I recently played Ross/Silva's Biltmore GC near Miami, FL. The course has wonderful fairway bunkering. On most holes the player is forced with a choice to challenge the fairway bunker for a preferred length/angle of approach into the green, with the option of 'bailing-out' away from the bunker, leaving a more difficult approach.
BUT, on a few holes, successfully carrying the bunkers, means the golfer will find the rough. For those that have played the course, I'm thinking of holes 11 and 17 in particular. I originally attributed this to a poor choice of mowing lines -- simply expanding the fairways would solve the problem.
BUT, after reading Ben Sims' post on another thread about his trying to work out how the architect has tricked him, I wondered if the mowing lines are as intended, and Ross is simply mixing strategic and penal bunkering to trick the player (and Ben, please comment if this is not what you meant). Of course, there is no way for a golfer playing the course one time to know which fairway bunkers are which.
I am not a huge fan of this. Though, oddly, I found a similar style of fairway bunkering at Crag Burn in Buffalo (RTJ Sr.) and really like it. The big difference is that there the majority of bunkers were penal and a few were strategic. I found myself playing away from them, but when it turned out an advantage was to be had for challenging them, I couldn't help but wonder how I would play it next time.
Anyways, is this mixture of strategic and penal bunkering common? Is it something that you like?