Regarding Pete's famous bunker on the 16th of the Stadium Course at PGA West--here's the story behind it:
Most of the mayhem on this ultra-penal GC was done on purpose. But as has often been the case in his remarkable career, what has become one of the most memorable junctures on the course came about by accident. “I had envisioned a greenside bunker of medium depth on the par-5 16th,” explains Dye. “I told the bulldozer operator to dig until he hit water, but that didn’t happen until the pit was more than 20 feet deep.” The developers were dubious about the penal nature of the hazard, but Dye extricated a golf ball onto the putting surface on his very first attempt, so they let it stand.
Of course, Pete Dye was skillful enough to play in the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, and U.S. Open. The overwhelming majority of golfers stuck within this cavern of doom most assuredly are not. So the 20-foot-high wall of grass that must be carried to reach the putting surface is as imposing as the Berlin Wall and inspires more praying than the Wailing Wall. Dye once remarked: “No one can describe the jubilation of hitting a shot over the 20-foot-steep bank of that bunker.” Perhaps he meant that literally. No one can describe it because virtually no one can do it.