Why do courses have sand traps?

[mvmac]

Whistling Straits looks FANTASTIC! It's nuts and batshit insane. But entertaining and amazing. As for bunkers, I just consider them to be a staple in golf.

That's how they should start marketing the course, "Come play Whistling Straits....It's batshit insane!"

[Aguirre]

Whistling Straits looks FANTASTIC! It's nuts and batshit insane. But entertaining and amazing. As for bunkers, I just consider them to be a staple in golf.

Have you seen pics of Chambers Bay, site of next years US Open?

[RJH999]

Have you seen pics of Chambers Bay, site of next years US Open? [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/104889/] [/URL] [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/104890/] [/URL]

Woooo. That looks great. I might make the trip up to the PNW.

[Skenny]

Al Qaeda plot...... related to surplus of sand.....

[NJpatbee]

One of the benefits we have from our current game having its roots along the shores of the British Isles - I think they add to the game.  However, one of the shortfalls of having many of the rules originating on seaside links courses is the rule that the only hazards are water or sand - a rule that I hope the USGA changes even if the R&A; keeps it.

[imsys0042]

Something not mentioned yet, but bunkers can be strategically placed to make you decide to try a longer shot, or lay up to avoid an issue off the tee. Can be the difference in reaching a par 5 or driving a short par 4. Some courses shouldn't have them, They can't maintain them right, so they shouldn't have really rough ones that are unfair. I smacked my 60 off a 6 by 4 inch slab of stone in a thin bunker last month and if I had known would not have hit it. There was a course in central NJ that boasted 200 bunkers on it, 20 on the first hole alone. But it was stupid because it was a bunch all clustered together with a foot between them, barely. There was a small grass way on the left that you walked to the green with. Overdone, IMO. Should have had a huge waste area.

[brice]

A lot of courses place bunkers next to hazards and woods to keep you from losing your ball and speed up pace of play

[imsys0042]

A lot of courses place bunkers next to hazards and woods to keep you from losing your ball and speed up pace of play

I wish mine did. They have the bunkers near the fairway and then slopes that throw you into hazards out OB. Was just griping in another thread. It's like someone said, "how can I make people mad?" I like my course to a thousand dollar prostitute who's lousy in the sack. Nice to look at, but makes you sad in the end

[RandallT]

Will we ever run out of sand? http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/opinion/why-sand-is-disappearing.html [quote] It could once be said that “a beach is a place where sand stops to rest for a moment before resuming its journey to somewhere else,” as the naturalist D. W. Bennett wrote in the book “Living With the New Jersey Shore.” Sand moved along the shore and from beach to sea bottom and back again, forming shorelines and barrier islands that until recently were able to repair themselves on a regular basis, producing the illusion of permanence. Today, however, 75 to 90 percent of the world’s natural sand beaches are disappearing, due partly to rising sea levels and increased storm action, but also to massive erosion caused by the human development of shores. Many low-lying barrier islands are already submerged. .... And now there is a global beach-quality sand shortage, caused by the industries that have come to rely on it. Sand is vital to the manufacturing of abrasives, glass, plastics, microchips and even toothpaste, and, most recently, to the process of hydraulic fracturing. The quality of silicate sand found in the northern Midwest has produced what is being called a “sand rush” there, more than doubling regional sand pit mining since 2009. [/quote]

[DrvFrShow]

Sand... something you're supposed to imagine is not there.

[dfreuter415]

I know this is a given, but who decided in the first place there needs to be sand at a golf course? If the game wasn't invented in Scotland where there are natural waste bunkers I am sure sand wouldn't be part of the game

You seem to be correct in your supposition about the Scottish terrain.  I found this on thegolfprofessor.com .

"Golf courses also have bunkers, because at St Andrews the sheep that grazed on what is now the Old Course burrowed into the soft turf to cheat the gales blowing in, off the North Sea."

So in answer to your question, it was the Scottish sheep.

[saevel25]

That's how they should start marketing the course, "Come play Whistling Straits....It's batshit insane!"

I agree. A course can look amazing and a lot of it can be just natural area.

Golf needs to get sustainable, and water conservation is a big thing.

[Abu3baid]

I agree. A course can look amazing and a lot of it can be just natural area.

Golf needs to get sustainable, and water conservation is a big thing.

don't tell that to the prince who built this place in the middle of the desert.. still trying to figure out how they get enough water to sustain this area..

http://www.nofaresorts.com/gallery.html

[JKolya]

I am reading a book on the history of the game titled "A History of Golf," by Robert Browning. It was written in the 50's and is extremely detailed. His research included many things one of which is studying old paintings and the games that can be seen in the background, while others include the study of language where words are invented or evolve in order to talk about a game or sport. One chapter is on the cross country version of a game that is basically golf albeit with many differences.

Browning describes an offensive-defensive game in which a target/hole is picked and the offensive player has three shots (or however many were agreed upon) to get the ball in the hole. If after three shots he has not holed out the defensive player gets one swing before the offensive player gets another three tries. Since distance is not an effective defense (as the offensive players gets three swings for every one defensive swing) the defensive player looks to hit the ball into a difficult place to recover from. So he would often look for difficult terrain, behind hills, in high grass areas, or in sand.

In this bunkers exist both due to terrain/geography, but also tactical reasons on part of the defensive player. When the game evolved and the defensive player was eliminated, sand traps remained due to terrain and a construct or challenge to the player.

[danL]

Bunkers don't bother me. Probably because I end up in them so often that I began to practice them non stop and it's one of the few "bad lies" that I can get up and down from easily.

[inthehole]

Bunkers don't bother me. Probably because I end up in them so often that I began to practice them non stop and it's one of the few "bad lies" that I can get up and down from easily.

agree to a point ... bunkers WITH GOOD SAND don't bother me.

Problem is the muni's and public courses I play have lots of traps, and the sand is awful - caked & baked, hard & firm .. and to make matters worse, there just isn't a lot of sand in the traps - not enough depth of sand to play a proper sand shot.   There is no choice but to chop your way into it ... playing an open wedge shot using the bounce can not be done if you're hitting behind the ball like a typical sand shot - it will bounce off the hard sand EVERY time & blade the ball.   You cannot force an opened wedge though rock hard sand - have to use the leading edge to penetrate the surface of the hard sand.     I've devised what I call the CHOP SHOT out of the sand, and it's pretty effective actually.     Its not all that different from a typical "TV" sand shot - just a steeper angle of attack, with a square (non-opened up) club face - just pounding into the hard sand ... secret is to hit the sand really firm, but not out of control hard.

[colin007]

agree to a point ... bunkers WITH GOOD SAND don't bother me.

Problem is the muni's and public courses I play have lots of traps, and the sand is awful - caked & baked, hard & firm .. and to make matters worse, there just isn't a lot of sand in the traps - not enough depth of sand to play a proper sand shot.   There is no choice but to chop your way into it ... playing an open wedge shot using the bounce can not be done if you're hitting behind the ball like a typical sand shot - it will bounce off the hard sand EVERY time & blade the ball.   You cannot force an opened wedge though rock hard sand - have to use the leading edge to penetrate the surface of the hard sand.     I've devised what I call the CHOP SHOT out of the sand, and it's pretty effective actually.     Its not all that different from a typical "TV" sand shot - just a steeper angle of attack, with a square (non-opened up) club face - just pounding into the hard sand ... secret is to hit the sand really firm, but not out of control hard.

you can hit a pitch out of those concrete bunkers if you use the bounce and a shallow AoA.

anyways.  i heard that some of the bunkers in England were caused by WWII bombings?  is that true?

[dkolo]

anyways.  i heard that some of the bunkers in England were caused by WWII bombings?  is that true?

I've had blow-up holes before, but this is ridiculous!