America's Fiercest Bunker

[Jonathan Cummings]

The 4th at Sand Hills?
Forget the DAH how about the bunker around PVGC's 8th green.
Pick any thousand at Whistling Staits...

What do you think?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Maybe the Church Pews?  Lots of little banks you can be right up against.

Great thread, although some will say we don't need to get down to ranking bunkers individually!  I say why not.

[Tim Bert]

The Jaws bunker to the right side of Pacific Dunes 18?  Not the front part of that bunker where you can hit a recovery shot. I'm talking about the middle portion where both the front lip and back lip might swallow your club whole as you attempt a swing.

[Mac Plumart]

11 at Tobacco Road



17 at Longshadow




These are both bunkers you want to avoid at all costs.

[Ron Csigo]

I nominate the bunker running along the right side of the fairway up into the green on hole #5 - Shipwreck @ Boston Golf Club.  If you're in the fairway waste bunker right, a blind, uphill shot from hell to the tiniest green awaits you.  If you're in the extremely narrow greenside bunker, there's barely enough room to get the club up and down on your sand shot.  If not hit perfectly, it results in a bladed sand shot or a second attempt at your original sand shot.  BTW, the hole only plays 317 yards.

[Mac Plumart]

The 4th hole's greenside bunker at The Bear's Club caused me some issues...

[Ron Csigo]

The 4th hole's greenside bunker at The Bear's Club caused me some issues...

Both of them.    Not to mention that the green slightly resembles the hood of a Volkswagon Beetle.

[JR Potts]

No bunker has been as fierce on a pocketbook as That swath of sand on the 18th hole at Whistling Straits.

The bunker on the 6th hole on the straits course or 10th at pine valley are up there for me.

[Colin Macqueen]

Mac,
I am religious about my golf but this thread was surely not intended as a confessional box!

Ach, yes from my experience (not American) one can easily make a spectacle of oneself in #14 at Carnoustie, The Spectacles.

Colin

[Mac Plumart]

 

Colin...my apologies for airing my grievances and past sins at The Bear's Club.  But I noticed Ron was online and he witnessed my disaster on that hole.  So, I wanted to get that out there for him to see.  And in fact, I still haven't put the ball in the hole at the 4th at The Bear's Club.  

More with spirit of the thread...

13 at Harbour Town is an interesting bunker/green combination.

[Tom_Doak]

It is not the hardest individual bunker, but the most daunting recovery shot at Pacific Dunes is from the first left-hand fairway bunker on #18.  It's a reasonably deep and narrow bunker in and of itself, but the daunting part is that the only two options are to wuss out, or to try to carry about 175 yards over the big sandy waste and the ridge on the left with your next shot.

[Tim Gavrich]

The bunker guarding the front of the second green at Ballyhack gets my vote.

[Jason Baran]

Front right bunker, 14th at Bethpage Black, to a frontside pin position.  Impossible. 

[Ken Fry]

While I'm not a big fan of the course, the 11th hole on the Irish Course at Whistling Straits has a bunker left of the green which is quite unique.  It's set into the base of a huge mountain of sand with a very small opening facing the tees and then a 7 foot high wall that wraps from the front opening around the back of the bunker and into the sand dune.

I didn't try a shot out of the bunker but did walk into it.  I felt like I was in a closet.  Think of a long and narrow pot bunker you don't walk down to get into.  I've never witnessed a bunker like this anywhere.

Ken

[Matt Kardash]

How has the San Andreas fault bunker at PGA West not been named? A 20ft foot deep greenside bunker up a sheer face.

[Adam Clayman]

Until someone gets into every single one, how can one even begin to opine?

Then there's the fact that truly great shots can only come from the worst spots. So, it's deceptive on what would be the fiercest, because the sportsman would invariably overcome the challenge, making it appear not so fierce. It's a chicken and egg thing.

[Richard Choi]

[JNC Lyon]

18th at Garden City: fearsome version of the Strath that will catch any mis-hit long iron.

[Bill_McBride]

It is not the hardest individual bunker, but the most daunting recovery shot at Pacific Dunes is from the first left-hand fairway bunker on #18.  It's a reasonably deep and narrow bunker in and of itself, but the daunting part is that the only two options are to wuss out, or to try to carry about 175 yards over the big sandy waste and the ridge on the left with your next shot.

You beat me to it.  Been there, done that.  Par is nearly impossible from that bunker.

[Phil_the_Author]

Jason,

IMO I think there are fiercer bunkers on the Black than that one on 14. For example, the front right greenside bunker on 16. There is no up and down from there, only up and up! The wonderful carry bunker off the tee on 5. But the fiercest, toughest, most daunting bunker on the Black, and one that can hold its own with any other bunker anywhere, is the monstrously large waste bunker that goes on seemingly forever in all directions, especially when played from the championship tee way back right on the 7th hole.

All that being said, I do like your choice and the way you think...

[Adam Clayman]

Not the fiercest until you're laying 3, but as Richard encourages...



Or was it this?...

[jkinney]

The pot bunker guarding the middle front of the 7th green at NGLA ("St. Andrews") is the consistently most troublesome that I've run across. It's known as "the devil's a..hole", and it has everything to do with both the 2nd and 3rd shot placement on the short par five. It is so deep that even a wide open 60 degree sand wedge sometimes won't elevate the ball enough to clear the lip. On a number of occasions I've used the little known stroke & distance option available from a bunker under the Ball Unplayable rule.

[PCCraig]

The "devil's asshole" at PV is no cakewalk, and it has a fierce name.

[Eric Smith]

Until someone gets into every single one, how can one even begin to opine?

Then there's the fact that truly great shots can only come from the worst spots. So, it's deceptive on what would be the fiercest, because the sportsman would invariably overcome the challenge, making it appear not so fierce. It's a chicken and egg thing.

You mean like when someone has a fried egg lie AND a yucca stuck up their arse while playing the shot?!  If so, then I'll nominate the one back behind 9 green at Ballyneal.

[Bill_McBride]

The pot bunker guarding the middle front of the 7th green at NGLA ("St. Andrews") is the consistently most troublesome that I've run across. It's known as "the devil's a..hole", and it has everything to do with both the 2nd and 3rd shot placement on the short par five. It is so deep that even a wide open 60 degree sand wedge sometimes won't elevate the ball enough to clear the lip. On a number of occasions I've used the little known stroke & distance option available from a bunker under the Ball Unplayable rule.

I thought it was a dead ringer for the Road Hole bunker.  Isn't that what it's supposed to replicate?