked and can be hazardous to one's score.

Bob

[Scott Warren]

Jaegar,

Wonderful to see an old favourite again.

A further virtue of the hole is that the green tilts ever so slightly away from the fairway, enough that when it's firm in summer you either need to lay far enough back to put some spin on the ball, or measure a bouncing/running approach.

And perhaps also it's a hole that has been improved by technology allowing us to hit the ball further.

Bob C,

Indeed, 3 at Woking is as close to a "correct answer" as there is to this question. I have never seen a single bunker do so much to a golf hole.

[Shane Wright]

Numero Uno- The Road Hole.

Amazing to think that a single small bunker, greenside, on a 475+ par 4, affects one's strategy off of the tee.

[Scott Warren]

Shane,

You're forgetting Scholar's and Progressing short and left of the green. Even Cheape's for short hitters or into a gale.

[Shane Wright]

I stand corrected.  Thanks. 

[Scott Warren]

That said, your point about the road hole bunker dominating the hole is 100% correct - I'm not sure anyone ever stood on the tee at the Road Hole thinking about Scholar's!

[Sean_A]

Burnham's 7th springs to mind.  Come to think of it, #6 is pretty damn good. 

Pennard's 11th is another and the bunker is unnecessary.  The same could be said for the 14th.

Huntercombe's 12th.

17 at St Enodoc.

13 at Stoneham - one of the great short par 4s in the world.

Ciao

[John Kirk]

Riviera #4 has one gigantic bunker.

[Kalen Braley]

Riviera #4 has one gigantic bunker.

2 actually:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=pacific+palisades&hl=en&ll=34.044574,-118.505254&spn=0.002467,0.003465&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Pacific+Palisades,+Los+Angeles,+California&t=h&z=19

[Anthony Gray]

  On a top course only 5 at PB comes to mind.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Jaeger, I believe that bunker is, or was, known as the Wodehouse Bunker.

[Wade Schueneman]

How about 9 at Lahinch?

[Scott Warren]

Mark B,

Indeed it was.

In one of his books he invited readers "if you wish to contact the author, please do so by writing to me c/- "The Bunker on the 6th Hole, The Addington Golf Club, Addington, Surrey."

[don_bartlett]

#17 @ Sawgrass

[Mark Pearce]

4 at Cruden Bay
13 at Crail Balcomie

[Jeff_Brauer]

Must be a million examples.  As a 12 year old kid interested in architecture, I recall reading the HWH article in golf digest about architecture.  Among other things, I recall him writing something to the effect that among purists, a single green side bunker is enough to set up strategy.  I always imagined it would have to be a pretty severe one, maybe not as severe as the RH bunker, but severe enough to grab my attention on the tee.

[Howard Riefs]

#11 at ANGC