The World's Dumbest Bunker

[iacas]

I think Chautauqua Golf Club has two pretty decent courses. The Lake Course dates back over 100 years and was designed by Donald Ross. The Hill Course was designed in the 80s or so by someone far less famous.

The sixth on the Hill is a 392/342/336/263-yard par four with a bunker in the left rough from 40 to 60 yards from the center of the green. The nearest point of the bunker is just under 25 yards from the front edge of the green.

Here's a photo from Google Earth:

Here's a photo from behind the bunker looking toward the green:

So, let's review.

1. The bunker is over five yards into the left rough. Balls are unlikely to roll into it with the rough holding balls short.
2. The bunker starts 332 yards from the back tees, 200 yards from the forward tees, and 275 yards from the middle tees. Almost nobody will find this bunker with their tee shots. Ever.
3. This bunker is not anywhere near the play of a parallel or nearby hole. At all.
4. The bunker is surrounded by and protected by trees. Tall trees. Your ball is unlikely to get into the bunker even if you hit it toward the bunker.
5. There's a f***ing tree between the bunker and the green.

🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♀️

I mean… c'mon now. Why does this bunker exist?

[Buckeyebowman]

I thought I might be the only one who noticed these oddities. I play a local course that has a bunker located right in front of a lake! It makes no sense to me either. 

And from the Google Earth pic, the greenside bunkers seem to be in much worse shape than the bunker you are talking about. As expensive as bunkers are to build and maintain, shouldn't the effort go to those? 

 

[Divot Master]

I have played this course about a dozen times over the years. I think you are being far too generous in assessing the skills of the course designer. If not for a very interesting piece of land, this course would get very little play. We could also talk about the absurd positioning of the stream on 4, the steeply uphill fairway on 8, the awkward landing zones on 9, 11, and 15, and a bunch of other stuff that makes me feel the good holes are just by accident. Back to number 6, though. The green is small, has some interesting contours and bunker protection, so I agree the fairway bunker and the tree are totally superfluous. 

[iacas]

39 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I thought I might be the only one who noticed these oddities. I play a local course that has a bunker located right in front of a lake! It makes no sense to me either.

Bunkers in front of ponds aren't always bad. In many cases the bunker will stop the ball from rolling into the water.

39 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And from the Google Earth pic, the greenside bunkers seem to be in much worse shape than the bunker you are talking about. As expensive as bunkers are to build and maintain, shouldn't the effort go to those?

It's a spring picture, clearly, and that's just water.

The photo is from early April, 2016.

33 minutes ago, Divot Master said:

I have played this course about a dozen times over the years. I think you are being far too generous in assessing the skills of the course designer. If not for a very interesting piece of land, this course would get very little play. We could also talk about the absurd positioning of the stream on 4, the steeply uphill fairway on 8, the awkward landing zones on 9, 11, and 15, and a bunch of other stuff that makes me feel the good holes are just by accident.

Well, yeah, but… I'm just talking about the bunker for now.  Not enough time in the day to go over everything. 🙂

[David in FL]

You almost have to wonder if the tees changed at all over the years...maybe to lengthen the hole a bit.  You’re right, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense!

[CarlSpackler]

Yeah. I don't see much sense in that. I was thinking the same thing about the highlighted bunker a month or so ago. It's behind a long par 5, and nobody is hardly ever in this thing. I have only been in it once in all the years I have been playing this course.

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

I can top that one.

The left bunker there is well, well behind the green on the par-3 14th. I've been playing WW for a decade and I'm not sure I even SAW that bunker until earlier this year.

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Bunkers in front of ponds aren't always bad. In many cases the bunker will stop the ball from rolling into the water.

Yup

Plus it either causes you to lay back a bit further, or have confidence in your ability to hit a good bunker shot over water...

...a bit of risk/reward.

[boogielicious]

The bunker was part of a witness protection program. It was moved there from an undisclosed golf course owned by the mob. 

[CarlSpackler]

28 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

The bunker was part of a witness protection program. It was moved there from an undisclosed golf course owned by the mob. 

Or perhaps we found where they buried Hoffa.  

[David in FL]

I guess we know why the course designer is “far less famous”...

[CarlSpackler]

I figured it out. He had planned to put a windmill there, but ran out of money. Fortunately, they had extra sand.

[p1n9183]

Maybe it´s a good place to leave the exceding sand and relocate it  later in another bunker when neccesary?

[Cantankerish]

Perhaps, late in development - say after the hole was laid out - somebody thought the hole was not challenging enough.  The bunker behind the tree was included as a not-especially-creative additional hazard.

 

Also, do not disparage my ability to find sand.  I can hit any bunker.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Cantankerish

[dennyjones]

9 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

Or perhaps we found where they buried Hoffa.  

They thought they found him in Milford, Michigan where I use to work.   Nothing but the local bakery made cupcakes that sold like hotcakes... they had hands coming of out the cupcake

Sorry way off topic!  Couldn't help myself!

Edited July 29, 2019 by dennyjones

[Beastie]

18 hours ago, iacas said:

 

1. There's a f***ing tree between the bunker and the green.

🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♀️

I mean… c'mon now. Why does this bunker exist?

Double jeopardy. Which was there first, the chicken or the egg. The tree look’s pretty young and may have been planted after the bunker was installed. Here in the UK there are loads of bunkers that are now obsolete for today’s equipment in the hands of a half decent player. Many are removed, or if funds are tight filled in and turned into grass bunkers. Points 1-4 stand. 

[Divot Master]

I think I have the answer. Looking at a current scorecard, the hole is Blue 392, White 342, Gold 336, Red 263. From that Blue tee, it is about 310 to the trap in question per Google maps. There is another tee just in front of that one measuring 280 to the trap, which does not correspond to any of the tees on the card. From the tee where the White and Gold markers are typically set (the tee adjacent to the 5th green) it is about 230 to the trap.

Now I look at an old scorecard. Blue tee 342, White tee 328, Red tee 263. Blue and White are using the main tee next to the 5th green, 230 from the trap, and the two back tees do not yet exist. At that time, the trap was well positioned to catch hooked shots from better golfers.

[Divot Master]

21 hours ago, iacas said:

I can top that one.

The left bunker there is well, well behind the green on the par-3 14th. I've been playing WW for a decade and I'm not sure I even SAW that bunker until earlier this year.

The bunkering on that hole is similar to the bunkering on the fifth hole. The difference is that on 5, the rear bunker is right up against the green, but on 14 there is about a 10 yard gap.

I am aware that the course architect passed away prior to the shaping of the back nine, it is possible that what the guy on the grader did was not quite what the architect had drawn. For the most part, this course was very well designed and constructed.