Do We Need Fairway Bunkers? Golf.Com Says No

[Mark_Fine]

Would most courses be better off with less green side hazards?  Would most courses be better off with less trees?  Would most courses be better off with less ponds and streams and water hazards?  Would most courses be better off with less mounds and hollows?  Would most courses would be better off with less rough?  Would most courses be better off with less native areas?  Would most courses would be better off with less out of bounds?  Would most courses would be better off with less ….?  I could go on and on. 

The secret to almost every great golf course is balance and not overdoing/overusing any single design feature.  Bunkers are just one of those many features that architects use to define their playing fields.  The other belief I have is that all challenging shots in golf (outside of a three foot putt with drinks on the line ) are defined by a hazard of one type or another.  A course with bland and benign hazards is very likely (most definitely) a very boring golf course. 

[John McCarthy]

Grass bunkers are a feature that I love.  Is there a centerline or otherwise surrounded by fairway grass bunker out there? 

[Steve_ Shaffer]

To be fair, the article doesn't say they aren't needed. It just says that no one would miss them if they were gone (except for architects).

In the active adult golf communities here in the Phoenix area, many fairway bunkers have been eliminated and grassed in  or  no longer use sand but dirt for ease of play and pace of play reasons.  Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.  

[Doug Siebert]

Grass bunkers are a feature that I love.  Is there a centerline or otherwise surrounded by fairway grass bunker out there? 

On any course, or on a top 100 course?  On the course I mentioned earlier, I can think of three very prominent centerline grass bunkers, two on a shortish (330 yards) par 4 about 50 yards short of the green subdividing a fairway that stretches to 100 yards wide at that point, the other on a 552 yard par 5 at around the 160 mark from the green - the hole plays into the wind and is uphill and curving the last 150 yards so this feature comes into play more than you'd think based the distance.

I don't have any pictures handy, but I can dig up the Google Earth link if anyone is interested.