Large, deep bunkers are aesthetically pleasing and intimidating—but they can also add to the difficulty and, potentially, the time it takes to play a round of golf, which is always a major industry concern. And playability aside, uniquely shaped bunkers can create feasibility challenges for the maintenance side.
Bunker liners, which can be expensive, must also be considered. According to Eric von Hofen, Director of Agronomy at Riviera Country Club in Coral Gables, Fla., if the design is changed to make bunkers softer and not as steep, a thinner liner can be used, and the cost of the material is reduced—but not the cost of installation. A contractor will need to be paid for the same amount of time, regardless of how thick the liner may be.
Bunkers need to be designed so surface water does not run into it. This goes for both greenside and fairway bunkers. Adding “fingers” and “noses” to bunkers helps with this process, by adding more surface area of grass to break up the water flow.
The drawback to sexier shapes and larger fingers and noses, however, is that they can require more bunker liner material to be installed. The odd angles can make it hard to have tie-ins work and fit together, creating a lot of liner material waste.
“The cost can skyrocket if you get too crazy,” says von Hofen.
According to a Michigan-based golf course architect, every designer has a different philosophy on bunker design and placement.
“Bunkers and green surfaces are probably the two main ways architects distinguish themselves,” he says. “If part of the design philosophy is to ensure speed of play, the location of bunkers will be different than if the overall goal was to ensure a difficult challenge.
“But assuming speed of play is key, this does not mean that deep and steep bunkers, which are often very visually dramatic, adding to the enjoyment of the golfer, need to be eliminated from the design,” the architect adds. “I am as big a proponent of reducing slow play as anyone, but I do not think it is necessary to eliminate creative bunker design—including deep and steep—from the architect’s palette.”
New equipment for mowing steep-sloped turf now also allows more freedom to create steeper-faced bunkers. These slopes, which are used to create the shadows needed to define a visually dynamic design, are no longer as big an impediment to the superintendent, because of the new machinery available to help with their maintenance.
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