Do We Need Fairway Bunkers? Golf.Com Says No

[Ronald Montesano]

My initial reaction to # 5 below is, what a buffoon? My measured one is, why don't we debate this?

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/van-cynical-mailbag-10-dirty-secrets-golf

[Nigel Islam]

When I played TOC, my caddie said they didn't need sand in any of the bunkers. He was like 22 years old, and I was very surprised someone that young said that, but I understood what he was getting at. Honestly for a good player, FW bunkers are 98% how the lip influences the next shot and has little to do with the sand itself.

[Garland Bayley]

If your course is flat, fairway bunkers are helpful.
However, with sufficient undulation properly utilized, most golfers will have enough challenge without them.

I don't care what the + handicaps want or need with respect to fairway bunkers.

[Thomas Dai]

The lip height does indeed have a significant influence, but so does the overall size of the bunker as a small sized bunker is more likely to result in an uneven or awkward stance given that there's a pretty good chance that either the player or the ball or both are close to the bunker sides/lips.

Grass bunkers (and subtle mounds) are good features too. I'd like to see more of them.

Atb

[Jason Thurman]

To be fair, the article doesn't say they aren't needed. It just says that no one would miss them if they were gone (except for architects).

I disagree. Some of my favorite moments in golf have come from pure shots out of fairway bunkers, like the 5 iron I drilled to set up a 15 foot eagle putt in my club matchplay championship last year. They also define some of my favorite tee shots in golf. I'll never forget playing The Trophy Club outside Indianapolis right when I was first growing an interest in GCA, and hitting the tee shots at 9 (right into the centerline bunker) and 15 (right over the bunker guarding the inside of the dogleg) and how thrilling shots like that can be. There are a lot of crappy fairway bunkers, but the good ones are really good and I'd miss the excitement they generate if they weren't around.

[jeffwarne]

My initial reaction to # 5 below is, what a buffoon? My measured one is, why don't we debate this?

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/van-cynical-mailbag-10-dirty-secrets-golf

It makes more sense than most of his other dopey proclamations
drivel

That said,
almost all newer high end courses are horribly overbunkered-a totally unnatural hazard in most places and expensive, out of the way eye candy.
But that applies to many greenside bunkers also

[David_Elvins]

I agree with the general premise.  Fairway bunkering is the most over-used GCA feature offering very poor value for money.   

[JMEvensky]

I can't believe his opinion on fairway bunkers (5) is getting more discussion here than his opinion on the cause of slow play(10).

[Michael Felton]

To offer a slightly different take on this, there are bunkers around that are much easier to at least get out of from sand than they would be if they were closely mown grass. It's much easier to get elevation on a shot from sand as you can get under it cleanly and easily. There are bunkers on some links courses that would be almost impossible if you had a firm base.

That said there are certainly some that are there to frame a hole and represent a lack of creativity from the architect. When they're shallow and offer no lip, they might as well be extensions of the fairway for top end players.

[Jim Tang]

A well placed fairway bunker creates a lot of strategic options and can greatly influence how a hole is played.  The more punishing the bunker, the more one must consider it before playing their shot.  I'm all for fairway bunkers, provided they are placed well and are true hazards.

[Sean_A]

I am aboout as anti-bunker as it gets, but I can't fathom a course which couldn't be improved by some well placed and sized fairway bunkers....even if we are talking 4-6 on the entire course.   

Ciao

[James Brown]

I think it's worth mentioning that so many fairway bunkers influence play strongly even though you might rarely be in them.  Hell Bunker is the best example I can think of but there are many more just like it.  Bunkers in the middle of the fairway are my favorites. 

[Brent Hutto]

To me fairway bunkers that you must fly the ball into are more trouble and cost than they are worth.

Fairway bunkering comes into its own IMHO when two things combine. The ball has to be able to roll or ideally gather into the bunker rather than only catching shots that fly into it. And the course has to be firm and fast enough to (potentially) reward shots by letting well-judged ones gain considerable distance.

The only courses that really have struck me as well bunkered are places like Ganton where properly planned and executed shots can end up much farther than I'd ever be able to play on a soft course but where almost every single tee shot must account for two or more fairway bunkers to be avoided. That's a lot of fun.

Just putting some big white sand traps out there in the rough on one side or another of a fairway on a typical softish course is a case of "fine, just don't hit it over there then". Blah.

[Keith OHalloran]

I think Fishers Island only has 1 fairway bunker, and it seems pretty well received.

[Ronald Montesano]

I can't believe his opinion on fairway bunkers (5) is getting more discussion here than his opinion on the cause of slow play(10).

JM,
As per Ran's request, I'm sticking to gca. #10 does not address gca in the slightest.

[John Kavanaugh]

The author is laying himself off as a common man yet he made match play at this years Senior Am. He ain't one of us. Oh, and he gets paid to write for an actual magazine. Who knew.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I think Fishers Island only has 1 fairway bunker, and it seems pretty well received.

You'd have to work pretty hard to put a ball in a fairway bunker at Yale. 

[Mark_Fine]

I wrote a book on bunkers but that doesn't mean I think there should be zillions of them including fairway bunkers on every golf course.  One of my favorite courses is Royal Ashdown Forrest and that layout doesn't have a single bunker on the entire golf course!!  However, what it does have that every great golf course MUST HAVE is great hazards.  The hazards there just don't happen to be sand filled bunkers. 

Fishers Island as was pointed out, doesn't have many fairway bunkers (only one).  The Lake Course at Olympic has only one fairway bunker as well, but both courses offer plenty of other challenge and hazards on the tee shots. 

I get to see a lot of golf courses where many of the fairway bunkers ofter little if any added interest or strategy to the golf hole.  Sometimes I think they are there just because the architect (or maybe some greens committee) felt every hole needs bunkers. 

Bottomline is that every situation is different.  Sometimes no fairway bunkers is perfect and other times a half dozen or more might be ideal!  Variety of the playing fields is one of the great distinctions of our game!

[Jeff_Brauer]

To be honest, in the american style, once you have rough bordering each fairway, the fw bunkers are pretty small potatoes.  You might have 3 acres of rough and 3,000 SF of bunkers, or about 2% of the total for punishing a bad shot.

Now, in all short turf, like the former Augusta, or many Scottish courses, a well placed fairway bunker or two might mean the difference in how you play the hole.  The strategy of the things reduced greatly once rough became standard.

[Doug Siebert]

As I've written about previously more than a few times, my favorite course in the area is a little gem called Saddleback Ridge, which has some quirk (6 par 5s / 6 par 4s / 6 par 3s, including a streak of 6 holes in a row on the back without a par 4) a feature everyone hates but doesn't really seem out of place in this instance (internal OB) and has exactly two bunkers.

One of which I've yet to see anyone be in - though my dad came close this year - and the other which doesn't affect the play of the hole too much.  It is on the inside of a slight dogleg on a par 5, if you go further left there are trees and 20 yards further left is OB, and the 'speed slot' is on the other side of the fairway!

There are maybe a dozen deep grass 'pot' bunkers which maybe were intended as sand at one point and the architect changed his mind, or maybe they were designed as grass bunkers.  They're mostly in the fairway where you have a 50-100 yard shot and the rough in them leaves a trickier shot for better players and an easier shot for poor players.  This course doesn't get the rough very high, but the ones in the fairway have some of the lushest rush on the course - very good for flyer lies!

I keep saying they should fill in those two bunkers so it could add "no bunkers" to its list of quirk list....

[Garland Bayley]

I can't believe his opinion on fairway bunkers (5) is getting more discussion here than his opinion on the cause of slow play(10).

Jeff addressed it. Drivel. And we all agree.

[Paul Gray]

Let me just get this right:

Back in 1901, John Low and Stuart Paton wandered onto the 4th hole at Woking and decided it needed two bunkers In the fairway. By doing so they apparently made the hole WORSE.

OK then.

[Paul Jones]

I think most courses would be better with fewer bunkers.  My home course only has 3 holes that fairway bunkers are in play off the tee.  I really hate when there are bunkers on both side the fairway (unless there is a substanial different distances).

[Keith Doleshel]

I am a bigger fan of fairway or cross bunkers which influence strategy on a second shot on a par 5.  As was stated earlier, many courses have fairway bunkers surrounded by rough which negate the bunker in many instances.  A well placed fairway bunker serves that serves a purpose is all too rare on many courses though.

[Paul Gray]

I could live without the vast majority of penally placed bunkers, many of which simply prevent a ball from actually running into further trouble. And anything which serves as eye candy can certainly can certainly be filled in.

I am however a huge fan of any cross hazard which makes the golfers thinking about angles. I can't possibly see how the game would be improved without them. Actually, I'm reminded of Tom Doak commenting that whilst Royal Ashdown Forest is a very fine course, it would be improved with the odd bunker here or there.  And as I mentioned before, what of the 4th at Woking, just as an example?