This from a piece which appeared in Golfing magazine 1913.

It seems to me that the main point which MacKenzie is trying to make here is that bunkers should be located in the line to the hole. And there appears to have been some resistance to his prescription here. I wonder how club members would react to this critic of bunkering today ?

Dr. A MacKenzie, of Leeds, in his report to the committee of the Ganton Club upon the condition of that course, lays down several interesting theories of bunker construction. He says:

   “The suggested bunkers have been placed on the principle that the player who carries or runs very close to the tee shot bunkers will find it much easier to avoid the second lot of bunkers. This makes a player attempt to place his shots with very great accuracy, and help to make holes of infinite interest.
   “It is always well to remember the first fundamental principle in placing bunkers; that no bunker is unfair wherever it is placed, as it is obviously, to say the least, an error in judgment if a player gets into a bunker wherever it may be. All bunkers, however, should be made visible, and, as a general rule, the place where an extra long driver gets, namely, from 200 to 280 yards from the tee should be comparatively free from hazards.
   “Bunkers should never be made more than 10 to 20 yards from the direct line to the hole. Bunkers off the fairway are not interesting, but simply irritating.
   “Bunkers should be made as high as possible at the sides, but should not be made so high in the direct line to the hole, that they block the view to the green.
   “All your bunkers should be made as rough, rugged, and natural looking as possible.
   “Your green-guarding bunkers and hummocks should be directly on the edge of the greens, then the player who is wide of them has an extremely difficult pitch, and is frequently worse off than the man who is in them.
   “The greens should be guarded more severely on one side than the other. This makes the hole more interesting from the tee shot onwards, as the player is always attempting to place his shots so as to open the hole for the approach.
   “Have large fairways, and cut them in irregular curves, and not in strait lines, they should gradually widen where the long driver gets.
   “Rough grass is of little interest as a hazard, and causes infinite annoyance in lost balls. No one ever gets the same thrills in driving over rough grass as over a fearsome-looking bunker (which in reality, may not be so severe).
   “In making interesting bunkers, green committees are frequently handicapped by members complaining that a bunker is being constructed where a good shot goes. It is an obvious retort that no perfect shot ever gets into a bunker, as a bunker is clearly the wrong spot on which to place one’s shot.
   “A bunker placed where the majority of players go is frequently of the most interest, as then a special effort is needed to get over or avoid it.
   “I do not suggest that you should smother your course with bunkers, but I do suggest that each bunker should be placed so as to have some influence on the line of play to the hole, and not simply with the malignant desire to punish a weak player. Your course would be not the slightest bit less interesting if three quarters of your present bunkers off the line were simply converted to grassy hollows.

Bradley,

There are a few other notions you could take away from these quotes, if you wished:

as a general rule, the place where an extra long driver gets, namely, from 200 to 280 yards from the tee should be comparatively free from hazards.

Sounds like Gary Player, no?  

Do we really believe this?

   “Bunkers should never be made more than 10 to 20 yards from the direct line to the hole. Bunkers off the fairway are not interesting, but simply irritating.

  
So maybe this is why so many clubs narrowed fairways?

      “A bunker placed where the majority of players go is frequently of the most interest, as then a special effort is needed to get over or avoid it.

   I do suggest that each bunker should be placed so as to have some influence on the line of play to the hole, and not simply with the malignant desire to punish a weak player.

In combination with quote one, this means no bunkers from 200-280, and presumably no bunkers less than 200 (today) as they are weaker players.  So, he advocated bunkers at about 200 yards in 1913?  Would this translate to a formula of bunkers at about 220-230 today?

Your course would be not the slightest bit less interesting if three quarters of your present bunkers off the line were simply converted to grassy hollows.

Did 1950-60's clubs rely on this statement to convert old, short bunkers to grass?  And if so, why restore them now?

On most golf courses today, it would be hard to sell what MacKenzie is suggesting here, because the corridors of play are so restricted and narrowed by trees. When a corridor is only 40 yards wide, we are very hesitant to place a bunker in the line of play because there is no alternate line around the hazard that doesn't bring is in to the trees. This is another example of how trees have taken a lot stratedgy away from the game. Where trees have overgrown a golf course you will rarely encounter bunkering in the center regions of the hole corridor, near the line. More often the bunkering will be on the wings of the hole.

Of course MacKenzie could make these suggestions because there were no problems with excessive forrestation of golf course at this early stage of the game. But it does appear that he was met with some resistance at mere addition of more bunkering.