BUNKERS or BONKERS?
The majority of golfers would consider a course without bunkers to be inferior to those with. But is this the case? Are modern courses being built with bunkers just because it’s the right thing to do rather than an important feature of the course? Jonathan Gaunt, Golf Course Architect and Senior Member of EIGCA, offers an insight into the history, design and maintenance of sand traps
I
f you ask a club member in the UK whether a golf course could be considered a good golf course without
bunkers, the majority would, almost certainly, say no. However, there are some excellent (hidden) examples of great golf courses without bunkers - Huntercombe, Royal Ashdown and Piltdown to name but a few - where other hazards, such as heather, grassy hollows and ditches work equally well as protection from attack. These courses though are in the minority and, in general terms, golf courses with bunkers are considered much more fun to play. There are links courses with literally, hundreds of bunkers - at Muirfield or Royal Lytham & St Annes, for example. Many of them are ‘pot’ bunkers which are deep and penal. Many new golf courses are scattered with bunkers. Some are excessive in size - ‘waste bunkers’ such as those at The Oxfordshire, and clusters of bunkers,
such as Chart Hills, which are often considered more than would normally be appropriate. This all adds to maintenance costs but, also influential in this respect, is the shape and style of bunker.
The sand bunker originally developed on early links golf courses in hollows in the dunes, protected from the wind, in which sheep and rabbits sheltered. Inevitably, the grass in these hollows would be nibbled away and then the ground scraped by their feet leaving sandy scrapes. These became excellent hazards and it is this humble feature that has been replicated throughout the world (in many shapes and forms) on thousands of golf courses. On links courses these sandy scrapes eventually developed into ‘revetted’ bunkers, using turf to create a pretty strong retaining wall. The resulting bunkers - St Andrews, Old Course, for example - are sometimes impossible to play out of in a forward
direction. Some may consider this unfair, but it is considered to be a natural characteristic of links courses. In the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century golf courses were being built at a great rate in the UK and the USA. Unfortunately, in many cases, the bunker was used more as an obstruction than a hazard, with ugly rampart-like features being created to catch the low-running ball. Many of these features still remain today on some of the older courses. These obstructions, at between 100 and 200 yards from the tee, often went from one side of the fairway to the other! Thankfully, inspirational golf architects such as Harry Colt, Willie Park Jnr. and Alister MacKenzie soon realised that the placement and shaping of these hazards required more careful thought and subtlety, which would soon begin to influence the game of golf dramatically, for the better.
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