Jim Urbina's thoughts on bunkers

[Jerry Kluger]

He gives 5 simple thoughts about bunkers and it is hard to disagree with him.
https://www.linksmagazine.com/5_myths_about_bunkers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=insider12.13.21

[Jeff_Brauer]

Oh, I can disagree with part of it!


I always thought that if I found a deep bunker, that was okay, providing there weren't too many of them sprinkled around.  Not unlike quirk, or perhaps one dimension of quirk, it should be found, not built, as per another thread.


But, as is often the case, I am placing and building a bunker precisely because there are no natural hazards to give interest, then I start thinking about just what it is I want to build.  And, in general, I believe a possible, but not guaranteed, recovery shot from the bunker is a good thing.  It's more interesting than chipping out, right?  One of the reasons bunkers are so great is that they aren't usually automatic two stroke penalties, and that alone makes them more interesting than water or O.B.


I believe most architects feel the same way, including Jim.

[Mark_Fine]

Most but not all golfers think of bunkers as hazards and hazards by definition are dangerous unpredictable places.  These days this is obviously not so much the case (the rules of golf don't even call them hazards anymore)     But clearly Jim makes great points with the myths about bunkers.  Without question bunkers are there to add interest to the game.  But even Jim would agree some bunkers are penal and designed that way.  Think of the Devil's Asshole at PV.  It is hated for how penal it is, but loved just as much for the same reasons. 

[Ian Mackenzie]

"There's a bunker out there for everyone, Ian; that one might not be there for you."


- Jim Urbina

[Joel_Stewart]

How much thought did CBM or Raynor put into bunkers?   With CBM, placing 275 bunkers at NGLA must have taken some work but what about their other courses.

[Thomas Dai]

JU seems to be making very some valid points.
Atb


PS - as an aside here is Ian Andrews piece on bunkering as included in the Best of Golf section of this website - https://golfclubatlas.com/best-of-golf/on-bunkers-by-ian-andrew/ - it’s a piece well worth a read.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I certainly agree that bunkers are often too well maintained. Bad lies are rub of the green whether in the fairway, rough, or bunker.

[JMEvensky]

I certainly agree that bunkers are often too well maintained. Bad lies are rub of the green whether in the fairway, rough, or bunker.

Absolutely right--but good luck convincing any membership. You'd have to be a serious masochist to stand up in front of a meeting as Green Chair or President and tell the complainers to quit bitching--it's just the rub of the green.


It ain't right but this is the world we all now live in.

[Thomas Dai]

You'd have to be a serious masochist to stand up in front of a meeting as Green Chair or President and tell the complainers to quit bitching..

Made me recall this and chuckle - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_nH8Caz3uY -
Atb

[mike_malone]

Nice and simple.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I got to thinking about it a bit more, and one of the reasons I have tended to build moderate depth bunkers is that I tend to use them only when there is no natural hazard.  Building a deep bunker on gently rolling or featureless land tends to look too artificial in most cases, although I can think of a few exceptions. 


Basically, bunker depth is usually most related to the actual topo involved, whatever that is, regardless of any theory we might have on how deep they "ought" to be.  Hey, if there are a few fw bunkers where you can't reach the green from, so be it.  That said, I have lost a few renovation jobs with that POV, because the green committee feels they ought to be able to escape a fw bunker just as easily as playing from the fw. [size=78%]  [/size]


IMHO, there is not much worse looking than artificially building up the base of a bunker to get to some prescribed depth.  The worst example I can recall is no. 10 green (front left) at White Bear Yacht Club, although it may have been changed by now.  I have seen some good bunkers with bases built up a foot or two above grade, and usually just to make sure the drains have a place to exit, although they do make them more visible.  The key is a broad slope below them that might look somewhat natural, and not having a 4:1 upslope to the bunker.  Those look wrong, because we expect bunkers to be in natural low spots, even if that isn't really practical in many cases.

[JC Urbina]

Jerry,

Bunkers have always been a very important aspect of golf course architecture. They can define the look of a designer.  They give character, reward strategic maneuvers and most importantly make the game more interesting.





"Most golfers have an entirely erroneous view of the real object of the hazard. The majority of them simply look upon hazards as a means of punishing a bad shot, when their real object it to make the game more interesting" 



It is the successful negations of difficulties, or apparent ones , which give rise to pleasurable excitement an
makes a hole more interesting".          Golf Architecture -  A. Mackenzie



"There is no such thing as a misplaced bunker. Regardless of where a bunker may be,
it is the business of a player to avoid it".      Golf Has Never Failed Me - Donald Ross



"For Golf at its best should be a contact of risks. The fine player should on his way around the links be just slipping by past the bunkers, gaining every yard he can, conquering by the confidence of his own" Far and Sure" play. The less skilled player should wreck himself either by attempting risks which are beyond his skill or by being compelled to lose ground through giving the bunkers a wide berth".   Bernard Darwin. -  On Golf




These Golden Age designers defined hazards in different ways, each one describing  them and the role they play in the game we all love.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jim,


To be more specific on the thought of "their real object is to make the game more interesting" I suggest adding the wording, "by suggesting/encouraging/nearly demanding in some cases" certain shot types, i.e., fade, draw, power, control, high, low, spin, low spin, etc.

[Ira Fishman]

Jim's 5 points are concise, precise, and on point. I particularly appreciate Number 5 because we do tend to lose sight of thinking about a bunker when we are focused on escaping it. I have admired the bunker at the corner of Number 12 at Mid Pines for many years (I believe that Jaeger shaped it), but it was walking but not playing that enabled me to study it. My admiration was only enhanced. The placement is terrific but so is the contouring that leads one into it and messes with your line on the way out.


Ira

[Jerry Kluger]

Jim: There are some fairway bunkers that are so severe that they are equivalent to hitting into a penalty area - where would you say that is appropriate?

[JC Urbina]

Jerry,


Since I am not familiar with the fairway bunkers that you speak of I can not comment on the playability as it relates to a penalty area.  I do know that if your ball is hit into a pond, stream or another form of hazard such as the ocean golfers don't yell,


Fill It In or That's Unfair.




What I do know is that good golf courses or even great golf courses can offer challenges that people may take as insurmountable but when the challenge is achieved the rewards are memorable. 




"The average club member on the other hand is a keen sportsman, he looks upon golf in the spirit of adventure and that is why St Andrews and courses modeled on similar ideals appeal to him".    Alister  Mackenzie




"It is wrong to bunker a course for the scratch man or We can't bunker this place to suit a duffer". But if every class of player is seeking a pleasant excitement and not a pound of flesh , the conflict of interests should be inappreciable"   H.S Colt

[Gib_Papazian]

I've found the modern ball and equipment has drastically changed my perception of bunkers from the tee, particularly when trying to pick out the tripwires and plot a reasonably doable path to the dance floor.


It seems to me (aside from TD, C&C, Jeff Bradley, etc), golf design has become a far more linear game with the new balls, in a sense making it harder for me to tack my way around - and especially play the ground game into the green complexes.


I always thought through nearly every shot with some kind of curved shot in mind. Bunker on the right off the tee? Well, give it a wide berth towards the left rough and curve it back to safety. If I come over the top a bit, I'm in the first cut, not quite enough movement, maybe a little tougher angle (assuming a Donald Ross "S-turn" par-4) . . . . but a solid fade/slice, middle of the fairway or right next to the bunker with a perfect angle.


Hitting a draw is literally encoded in my DNA, so that was always as easy "no brainer." (I hate that term, but have not had enough coffee not to resort to a hideous cliche)


But now - new "straight balls," with more steroids and epidurals in my spine than actual cartilage and bone - everything becomes an exercise in picking a spot and trying to hit a linear shot, without the benefit of a little breathing room.


Pietro sent me a couple sleeves of classic balatas and after my next plasma injections, going to see how they work with my 3-degrees open, oversized driver and fairway woods. One good thing, nobody paying attention would ever steal my bats - especially with the horse-cock arthritis grips.


The point is, PLAYING golf 20-odd years ago had an entire other dimension - and I find myself further from the hole when I finally reach the green, because it is difficult to "help" the ball totter along the contours towards the pin.


Maybe OT, maybe not, but for example, trying to sneak a tee shot in that little strip to the left of Shoe's bunker at Pac Dunes #2 was an incredible temptation given the ease of the approach from there.


Because the ball does not curve anymore, it is like playing to a long par-3 target with a driver - so without the fudge factor (early in the round, too), I end up whacking it to the right of Shoe and enduring a severely uphill (out of a divot, usually) approach from the wrong angle to that gorgeously placed green complex.


This is why watching Bubba Watson play golf makes my heart sing . . . . it is a game in which I used to be familiar.