It struck me that the last four links bunkers I visited (my memory could be faulty), two at Hoylake and two at Burnham, have been unpleasant experiences. The steepness of the walls, flat bottoms and/or the deep nature of seaside sand have conspired to make a reasonable play from them close to impossible. My take has always been "thats life, pick up and carry on" (in truth that is what I am still inclined to say). When I say reasonable it is in terms of matchplay and perhaps stableford. Going out backwards isn't much help when the opponent lies a birdie putt away from the hole. However, IMO in medal play going out backwards is not at all unreasonable. I had never considered the difference on how bunkers could play depending on the format of golf. Is this distinction valid?
I have also noticed that bunkers which gather from the tee/fairway tend to leave the player more options compared to bunkers which gather from the green. When I say gather from the green I mean balls that were on or near the green but take a contour turn and trickle into a bunker. Another case could be bunkers which lie between the green and mounding. So shots that are pin highish hit mounding and trickle into bunkers. Is there an intentional philisophical difference between the two styles which archies employ? For instance, do archies intentionally place greenside gathering bunkers on short par 3s?
Ciao