If all sand bunkers were ponds

[Thomas Dai]

Hypothetical and somewhat tongue in cheek but if all sand bunkers, every one of them, were ponds consider how different the game would be.
Firstly, there might not be so many!!! No bad thing perhaps.
They’d be proper hazards once again. Proper obstacles. Keep away or else!
No more deliberate aiming for them. No more “get in the bunker”.
Heroic shot potential including golf balls that float (like they once did).
Would maintenance/cost aspects be any greater? Sand bunkers already being a huge maintenance burden/cost.
No need for raking and no balls in footprints! Ball retrievers and rescue rings/floats maybe needed.
The need to watch for crocs and ‘gators in some places maybe.
Thoughts?
Atb

[jeffwarne]

Hypothetical and somewhat tongue in cheek but if all sand bunkers, every one of them, were ponds consider how different the game would be.
Firstly, there might not be so many!!! No bad thing perhaps.
They’d be proper hazards once again. Proper obstacles. Keep away or else!
No more deliberate aiming for them. No more “get in the bunker”.
Heroic shot potential including golf balls that float (like they once did).
Would maintenance/cost aspects be any greater? Sand bunkers already being a huge maintenance burden/cost.
No need for raking and no balls in footprints! Ball retrievers and rescue rings/floats maybe needed.
The need to watch for crocs and ‘gators in some places maybe.
Thoughts?
Atb

They'd be maintained to precise depth of 1 1/2 inch so you could hit a "fair" recovery shot from them.
Of course setting up the complaint after a rainstorm that the ponds were too deep.
The upside being you could walk on water.

[Dave Doxey]

I could always get out in 1 stroke.

[Matt Schoolfield]

I don't dislike the sand bunkers. I dislike the rakes.

[Kyle Harris]

“The white face of Merion” were derived from Hugh Wilson’s idea that a bunker which always demanded a functional one-stroke penalty was contrary to the point of bunkers precisely because a water hazard served the exact same purpose.


Bunkers *should* offer recovery. But also uncertainty.


There’s nothing uncertain about a water hazard.

[Carl Rogers]

A boon for the ball retriever industry

[Pete Lavallee]

Interesting question, I dislike ponds and lakes for that matter and consider them my least favorite contribution to golf course architecture. There’s a finality to them that seems unacceptable; you loose a stroke and a $4 golf ball! Now I do love the ocean as a hazard and creeks are super cool too. Why is that?


In trying to come up with the best ponds on golf courses I can nominate the one on the 6th at West Sussex; it’s avoidable or one can try to make the carry. The fact that it doesn’t actually front the green probably plays a huge role.


Let’s face it; ponds confound normal golfers while giving little pause to the elite player. Is that a feature that should be applauded?


Can anyone come up with a pond that actually makes the hole better?

[Mark Pearce]

“The white face of Merion” were derived from Hugh Wilson’s idea that a bunker which always demanded a functional one-stroke penalty was contrary to the point of bunkers precisely because a water hazard served the exact same purpose.


Bunkers *should* offer recovery. But also uncertainty.


There’s nothing uncertain about a water hazard.

This.


Bunkers perform a different function and add a test of a different skill.

[Enno Gerdes]

“The white face of Merion” were derived from Hugh Wilson’s idea that a bunker which always demanded a functional one-stroke penalty was contrary to the point of bunkers precisely because a water hazard served the exact same purpose.


Bunkers *should* offer recovery. But also uncertainty.


There’s nothing uncertain about a water hazard.

This.


Bunkers perform a different function and add a test of a different skill.

+1


Also: as a 14 hcp, I don't "deliberately aim" at bunkers. I slice the ball into bunkers. Or hook the ball into bunkers. If all bunkers were water, I'm pretty sure there would be no amateur game to speak of (unless balls float and/or are easily recoverable from the water).

[Thomas Dai]

How would your playing strategy - and course and temperament management are skills - change if all sand bunker were ponds?
Or would't it change?
And would your gross scores go up or come down?
atb

[Mark Pearce]

How would your playing strategy - and course and temperament management are skills - change if all sand bunker were ponds?
Or would't it change?
And would your gross scores go up or come down?
atb

If greenside bunkers were ponds, I wouldn't play the game, as Enno suggested.

[Tom_Doak]

I can still remember that when Ben Crenshaw came back from Royal Melbourne the first time, he wrote to me that what impressed him most about it was that it was "36 holes with no water hazards!" [emphasis Ben's]

[Scott Weersing]

Hypothetical and somewhat tongue in cheek but if all sand bunkers, every one of them, were ponds consider how different the game would be.
Firstly, there might not be so many!!! No bad thing perhaps.
They’d be proper hazards once again. Proper obstacles. Keep away or else!
No more deliberate aiming for them. No more “get in the bunker”.
Heroic shot potential including golf balls that float (like they once did).
Would maintenance/cost aspects be any greater? Sand bunkers already being a huge maintenance burden/cost.
No need for raking and no balls in footprints! Ball retrievers and rescue rings/floats maybe needed.
The need to watch for crocs and ‘gators in some places maybe.
Thoughts?
Atb

Then you would be in Virginia Beach or Myrtle Beach or any place with a high water table.


We have lots of rain and water has to go somewhere. Fortunately, most courses try to keep the lakes away from the fairways. VB National, a Pete Dye-Curtis Strange design has water on holes 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. Not bad on the back as it goes through a forest.


What if we played with a floating golf ball like those driving ranges built in a quarry. https://theislandsgolfcenter.com/information/

[Thomas Dai]

Ok then, how about replacing the pond/water thought with say something like a pit full of snakes and scorpions or boiling oil or hot lava or a septic pit.
Would your playing strategy change?
Atb

[John Mayhugh]

Thomas,
If bunkers were places a player couldn't try to recover from - instead taking a penalty shot - then of course there would be far fewer of them and placement would be much more careful. Players would absolutely have to show them more respect. This is all obvious. And wouldn't make golf better at all.

Bunkers with a more severe penalty (e.g. not raked, more vertical faces) would make for a more practical discussion. Stroke play has to be one of the biggest culprits in making bunkers easier to escape from.

[Kalen Braley]

Thomas,

A more cost effective solution than digging ponds everywhere on your "Dream course" is just to plant a bunch of these guys and they will give you the same 1 shot penalty with an unplayable lie. 

[Thomas Dai]

A bit too obtuse I suspect. Never mind.
Atb

[Erik J. Barzeski]

They’d be proper hazards once again. Proper obstacles. Keep away or else!

For 99% of golfers… they already are "proper" obstacles/hazards.

[David_Tepper]

"For 99% of golfers… they already are "proper" obstacles/hazards."

Exactly! In fact I would bump up the ratio to 99.9% of all golfers. Even the best 1,000 golfers in the world, who are playing out of the best, most consistently groomed bunkers, don't get "up & down" much more than half the time. And they are also great putters putting on well conditioned greens.

Right now there are 100-110 players on the PGA Tour with a sand save percentage of 50% or better, 30-35 players on the Tour Champions with a sand save percentage of 50% or better and 35-40 LPGA players with the same stats.

But don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions.

[Pete_Pittock]

a. Gene Sarazen would have never invented the sand wedge.
b. I wouldn't trip and fall getting into and out of ponds to hit a shot a few times a year.
c. More red and yellow paint and stakes.
d. Definitely less maintenance costs.
e. A betting pool to see which private club first puts in a fountain.
f.  Fazio would lower the surface a bit so he could install a waterfall.
g. Agree on requirement for a mae west or a life-ring; or,
h. four foot high chain link fence around each pond because it is an attractive hazard (for toddlers, not golf balls).
i.  more Canadian geese attracted.
j. also mosquitoes and other flying pests.


and
k. the 6th hole at Riviera would be quickly re-designed.