Muirfield's Bunkers

[Adam Lawrence]

While doing some Colt research, I found an article on his 1923/4 rebuild of Muirfield, which said that, though the main construction work was done, the position of bunkers was still largely to be decided, in the light of how the holes played (presumably therefore mostly by Robert Maxwell, who collaborated closely with Colt on the project).


I wonder if this contributes to the regard in which Muirfield's bunkering is held?

[Niall C]

Adam,

Could be but I wonder if it's not a product of Muirfield being a) a great course, and b) the bunkers being the principal feature. Arguably the architect(s) over compensated in terms of the number of bunkers given the relative lack of natural features but what was there certainly seems to work well.

How do the position of Colt's bunkers compare to what's there now ?

Niall

[Tim Gallant]

Adam,


Interesting! I noticed that the new Machrie has been using a similar tactic. When I played the course two years ago, there were 4 bunkers I believe, and they all came in the first 6 holes.


On their Twitter account they are doing hole-by-hole features, and I see they have added in a number of new bunkers, which look like they add to the strategy (based on what I saw on my one play there).


I know it's not necessarily a new concept, but I like the idea of a new course taking its time to mature. And once it's well enough, it's left alone

[MCirba]

In our pre-packaged, "GREAT on day one" world, it may be surprising to learn that "study(ing) play to determine the best places to locate bunkers" was the rigorous methodology of the best courses that evolved in early American golf, including NGLA and Merion East.   

[Thomas Dai]

I’d be interested to know if Muirfield had its now (in)famous long rough back in the distant past or whether in yee olde days any sheep etc grazed the property thus keeping the rough down or even semi-nonexistent.
I ask this because if so the playing angles would likely have been very different, much wider, thus the desire for more bunkering as hazards to ‘play around’. Not sure I’ve written this as well as I could have done but folks will probably get my drift.
Atb

[Michael Wolf]

Thomas, I don't know about sheep on the course, but there were certainly sheep nearby -


Part of AF Simpson's 6&5 defeat at the hands of American Jesse Sweetser in the 1926 Amateur was blamed on Simpsons late arrival to the first tee. His taxi was said to have been delayed by a flock of sheep on the roadway.


On a serious note, there's an aerial photograph taken in 1920 of the 18th green and surrounding area. It does not appear to show any trace of the long wispy grass that's closely associated with Muirfield today. But the massive bunker guarding the front of the green at that time is certainly interesting.


Michael

[MCirba]

Michael,


Any chance of sharing that photo?  Thanks.

[Michael Wolf]

I'm afraid I still don't know how to upload pictures onto this website, but the picture can be found on page 18 of Norman Mair's 1994 book celebrating the HCEG 250th anniversary.


Or if you're on Twitter, I posted the photo on my @BamaBearcat account on April 24th of this year.


Sorry I can't be more helpful. That front bunker looked ferocious.


Michael

[MCirba]

Thanks, Michael.


I'll do some digging.

[Thomas Dai]

Here's the photo from Michael's Twitter a/c.
atb



PS - I also struggle to post photos direct to GCA threads but from Twitter it's possible to copy the photos image address and paste it herein.

[Niall C]

In our pre-packaged, "GREAT on day one" world, it may be surprising to learn that "study(ing) play to determine the best places to locate bunkers" was the rigorous methodology of the best courses that evolved in early American golf, including NGLA and Merion East.

Mike

That was the standard procedure brought over with the early professionals. What is surprising, to me at least, is that they were still doing that in the years leading up to WWII. I'm sure they allowed for revisals and there was always ongoing tweaks but wasn't aware they were still holding off doing any bunkering until play begun.

Niall

[MCirba]

Thanks, Thomas Dai for the pic.   Pretty cool.

Niall, agree that I'm surprised to learn this practice continued into the 1920s. 

[Tom_Doak]

In our pre-packaged, "GREAT on day one" world, it may be surprising to learn that "study(ing) play to determine the best places to locate bunkers" was the rigorous methodology of the best courses that evolved in early American golf, including NGLA and Merion East.

That approach worked a lot better when you didn't have to worry about the irrigation lines and cart paths being in the way of digging the bunkers.