How many bunkers does your course have?

[backwoodsman]

36 on 18 hole course. Mostly green-side.

 

[Voyager EMH]

41
18 front nine and 23 back nine.
We have no bunkers on fairways. Those that are not greenside are in the rough to the side of fairways.
32 greenside, 8 to catch wayward drives and one to catch a wayward 2nd shot on a par 5.

We used to have a few more, but they have been filled in and turfed over. I would do that to a few more, if I had my way. They are a time-waste for greenkeepers to maintain.

 

[Slab]

I think low 50's (from a mental count) could be a few out either way + some sandy waste areas and other crushed lava rock waste areas

 

[Arthur Wedge]

47 I believe

 

[Bratty]

65.
I've just joined, but in the 3 rounds I've had there, I've been in the same bunker off the 14th tee all 3 times!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

83, possibly 84. I've counted from the drone footage of the course but they don't show one hole as it is being moved. I can't remember if it has 3 or 4, hence the doubt. Way too many, by a long way. Many are wasted, people rarely go in them. Owners folly, designers ego, take your pick. They are starting to fill some in, save costs, but they really need to accelerate the program. They would be better losing 20-30 of those and looking after the remaining ones better.

 

[pendodave]

We have about 50.
1 hole has none.
Of the 50, I reckon 7 are completely pointless or actively penalise poor golfers rather than good ones. All of them have recently been renewed, so the bill was certainly higher than it might have been.

 

[nickjdavis]

53 currently, but about 4 years ago we had around 76.

One of the "features" of our course is that whoever designed it built a lot of "double fairway" bunkers...so two bunkers on the same side of the fairway one immediately beyond the other...effectively, off the tee you, are highly unlikely to go in the second of the two bunkers so largely they are redundant.

Over recent years we've had a lot of changes...

1st: In the last year, one of two green side bunkers has been filled in...a bunker not often visited due to its location. About 15 years ago a new large flat bunker was built around 210yds off the tee on the right hand side....was done to catch pushed/sliced tee shots that would otherwise bounce off the fairway into deep rough...the new bunker trapped balls and reduced time looking for them, speeding up pace of play.

3rd: Right hand greenside bunker has been renovated and made a little bit smaller in the last year.

4th: we used to have a small bunker front left of the green, about 6ft below the level of the green, level with a pond. Bunker was faced with sleepers....if you were up against or even reasonably close to a sleeper you had no chance of getting out....no options to play backwards and any option to try to hit the green would see your ball likely hit a sleeper, bounce over your head and into the pond. Bunker was removed about 20 years ago and the pond extended round in front of the green....no issues now, your ball is either wet or dry..

5th: In the last couple of months the bunkers left and right of the green have both been renovated and made smaller.

6th: There used to be two fairway bunkers at the end of the fairway (90 degree dogleg left)....I think I only ever went in one of them once in 20 odd years before one was filled in about 4 years ago. We also had greenside bunkers front left, front right and back right.....these were also all filled in in the last 3 years but a new bunker has since been built middle front.

7th: The only change to bunkering on this hole was made in 2010 where two, extremely long narrow bunkers were built down the left edge of the fairway....these were built to collect balls that were forced left by the slope of the fairway to prevent them from running into the natural fence line which would often be overgrown at its base causing a lot of lost balls (and searching time) where the ball had hit the fairway. The bunkers were awfully thought out and due to their construction the ball would often run to the far left edge of the bunker, requiring a player to stand outside the bunker in order to play a shot. These bunkers were redesignated as "waste areas" about 4 years ago.

8th: One vast middle of the fairway bunker has now been made smaller (3/5ths the size) with its front edge slope shallowed out and its baby pot bunker next to it has been filled in. There used to be three greenside bunkers back left, back right (neither often visited as they were "uphill" from the green) and one front right which was in awful condition and often flooded at the front of it. The rear bunkers have been filled in and the area to the right and front of the green is currently under excavation to build a pond instead. All work started in the last couple of months.

11th: Used to have a pair of fairway bunkers about 200yds off the tee on the right. A spring sprung up between the 11th and the 6th and caused the bunkers to flood. Drainage was built to channel the water across the 11th fairway to a newly built pond which resulted in one of the bunkers being lost. About three years ago the other bunker was filled in...if you were in it you had no chance of hitting the green due to trees maturing over the years and encroaching over the bunker. About 15 years ago, up at the green, we used to have bunkers front left and right. The left hand bunker was extended nearly all the way round the front to protect players on the green in summer from drives that occasionally might reach the green. Earlier this year the bunker was further extended so it met up with the right hand side bunker. This is the change that i least like....the hole is very narrow and tree lined....but with a gap between the bunkers, players always had the chance to fashion a punched escape through the trees, trying to catch the gap and find the green....that escape opportunity has now been taken away.

12th: Used to have a huge bunker left which used to gather water as it drained off the hill to the left, bunker was reduced in size about 4 years ago before being removed entirely a couple of years ago.

13th: There was a fairway bunker placed about 300yrds off the tee (uphill) on the left hand side...this was a hangover from when the white tee was so much further forward than it is today)...no one ever went in it....it was filled in last summer. There were also 4 greenside bunkers...these have all also been filled in to create mounded areas which will be allowed to grow rough. The hole plays 460 yards with the first 300yds uphill....all but the longest hitters treat the hole as a par 5. A couple of the bunkers were generally poor and featureless and one other was prone to flooding. This is now the only hole on the course without a bunker.

14th: The only change over the years was about 16 years ago when a new greenside bunker was added...cant remember the reasoning but it might have been to give a little bit of protection to players on the next tee from folks teeing off on the yellows trying to drive the green.

16th: We had 4 bunkers round the green....now we only have two, the others were filled in - one was a tiny pot bunker that was rarely visited, the other was a brute of a bunker with a steep face that if you failed to extract your ball you would see it run straight back down into your footmarks or "divot" - for some reason this bunker was particularly difficult to maintain and if my memory serves me correctly, this was the first of the bunkers to be removed by the new greenkeeping team installed about 4 or so years ago. this bunker is now a grassy mound which is even harder to get your ball out of than the bunker ever was!!

18th: One of the two fairway bunkers on the left side was removed about 5 years ago...it is now a flat patch of rough grassland, and one of the two greenside bunkers has been filled in creating a series of mounds in front of the green.

 

[Imurg]

We have everyone's lucky number.......69

 

[Arleneg]

Our course has 72 bunkers, so just over 70. Seems like it's on the higher end of the scale compared to many courses I've played.

 

[Imurg]

The building site that used to Aylesbury Park had......7
They leased the land from 2 different owners and one refused to let them have bunkers.
So 7 bunkers on 4 holes it was...
Berkhampstead doesn't have any - except a practice one....put in at the request of members who don't get any bunker-time and struggle when playing away..

 

[Orikoru]

The building site that used to Aylesbury Park had......7
They leased the land from 2 different owners and one refused to let them have bunkers.
So 7 bunkers on 4 holes it was...
Berkhampstead doesn't have any - except a practice one....put in at the request of members who don't get any bunker-time and struggle when playing away..

I've not played Berko but played Luton Hoo early this year which also has zero bunkers. It's a very odd feeling walking up to the greens, it actually does feel like something's missing until you get used to it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've not played Berko but played Luton Hoo early this year which also has zero bunkers. It's a very odd feeling walking up to the greens, it actually does feel like something's missing until you get used to it.

Wimbledon Common another without bunkers

 

[splashtryagain]

1

 

[HomerJSimpson]

1

Same as Epsom - right by the clubhouse

 

[splashtryagain]

This one is middle of 18th fairway

 

[richart]

45.

All reshaped and Cornish sand in the last three years. The majority with heather toppings. The sand looks stunning. White when dry and grey when wet. Really add's to the course's appearence, but disappontly make the course harder.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

1

No longer at Hexham?

 

[Backache]

Ashdown forest is another course without bunkers from memory.

 

[Ross61]

We have 30 only 2 of them fairway. 5 holes have none.