This just seems like an attempt to create a modern frilly bunker look. If you took a close up picture (black and white) of a bunker without saying where it was and asked the forum who the architect was, it would be interesting to see the answers. 😂
Exactly, it looks like every other "minimalist" bunker being built today?
Well, that's exactly the problem. Pine Valley isn't supposed to look like Mammoth Dunes or WorldWoods.
All of the original bunkers on that hole were still there just hidden under the trees. It would have taken painstaking work to clear all the trees and stumps away while preserving those contours, but one would assume a place like Pine Valley could afford that if that's what their designer recommended.
Unfortunately, they decided that would be a waste of time and it would be easier just to nuke the whole area and reshape it. And they actually believe their work is BETTER than the original work.
While I'm on topic, no, not all modeen bunkers look alike. The bunker style at Pacific Dunes is different than Ballyneal or The Loop, although they tend to evolve in the same direction over time thanks to wind and weather and the superintendent's eye. And when we have done renovations at SFGC or Camargo or The Valley Club or whatever, we did NOT build the same bunkers we would on a new course - we built them as close as we could to the original pictures. The similarity exists because our new bunkers were inspired by the old work we have all seen in photos.