Bunker Mentality


Bunker Mentality

Bunker Mentality Arqueros Golf

Bunker Mentality
As director of golf surely I get all kinds of comments and opinions of the different elements of the Golf Course. Among these, highlights the hated “Bunker” which has no blame (poor fellows) to fulfill their role as “hazard” in addition to the functions conferred on them by their architect. In order to do some thinking, I want to share an extract / summary of what is considered the “Bible” of golf architects in USA written by Dr. Micheal J. Hurdzan, an architect highly respected in that country, which was president of the American Association of Architects of Golf and whose Ohio company put the signature over 250 golf courses designs world wide. And says so:

Hazard variations:
Adding further variety to the array of hazard presentations is the fact that any one element from these lists can be presented in many different forms. For example, sand bunkers can be flat sand, flat sand with raised earthworks, gently sloping sand, sharply sloping sand, small pot bunkers, monster bunkers, man-made bunkers, natural bunkers, bunkers shaped as symbols, smooth-edge bunkers, rough-edge bunkers, articulated-edge bunkers, crater bunkers, or pop-up bunkers that contain white silica sand, brown or off-white calcareous sand, or yellow, black, or red industrial made sand. Bunkers can have rounded sand particles that produce fried egg lies, angular sand that packs hard, fine sand that blows in the wind, sand that holds water, and stays moist, or combinations thereof.  Bunkers can be raked, furrowed, compacted, or left unattended. Bunkers can be designed so that they are easy to play out of or made so that it is impossible to advance the ball towards the hole. Bunkers can contain islands of grass or landscaping, as well as trees or stumps, rocks, ledges, or boulders. Bunkers can be prominently displayed on the golf scape or they can be hidden. The bunker edge can be made to reject rolling golf balls or suck then in.  There can be on solitary bunker, clusters of bunkers, waves of bunkers liked the church pews of Oakmont, or bunkers that run the length of  the entire golf hole. The obvious point is that there are lots of ways to make sand bunkers as hazards.

As mentioned, hazards are intended to complicate the striking of a golf ball within their margins. Notice that it is only the golf ball that needs to be in the hazard, not necessarily the golfer. Anyone who has played much links golf has at some time found his or her ball in a sunken pot bunker, where the only way to play the shot was to kneel down outside the bunker, reach in and hope to exert enough force on the ball to get it out. Some hazards, like out of bounds, deep water, thick vegetation, or precipitous terrain, don´t even permit striking the ball, so another ball must be put into play; these are considered the most sever hazards. The point is that hazards can be mild or wild, and given a choice, golfers would prefer to avoid them. That is easy to understand.

In resume:
There are no specific rules or norms for bunkers conditions. There are recommendations, but without being rules. The only rule is that the ball is played as it lies. The most basic rule of Golf.

 

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