The Unused Bunker

[Bill Seitz]

On the latest version of the video game PGA Tour 2k21, there's a fairly accurate* user created version of Augusta.  The courses in the game all have, for lack of a better term, profile pics, usually a signature hole or something that gives the potential player a feel for the theme of the course.  For Augusta**, it's just basically the outline of that bunker.  Are there any other bunkers for which you could just show someone a picture of the outline, and they'd immediately know what course it was from?  Maybe the church pews?


*Fairly accurate in the opinion of someone who watches the event every year and has walked the course once.  There may be some imperfections, but it's pretty good.


**It's not called Augusta National in the game.  Faithful recreations of Augusta tend to get turfed if they get too much publicity.

[Ben Stephens]

You don't need to be in that bunker for it to be in play. One of MacKenzies tricks was making bunkers look as though they blend into each other from a certain angle even though there might be a bit of distance between them. So it is with the fairway bunker and bunker to the right of the green. I appreciate these guys are so dialled in to how far they hit the ball with each and every club but you'd think a trick like that that foreshortens the hole might put some doubt in their mind in which case it's done its job.

Niall

Except that MacKenzie didn't build the bunker to the right of the green.

Damn !!!

Still, the theory still stands irrespective of who designed/built them. I'd be interested to know who is responsible for the right hand bunker and whether what I described had any bearing. As an aside, the bunkering at Duff House Royal works very well in this fashion.

Niall

I think Perry Maxwell built that green, and presumably the green side bunker. MacKenzie's hole had the green close to the squiggly bunker.

Maxwell, an associate of Mackenzie did the green in 1937 with a pot bunker on the right in the same year. One wonders if it was already discussed between the two to relocate it.


In 1968 the right green side bunker was enlarged (not sure who by)


Original green was 59 yards long which is 24 yards longer than the current green