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Tim Passalacqua

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Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #25 on: June 15, 2015, 10:48:38 AM »
I am with the Raynor group.  Lookout Mountain had two of the deepest bunkers on back to back holes.  The 4th (biarritz) and 5th (punchbowl or "dustpan" as the members call it) have bunkers that look at least 15 feet deep.

Ben Stephens

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Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #26 on: June 15, 2015, 12:06:44 PM »
I would have said Woodhall Spa or Ganton for deep bunkers in the UK. Elie has massive crater type bunkers

Ironically I am at Ganton during this week and Mr Boon is playing there this weekend so we can have a look at it ourselves.

Recently the deepest bunkers I have played out of this year was at the K Club's Smurfit course.

Another that was difficult and deep was RCD goldfish bowl shaped bunkers.

Cheers
Ben

Bill Brightly

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Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #27 on: June 15, 2015, 12:12:04 PM »
Forsgate has the deepest set of bunkers I have ever played, and I wish I had a photo of hole 8, which must be 20 feet deep:



Deepest Biarritz bunkers I have played:

 

Jud_T

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Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #28 on: June 15, 2015, 12:29:26 PM »
Bill,

They didn't call him Steamshovel for nothing!  ;)
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Jon Wiggett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #29 on: June 15, 2015, 01:31:44 PM »
Forsgate has the deepest set of bunkers I have ever played, and I wish I had a photo of hole 8, which must be 20 feet deep:



Deepest Biarritz bunkers I have played:

 

Bill,

are they not flat at the back? ergo not at all deep. They do have a high bank at the front I will give you that.

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #30 on: June 15, 2015, 01:39:08 PM »
"are they not flat at the back? ergo not at all deep. They do have a high bank at the front I will give you that."

Jon W. makes a very good point. A lot of the bunkers mentioned/shown (even the ones at Lake Mercerd) are "deep" in the sense the green surface is well above the floor of the bunker. But that is a function of the slope around the green site. Since the back of these bunkers is relatively flat, they are not deep in the sense you are climbing down into them to play your shot.

While I have not been there and only seen pictures, I suspect many of the bunkers at Woodhall Spa are deep on all sides.       

Andrew Bernstein

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Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #31 on: June 15, 2015, 01:55:30 PM »
Some of the bunkers on the back nine at The Ocean Course nearly take you below sea level (or at least it feels that way).

Bill Brightly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #32 on: June 15, 2015, 02:50:18 PM »
Bill,

They didn't call him Steamshovel for nothing!  ;)

I know, Jud. Every time I play Forsgate I want to cry, because it reminds me of what Banks built at Hackensack, and what we changed in 1960 when our Modernization Committee hired William Gordon. This is from our April, 1961 newsletter: :'(

COURSE PLAYS
HARD AS EVER
The course you will be playing when the club's sixty-second golf season opens April 29 will be a lot different from the one you left when the season closed last fall. And it won't be one shot easier despite some things that may have been reported. As a generality, what has happened is that back traps have been eliminated and side traps have been made shallower, most of them with what is known as 7 to 1 pitch to the green. In layman's language and in a sort of inexact way, what this means is that in all probability you can see the flag when you are hitting out of a trap. But, to compensate for the shallower traps the openings to the greens have been narrowed so that there will be less running up to the green and more pitching to it.
 
Here, hole by hole, is what has been done:
 
One, narrower entrance, back trap filled.
Two, same as One.
Three, gully filled, side traps moved forward.
Four, traps installed on left and right of the fairway, about 200 yards out. Trap between Fourth and fourteenth fairways has been filled.
Fifth, trap on left of fairway filled, other fairway traps shallowed.
Sixth, back and front traps filled and entrance to green made more narrow. (Goodbye Short Hole, hello short hole with smaller green)
Seventh, trap on left of fairway filled, and left side of the green lowered.
Eighth, trap back of the path has been eliminated.
Ninth, new trap on left side of fairway, 200 yards out; right side of the green reduced and brought' forward. The trap between the ninth and eighteenth has been eliminated. (Goodbye Road on the Road Hole...)
Tenth, back traps filled and side traps shallowed and brought forward.
Eleventh, trap on the left side of fairway eliminated.
Twelfth, deep trap on right eliminated (trap beyond the kick mound on our Redan  :'( ) and the left trap recontoured. (i.e. no more deep Redan bunker...)
Thirteenth, trap installed on right of fairway; new trap indented into the fairway 280 yards on the left.
Fourteenth, the tee has been moved 30 yards to the left so that the hole becomes a slight dogleg to the right, skirting the big center tree. The fairway trap on the right has been recontoured and the opening to the green made more narrow and the green on the left lowered 4 feet.
Fifteenth, the nearer fairway trap on the left has been eliminated.
Sixteenth, trap on the left of fairway partially eliminated and the opening to the green narrowed.
Seventeenth, the green has been reshaped and pinched in at the entrance and the back trap filled.
Eighteenth, the dogleg has been accentuated and a trap installed on the left of the fairway 200 yards out.
The trap on the left at the green has been shallowed.
 
All traps will be filled with white sand and there will be no more turf banks.
The work was done under the supervision of the course modernization committee with Nep Smyth as chairman and Bal Balestier as vice chairman, assisted by Paul Blume, Jim Butterfield, Ed Gerkin
 
« Last Edit: June 15, 2015, 02:57:02 PM by Bill Brightly »

Rees Milikin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #33 on: June 15, 2015, 02:57:16 PM »
Lookout Mountain - #3, #4, #5 are all really deep greenside bunkers.  Designed by Raynor, built by Banks

Matt Frey, PGA

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #34 on: June 15, 2015, 03:05:16 PM »
I agree with the comments about Raynor's courses. Yale: Nos. 2, 8, 10 and 15; Camargo: No. 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 16.

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #35 on: June 15, 2015, 03:10:28 PM »
Bill,

They didn't call him Steamshovel for nothing!  ;)

..... what we changed in 1960 when our Modernization Committee hired William Gordon. This is from our April, 1961 newsletter: :'(

COURSE PLAYS
HARD AS EVER
But, to compensate for the shallower traps the openings to the greens have been narrowed so that there will be less running up to the green and more pitching to it.
 

 
One, narrower entrance, back trap filled.
Two, same as One.


.
 
All traps will be filled with white sand and there will be no more turf banks.
The work was done under the supervision of the course modernization committee with Nep Smyth as chairman and Bal Balestier as vice chairman, assisted by Paul Blume, Jim Butterfield, Ed Gerkin
 


Were Elmer Fudd and Barney Fife not available?

Great find
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

john_stiles

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #36 on: June 15, 2015, 03:34:48 PM »
Agree with comments about Raynor and Banks.    As Rees noted,  Lookout has some deep bunkers.

On many courses,  Raynor did not shy from placing green sites where the land began to gradually to fall away or even drop.  It is not so noticeable but as you look across, or maybe back to the hole,  it certainly seems like Raynor pushed a lot of dirt out,  to form some green sites,  creating a large fill.  Flanking bunkers became very deep.  

As a homer,   there are certainly a few at Lookout at the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 11th, and 13th.   From photos,   Yeamans, Camargo, and Fishers as well.  Yale has a few.

Lookout also has some deep bunkers set in the hillside of benched green sites (3rd and 5th).

Like at the 5th hole at Lookout,  pictured below.    This poor sucker hit a weak approach.



Robert Mercer Deruntz

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #37 on: June 15, 2015, 11:24:42 PM »
No doubt that Foregather has quite a few super deep bunkers.  Overall, I  still think that Tamarack has the deepest bunkers.  Here are a few Forsgate bunkers





RichMacafee

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #38 on: June 15, 2015, 11:25:35 PM »
The Montgomerie course at Carlton House has only a handful of greenside bunkers from which you can see the bottom of the flag.


Greg

The Old Course at The National probably has the deepest in Australia - all built by Bruce Grant.
Joondalup would be a rival for that title?

Greg/Clayts/Matt,

The bunkers on 1,4,7,9,11 at Barnbougle are unbelievably deep.

Not as many consistently deep bunkers accross the whole course as National Old and Joondalup, but the deep ones are seriously deep!
"The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost law" H.G.Wells.

Robert Mercer Deruntz

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #39 on: June 15, 2015, 11:28:39 PM »



Neil Regan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #40 on: June 16, 2015, 01:25:42 AM »

You call those bunkers ?
These are bunkers ! :)




Grass speed  <>  Green Speed

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #41 on: June 16, 2015, 04:37:37 AM »
Photo taken from another thread -



We've got it pretty easy these days! :)

atb

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #42 on: June 16, 2015, 04:43:21 AM »
The comment about RayBanks bunkers is understandable, but isn't the the playability via an escape route one of the best things about those flat-bpottom bunkers with banks to greens? I always thought so.  On the other hand, I have always wondered about the need for sand at the bottom of these banks...they arediffcult shot as it is  ::) Not to mention they look goofy  :D

Ciao
New plays planned for 2024: Nothing

Jason Topp

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #43 on: June 16, 2015, 08:43:24 AM »
PGA West Stadium is a modern contender

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #44 on: June 16, 2015, 11:50:11 AM »
Bill,

That reads like a horror novel.  I couldn't even make it all the way through it was so depressing.  They also weren't called the Dark Ages for nothing.  :-\ 
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Jeff_Mingay

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #45 on: June 16, 2015, 12:29:10 PM »
I played The Toronto Golf Club again yesterday and was reminded how consistently deep all of the new Hawtree bunkers are there. I mean, TGC isn't going to win the contest for the deepest set of bunkers, but without exception all of the bunkers are remarkably deep.
jeffmingay.com

Sam Krume

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #46 on: June 16, 2015, 04:51:23 PM »
I always thought Muirfield had a tremendous set of deep nasty bunkers, some of them just pure evil.... :D

Jeff Fortson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #47 on: June 16, 2015, 05:08:30 PM »
PGA West Stadium is a modern contender


I agree with this.  11, 12, 16.. among others.
#nowhitebelt

James Boon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #48 on: June 16, 2015, 06:03:51 PM »
I played Woodhall Spa a couple of weekends ago and as a set of bunkers they are the deepest I know. Ganton comes close mind you. And we are talking deep faces all around, not just a steep bank on the green side!


At Woodhall our opponent was in a couple of bunkers where you couldn't see him, you didn't see his club as he swung, but then a ball would pop up. One hell of a bunker player, and obviously experienced at playing from deep traps that would terrify the rest of us!


Cheers,


James
2023 Highlights: Hollinwell, Brora, Parkstone, Cavendish, Hallamshire, Sandmoor, Moortown, Elie, Crail, St Andrews (Himalayas & Eden), Chantilly, M, Hardelot Les Pins

"It celebrates the unadulterated pleasure of being in a dialogue with nature while knocking a ball round on foot." Richard Pennell

Ian Andrew

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Deepest sets of bunkers?
« Reply #49 on: June 16, 2015, 10:33:37 PM »
Yale would get my vote, 2nd or 8th, not sure which one of the two, but I can't remember anything deeper.


I've played out of most of the ones mentioned.
The one thing that struck me was how much I liked so many of them...


Deep bunkers are great.
With every golf development bubble, the end was unexpected and brutal....

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