Portmarnock Bunkers

[Sean_A]

I came across this aerial (some time prior to 1952) of what I think is the opening holes of Portmarnock.  No matter if this isn't the case, I am more interested in the squared off bunkers.  They remind me a ton of Raynor courses.  When did Portmarnock lose this style of bunkering and go completely to the dark side of the oh so boring circular revetted style?


Ciao

[Peter Pallotta]

Sean - I don't know, but I think you'll enjoy this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-yk2oL_g2w


Watch it from the top if you have the time (to me it is really enjoyable for many reasons); but at the 9:12 minute mark we get our first (closer) look at the holes and bunkers at Portmarnock.


I haven't watched it again all the way through (and there's a 2nd part) specifically to look for bunkers.


This from 1963, btw.

[Jim Nugent]

edited (deleted), due to idiotic mistake on my part

[Sean_A]

Sean - I don't know, but I think you'll enjoy this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-yk2oL_g2w

Watch it from the top if you have the time (to me it is really enjoyable for many reasons); but at the 9:12 minute mark we get our first (closer) look at the holes and bunkers at Portmarnock.

I haven't watched it again all the way through (and there's a 2nd part) specifically to look for bunkers.

This from 1963, btw.

Pietro

It looks like the bunkers have been rounded off, but not yet revetted.  It looks like erosion/lack of maintenance could be the reason why.  That said, they are still in place (I mean the middle of the fairway carry bunkers)...at least some don't exist anymore.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

You're looking at the 3rd, 4th and 5th holes sometime just before or after WW2.


Those bunkers on the 4th are top-shot bunkers, much in the same vein as Dark Age Victorian design. Calling them Raynor-style bunkers is a push at best. The positioning of them is pure penal from before the Golden Age. The style of them is very rudimentary trench and cop.


The top-shot bunkers have generally been removed (the 2nd, 4th and 17th the best examples) but much of the middle of the fairway bunkers like the one ones visible on the 5th remain (though in that example they have been joined to form one bunker). Also the deceptive approach bunker on the 3rd (just visible in this photo) remains as a carry hazard 40 yards before the green and a very relevant one too.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

That photo and one of the 16th and 17th appear in Frank Pennink's "Homes of Sport" book from 1952. I think I posted both photos a few years ago on another topic. There is also a layout of the course in the book, with bunkers in locations that match the photos, so it's possible those drop-shot bunkers existed up to 1952. Many of those (filled-in) bunkers are still visible in aerials; Bing maps has very good resolution images. Several old filled-in bunkers on the 17th are clearly visible. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

The 17th had over 30 bunkers at one point, when it played as a par-5. Today it has 11. The bunkers are in exactly the same places, it's just that seemingly superfluous ones were filled in.

[Sean_A]

Those bunkers on the 4th are top-shot bunkers, much in the same vein as Dark Age Victorian design. Calling them Raynor-style bunkers is a push at best. The positioning of them is pure penal from before the Golden Age. The style of them is very rudimentary trench and cop.

I was commenting on the style...mostly....a look I quite like especially when compared with most revetted bunkers.  Though I don't mind the placement as even hackers like to experience the joy of a successful carry shot.  There is an austerity about the squared off look which I think fits a wide open landscape.  Some bunkers at Muirfield and Walton Heath come close to this look, sort of a compromise look between oval revett and squared-off.  Do you know if any greens were squared-off?

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

I doubt any of the greens were squared. Although I'd be relying on photos prior to the early 1920's when Guppy Cairnes/ Harry Colt moved quite a few of them.


Really, you're advocating for style and placement of bunkers from what Tom Simpson called The Dark Ages (1885 - 1900). I don't believe there's any comparison with Walton Heath or Muirfield really.


All that said, I like adding traditional penal carry bunkers in occasionally, alluding to this period. Following the strategic school to the letter is oh so boring.