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Sean_Tully

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Extreme bunkers
« on: July 24, 2007, 01:34:33 AM »
Post a pic of the craziest bunker that you have ever seen in person or in a photo.

Here's mine.



Lots of questions regarding this one...
Who built it?
Why?
Where did it fit in relation to the hole?
How did they maintain it?
Was this only on one hole or was it a feature found throughout the course?

Can anyone identify the course?

For a time frame this was published in 1894-5!
I will have to track down the magazine.

Tully
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wsmorrison

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2007, 07:46:47 AM »
The famous clubhouse is in its infancy in this photograph, it grows significantly longer and more impressive over time.  

This 5th hole was built as a 151-yard long and named “Bastion” due to the fortress-like embankment five feet high obstructing the approach to the green (to the left).  I'm not sure if it was designed and built by Willie Davis or Willie Dunne, but given the date of the photograph, it might be Davis as Dunne was revising and adding 6 holes to the 12 hole course in 1895.

The iteration today is my favorite course and bears no resemblance at all to this early iteration.  A famous curmudgeon completed a major redesign of the course in 1916.  A mere 15 years later, nothing was left of that design.  Except for lengthening, the course has remained remarkably true to its 1931 iteration.

Sean,

Would you please IM me if you find this article?  I would love to see the entire piece.  Thanks for posting the photograph.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2007, 07:49:13 AM by Wayne Morrison »
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Steve_ Shaffer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2007, 07:53:17 AM »
The clubhouse is by a famous architect- Stanford White.

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Jon Spaulding

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2007, 11:42:54 AM »
Attached is a photo of a recent "bunker" that I saw in person; Stone Eagle #8. Well positioned, a natural face, incredibly deep, somewhat hidden off the tee, but very much in the mind. In the designer's words, "the most severe hazard we've ever built on a golf course". Top notch.

Tee shot - a glimpse of the face on the RH side - very bold but ideal line for tee shot


Walking by - ~10' depth to base of pit
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You'd make a fine little helper. What's your name?

wsmorrison

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2007, 11:57:47 AM »
Other photos from the same course Sean posted earlier and all from 1894 (I think I remember the source):



Another photo of the Bastion Bunkers





Huntingdon Valley CC's 4th in 1899



Huntingdon Valley CC's 14th in 1909 with a raised bunker within the green (inspiration for George Thomas?)

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Scott_Burroughs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2007, 01:47:32 PM »
A few I've seen in person:




Not Oakmont:


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Brad Tufts

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2007, 01:49:46 PM »
Jon,

That bunker at SE is very deep, maybe 15-18 feet.  My ball during my one play there was suspended in the light green bush above the bunker at 9 o'clock in the photo.  I ended up getting up and down for a smooth 6.  Nice.
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So I jump ship in Hong Kong....

Patrick_Mucci

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2007, 02:11:09 PM »
Quote from: Sean_Tully on July 24, 2007, 01:34:33 AM




Sean,

I think it's a neat looking feature.

I'd like to understand its function better.

Does anyone have an aerial of this golf course, even one taken subsequent to the removal of the bunker feature ?[/color]


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wsmorrison

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2007, 02:28:13 PM »
Pat,

This hole ran SW with the green just N of the RR tracks 100 yards E of Tuckahoe Rd.  The sand faced the tee with the green on the opposite side of the mounding.  I haven't seen an aerial that shows remnants of the hole as it was replaced with Macdonald's holes.
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D_Malley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2007, 02:48:40 PM »
i will let the phila guys guess the course on this one

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Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2007, 02:49:50 PM »
Muirfield has a few very good bunkers, only one I'd call extreme.  If anyone has a photo of the cross bunkers at #17, please post it.  That is the narrowest, deepest, nastiest stacked sod bunker anywhere.  Not that I was ever in it!  :o

There's nothing too extreme about the right side greenside bunker on #18, but the island feature is pretty cool:

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wsmorrison

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2007, 02:58:50 PM »
Racetrack,

Oooh!  Oooh!  I know.  That's what results when you let a woman do a man's job.  Just kidding!
« Last Edit: July 24, 2007, 02:59:14 PM by Wayne Morrison »
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BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2007, 03:39:32 PM »
Racetrack -

Interesting picture. Are those cop bunkers on the left side of the picture? And what is that stuff top right? Alpinization?

So, Wayno, where was this stuff? Philly Cricket?

Bob
« Last Edit: July 24, 2007, 03:41:24 PM by BCrosby »
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Patrick_Mucci

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2007, 03:49:59 PM »
Quote from: Racetrack_George on July 24, 2007, 02:48:40 PM



Racetrack,

I don't know the golf course, but, I like a green surrounded by bunkers, especially daunting bunkers.

IM me the name of the golf course as I'd like to Google Earth it.

Thanks
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Mike_Cirba

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2007, 03:54:38 PM »
Wow, Racetrack...that was PH?

I know that course routing changed quite a bit over time.   Is that greensite still around?

Interestingly, the original was designed by J. Franklyn Meehan (who did other greens surrounded by bunkers at Ashbourne, for instance), and Frances Warner.
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D_Malley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2007, 04:26:03 PM »
not PH
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D_Malley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2007, 04:26:26 PM »
i thought wayne would know
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Steve_ Shaffer

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Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #17 on: July 24, 2007, 04:29:40 PM »
LuLu?

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"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

D_Malley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #18 on: July 24, 2007, 08:26:16 PM »
NOT LU LU
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D_Malley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #19 on: July 24, 2007, 08:27:51 PM »
the green sites in that pic are still in the same place today. i suspect some of them have been rebuilt.
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Mike_Cirba

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #20 on: July 24, 2007, 08:53:30 PM »
George,

Wow, those are sure some funky dolomites.

Has the course in question hosted a US Open?
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Tim Gavrich

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #21 on: July 24, 2007, 09:56:22 PM »
Call me crazy, but I like it.  It flies in the face of those who insist that the best golf courses are those who appear "to have been there all along" (to paraphrase).  Unabashed artificiality can be fun, and I think it adds a bit of "nouveau" artistry.

Call it a bit of Piet Mondrian in a world that mostly prefers the work of Winslow Homer.
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Forrest Richardson

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Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #22 on: July 24, 2007, 10:09:34 PM »


This bunker is nearly round, and about 60 feet across. The sleepers are quite laid back (their lazy I suppose) and form the greenside. A active railroad flanks the back of the green.

It does not win out over Bastion — I do not suppose any of us will be able (or desire) to match Bastion!

« Last Edit: July 24, 2007, 10:10:35 PM by Forrest Richardson »
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wsmorrison

Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #23 on: July 24, 2007, 10:42:27 PM »
Racetrack George's photograph is of The Springhaven Club.  Although Ida Dixon laid out the first course (perhaps the first female golf course architect in America) the geometric bunkers with rounded corners and mounding was the 1910 work of Herbert H Barker, professional at Garden City.  The line of play on the par 3 with the bunkers surrounding the green is from the bottom of the photograph.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2007, 10:44:11 PM by Wayne Morrison »
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Mark_Fine

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Re:Extreme bunkers
« Reply #24 on: July 25, 2007, 08:03:21 AM »
Wayne,
Are you sure that is Barker's work on the bunkers?  
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