Bunkers that will never be in play

[CHrisB]

I was playing the Rawls Course in Lubbock for the first time last week when I saw a bunker cut into a ridge about 40 yards to the left and behind the 8th tee. I thought "Wow, that's a cool looking bunker. I wonder what hole it's on?"

Well, as it turns out, there is no hole over there, and that ridge is what separates the course from one of the adjacent roads. So I wondered, why is the bunker there? There was even a rake next to it.

I know I've seen this sort of thing before at a couple of other courses (though I can't remember where--one of them was in the Pinehurst area I think). I guess I don't really like OR dislike it, I'm just curious about it.

What is the thinking behind building bunkers like this that will never be in play, and that really aren't even on the course? Is it an attempt to tie in the course with its surroundings somehow, or is it simply to make people wonder (like I'm doing)

[cary lichtenstein]

You'll find lots of this at Whistling Straits...its a nice look and makes the site more cohesive

[Mike Nuzzo]

Doesn't Sand Hills have a lot of them?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Your on quite the tour. Friendly Hills one day, Lou Rawls the next. Impressive!

[Steve Curry]

Chris,

When I worked at Pine Valley I wondered why there were bunkers in the woods, now thanks to GCA, I know  


Steve

[Tom_Doak]

Chris:  I think the bunker you are talking about is in the background of #7, so that you might think it's close behind #7 green from spots in the fairway even though it is actually way back there.  But, we did also build some "eroded" features into the perimeter berm around the course to try to make it look like a natural landscape instead of a man-made berm.

And we are not above putting a bunker out there every once in a while just to make people wonder what we were doing.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Chris,

When I worked at Pine Valley I wondered why there were bunkers in the woods, now thanks to GCA, I know  

Steve,

And Brad Klein reports that we're considered "nuts"

[Dan Boerger]

I remember Ron Pritchard once stating that Donald Ross liked to occasionally place fairway bunkers close to the tee. It acts as a "visual" trap of sorts. The recently restored 12th hole at Aronimink is a good example of this. -Dan

[Steve Curry]

Steve,

And Brad Klein reports that we're considered "nuts"

He would know.  

[Matt_Cohn]

Could you make a case that, especially on a wide open site like Whistling Straits, out-of-play bunkers make things look more, gulp, natural? That is, that the bunkers "nature" created were randomly strewn about, rather than asking the golfer to believe that nature magically created a bunch of sandy spots right where all the fairways and greens were going to be?