Whistling Straits and bunkers

[Tommy Williamsen]

Four things stand out for me about the bunkers at WS: the sheer number of them, their size, design irregularity of each bunker, and the sand. They were truly hazards. I don't think I ever saw as many uncomfortable and awkward stances in bunkers as I saw this past weekend. They truly were hazards.


In a way I "enjoyed" watching the pros struggle, but if I were in one of them I wouldn't have "enjoyed" it as much.
Were they over the top?

[mike_beene]

I know that bunkers are hazards, not supposed to be fair, etc. But there is so much disparity between the results of balls going to almost identical spots. Over the top? Yes.

[Sean_A]

Whistling Straits is miles past OTT for me, however, in the context of pros not nearly as much. By far the best part are the totally unpredictable outcomes.

Ciao

[James Reader]

I don’t think they were over the top for the pros.


I found it refreshing to watch the best players on a course where the bunkers were a genuine hazard to be avoided.  We’ve got used to a situation where the pros would often rather be in a bunker than the alternative.  For once, it was nice to see a course where it was the opponent thinking “get in the bunker” rather than the player himself.

[Jason Thurman]

I know that bunkers are hazards, not supposed to be fair, etc. But there is so much disparity between the results of balls going to almost identical spots. Over the top? Yes.

Why is this a bad thing in the context of hazards scattered in missed-shot landing areas?


I think it was Ross who talked about how the best rough is broken ground. I sorta think of the Straits as possessing lots of engineered broken ground for rough. I can go with "over-the-top" from a maintenance standpoint - it must be hell mowing around those things and doing regular upkeep - but I've always thought it worked from a strategy and playability standpoint.

[Tommy Williamsen]

While it was ok to see the pros struggle in the bunkers. It is hell for an 18 handicapper to be in a 15 foot deep bunker attempt to get in the green from a downhill lie with a ball near the back lip. How much time do those bunkers add to a round?

[Mark Smolens]

The caddies at WS are very good at advising their clients to -- in the case of the really deep bunker shot described above -- take their medicine by going backwards. In my experience, Whistling Straits is much easier for the handicap players than is the River Course. The fairways are huge, and there's always a place to run the ball onto the greens (even if the ground is not firm enough to play like a links course would play). Miss a shot on the Straits, and you usually have a way to get the ball back in play (left on 17 is the exception!). Miss a shot on the River, or even hit a good shot in the wrong place, and you're dead.


The Kohler courses are very, very, very expensive imo, but I've always had a good time there.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Maybe if there were only 200 bunkers instead of 1050, a round of golf there would be $375 instead of $550 (inclusive of caddy).

Sure, it gets a lot of corporate play from meetings at The American Club, but I aint going back there when there is Lawsonia, Erin Hills and Sand Valley in similar proximity to Chicago.

[Bill Seitz]

Four things stand out for me about the bunkers at WS: the sheer number of them, their size, design irregularity of each bunker, and the sand. They were truly hazards. I don't think I ever saw as many uncomfortable and awkward stances in bunkers as I saw this past weekend. They truly were hazards.


In a way I "enjoyed" watching the pros struggle, but if I were in one of them I wouldn't have "enjoyed" it as much.
Were they over the top?

It's actually an interesting contrast to some other Dye courses, at least ones that I've played, with a lot of sand area, but not nearly the number of bunkers.  Instead of those long, deep bunkers or waste areas at places like Purdue's Kampen course, or the Blackwolf Courses, or the PGA West Stadium course, Pete dotted the landscape with smaller bunkers, most of which (for the numbers often quoted) are well out of play.  But while those big, deep bunkers are intimidating to higher handicappers, and certainly hazards themselves, the bunkers at Whistling Straights created a ton of funky lies and stances that I don't think those guys see very often.  Certainly the nose bunker on 6 gets all the hype (and none of the action last week), but those little bunkers along the lake created some big problems.  Fun to watch, but also creates a fair amount of "luck of the draw", where you're totally screwed, even though you're a foot from not too bad.  Then again, if you're worried about drawing a bad lie, then don't hit it there.

[Jeff Schley]

Maybe if there were only 200 bunkers instead of 1050, a round of golf there would be $375 instead of $550 (inclusive of caddy).

Sure, it gets a lot of corporate play from meetings at The American Club, but I aint going back there when there is Lawsonia, Erin Hills and Sand Valley in similar proximity to Chicago.

Yes this is very true, since they opened you have SV and EH to compete with, as well as Lawsonia getting their due. Tough to compete with their prices, as most people I know consider it a once in a lifetime expense.

[Kalen Braley]

Jeff,

Agreed, there will always be a certain % of people where for them, the best = the most expensive, regardless of value or what you actually get.  I doubt Kohler even gives those other courses much thought in light of price point and their intended customer base.

It is what it is....

[jeffwarne]

I don’t think they were over the top for the pros.


I found it refreshing to watch the best players on a course where the bunkers were a genuine hazard to be avoided.  We’ve got used to a situation where the pros would often rather be in a bunker than the alternative.  For once, it was nice to see a course where it was the opponent thinking “get in the bunker” rather than the player himself.

"Knowing" that your ball might end up in a difficult or impossible lie, meant that the bunkers had to be considered BEFORE the shot, rather than simply reacted to, makes them perfect for pros.
Maybe less so in match play, but I certainly didn't hear anyone yell "get in the bunker"