They are like the bangles a teenage girl uses to top off her high street outfit, for that night’s parent-free party - all style and, frankly, no substance.
Groups of eight or ten bunkers
surrounding the elevated green of a short par-four are like the bracelets and bangles a teenage girl uses to top off her high street outfit, for that night’s parent- free party - all style and, frankly, no substance. The Road Hole at St Andrews, the 17th, golf ’s toughest par-four, is a hole where the entire strategy - from placement of the drive, to the shape of the second shot - is dictated by the existence of a single bunker, barely spanning 10 feet by 10 feet, short and left of the green. The Road Hole bunker played its part in thwarting the Open Championship bids of great golfers like David Duval (2000) and Tommy Nakajima (1978, after whom the bunker bears its unofficial nickname, “The Sands of Nakajima”, when the Japanese player took four to get out en route to taking a nine and squandering a chance at Open glory.
When the location and site lend themselves to large amounts of bunkering, such as at Kiawah Island, venue for the 1991 Ryder Cup match - a setting by the ocean dominated by sandy wasteland and scrub - then it is appropriate to design with extensive bunkers as a key theme of the course. When the site isn’t naturally sandy, and the landforms aren’t suited to heavy bunkering, then using this technique appears artificial and manufactured. The natural landforms are a designer’s greatest asset and it seems senseless to have bunkering just for the sake of bunkering. Spare a thought for two groups that suffer greatly at the hands of bunker heavy golf course design, the greenstaff who maintain them, and the higher handicappers who spend lots of time going in them and struggling to get out. What’s more, the worst thing you can have on a golf course, in terms of aesthetics, is untidy scruffy bunkering, and the more bunkers you have the harder they are to keep. At Thomson Perrett and Lobb,
bunkering is something we discuss frequently. Peter Thomson, five-time British Open Champion, and founder of the company, believes strongly that fairway bunkers should not be raked and you should have to work hard, and rely on your short game, to avoid losing a shot after you have driven into a fairway
trap. I share his view that every bunker needs to have a clear purpose, and should fit into the challenge of the hole you are trying to create. On a short par-four, you might place a deep pot bunker by the green to penalise those trying to drive it. It is crucial the designer considers exactly whom they are trying to penalise and what sort of penalty they wish to impose when they design a bunker. In this example, the pot bunker makes it difficult, but not impossible, to make a birdie for the better player, and at the same time prevents too many eagles being made by longer hitters. A great example of this is the ‘Devil’s Aperture’ at Pine Valley Golf Club’s par- three 10th hole, a deep devilish pot bunker - barely wide enough to take a stance in - positioned short of the green, and fairly so, to catch mishit short irons. Many of the best golf course designers have had their own interpretations of how bunkers can be deployed on a course to add to the challenges a golfer will face. Harry Colt, designer of Sunningdale and Wentworth, loved to set bunkers well back from the green, known as cross bunkering, to obscure the green front and change the golfer’s perception of distance from the fairway. At Swinley Forest in Surrey, Colt blended heather and bunkering, covering the backs of bunkers with the tough durable fauna and making
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