Muirfield's bunkers are justifiably famous-beautiful shaped and true "gathering" bunkers.  But they didn't always looks like this.  The old photo below was taken very soon after Colt's  redesign and show his prefered "natural" style.

Which style do you prefer?





NB  This is obviously the current 18th.  But on the b&w photo it's labeled as the 9th.  Would the current 9th be a better finishing hole?  

Paul

I'll take the current bunkers.  To my taste they fit the pure links style of the course better.  They also keep their sand in place in the constant winds and the current style will give more irregular stances, lies and swings.  I believe the evolution of Muirfield's bunkers is much for the better.

I reckon that the bunkers in the b&w pic would have been closer to the norm in the 1920s when this pic was taken (look at old pics of Hell bunker for example).  So when did revetting and sod wall bunkers become the mode?  

I actually prefer the randomness of the old bunkers, but still love the moulded/beveled look to the new pots.  

The old bunkers remind me of those at Pacific Dunes...so will we see more formalised bunkers at PD in decades to come?

Paul,

I have been fortunate enough to play there, and the bunkers were spectacular, so I couldn't imagine changing them (back).

Robert,

I just don't get your comment about the clubhouse, it is  essentially the same building.

Great contrasting pictures.

I will take the bottom/new bunkers.

IMHO, they are the same bunkers, modified over the years by the super for practical reasons, which are obvious in photo one - Murifield winds was blowing sand out of the bunkers to easily.

I'm surprised no one suggested taking down the trees, even if they are behind the clubhouse and quite possibly off the property, as having no place on a links course!

Jeff
Spoken like a true disciple of RB Harris.

Jeff
I have to bow to your maintenance expertise, but with all due respect Colt had been dealing with links golf for 30 years when he redesigned Muirfield (he started at Rye in the 1890's). What do you think you know about links golf architecture/maintenace that Colt might not have been aware?

Tom,

Just speculation, but it could be that he was using the native sand, and it proved to be finer and lighter at Muirfield than other places he worked.  Thus, he may not have realized the problem until after it occurred.  

Or, he just liked the visibility of flash bunkers, and used them, despite the problems for architectural reasons alone.

Or, it may have seemed acceptable to him, or the club at the time to lose some blowing sand, but as maintenance standards rose, some future superintendent or greens chair  (or greens chair golfing wife) decided something had to be done.

Or, perhaps, low set bunkers simply became trendy at some point past his work, and all the Scottish clubs jumped on the me too bandwagon.

Or, maybe the R and A decided one year that the bunkers needed to be toughened up for the Open, and grassnig the banks certainly make them appear deeper, steeper, and more penal.

Or, do you think any or all of the trends listed above is a new phenonemon, and limiited soley to classic courses of the US?

Just some thoughts!

it seems to me that the bunkers in the first photos had been recently created by excavation.

maybe colt over excavated knowing the edges would fill in .....maybe that was his intent and not a concern.
maybe not.

given the maintenance practices of the day and lack of irrigation ,it would have been much easier to let the edges grow in naturally over time.

Richard
The architectural bug has yet hit the UK like it has here in the States. Might we see St.Andrews, Muirfield, Machrahanish, Princes, Westward Ho!, Sandwich, etc. return someday to their more natural appearance when retro hits the British Isles? Afterall County Down for some reason never succumbed and my sense is RCD's bunkers are considered numero uno in Europe. And St.Andrews survived au natural for 100+ years. I'm looking forward to that day.

When did the grass faced pit become standard?

Jeff
I like your third reason. Are these bunkers shallower than the present bunkers--the flattening photographs make them look about the same depth.

Just as another point of interest, many of the bunkers at Muirfield, prior to Colt, were faced with railway sleepers.  Colt had a strong dislike for this style but perhaps it was necessary for erosion prevention.  I'll see if I can dig up a circa 1908 pic for further comparison.

Tom

Don't hold your breath wating for the "architectural bug" to hit the UK.  If it does, it will be likely that Fazio-Rees School will be the main beneficiary.

Tom and Paul

Good questions re: the history of revetting.  My recollection is that when I first visited Scotland in 1978, most bunkers were "sodded" in only a token sense.  This recollection is reinforced by both my old (1976) copy of World Atlas of Golf, which shows only one revetted bunker (a pretty mangy one at Lytham) and my collection of photos from (mostly) Dornoch at around that time.  My more recent recollection is that the revetting movement really began to take hold in the latter half of the 1980's.  I think it was due to a number of factors, particularly:

1.  Prior to that time most maintenance, even at the "top" courses, was done by one man and his dog (or maybe a couple of the village idiots).  There just wasn't enough manpower or money to have more than a perfunctory programme of bunker resotration.

2.  Until that time, there was not that much play on these courses, and so annual damage to bunker faces and edges was relatively minimal and could be repaired at leisure during the mwinter months.

3.  Until then, there was not that much demand for courses (and their bunkers) to "look good."  Two things changed this.  Firstly, the increasing number of visitors (largely American), who were conditioned to greater aestheitc beauty (the Augusta Syndrome).  Secondly, the increasing visits of UK golfers to places like Spain and Florida, where they experienced more highly manicured courses, and THEY LIKED IT!

4.  And most importantly, the revetting of bunkers faces is the best long term solution for keeping their shape and playability.  Now that most UK courses have sufficient manpower and budgets to do so, on a planned roll out basis, they do.

I don't think we'll see any plantings of hairy edges at othe courses than RCD.  It's their thang, and it works for them.  However, Tom, I really don't think that their bunkering would be seen by any group other than the MacKenzie Tendency of this extremist clique we call GCA as being "considered numero uno in Europe."  Top 20 maybe, if one were to believe in such ratings, but not much better......