TD,
I know Golf doesn't "owe it" to a player or some such... but the least fun in golf, for many reasons, is losing a ball. Just below that sourness though is not being able to "play something," and having to take a stroke to be able to play it.
Hitting it in a screwed up, unplayable spot is one thing...but hitting it into a place that is merely impacted by the previous players' play - that's not the course, the cunning of the design, the pressure of the prize, or an enjoyment of any sort...it would make me want to ensure I play first every morning, and be sure to take my time walking around the bunker and sizing up my shot.
I guess we should leave ball marks on the green too, or move the ball under a penalty stroke?
I simply maintain that such a thing is more feasible if bunker design and implementation adjusts accordingly, which will be a slow process...as slow as the 50-60 year period where thousands of trees were planted, grew up or allowed to overgrow, were a perma-fact of how the course played and maintained, started to come down in what was a controversially radical treatment 20 years ago, and now are 80-90% obliterated as if the 1946-96 period didn't exist in terms of arboreal management.
vk