Unique or Interesting Bunkers

[bkuehn1952]

A conversation about bunkers got me thinking about unique or interesting bunkers.  The course architect, Desmond Muirhead, liked to have whimsical shaped bunkers.  I have not played a course of his where I noticed any but I have seen photos.  The founders of "Honey Baked Ham" developed a course in northern Michigan (Elk Ridge) with a pig-shaped bunker prominently featured on a par three with an elevated tee.

There is a green at Doonbeg (Ireland) with a bunker in the middle (#12).  I recall it not being an issue as it is a par 5 and typically, if one plays the hole well, one can hit wedge and avoid the bunker.

 

One of the more interesting bunkers is at Tanglewood (S. Lyon, MI).  The greenside bunker gently slopes into a water hazard.  One is literally "on the beach."  Sets up some interesting shots when the ball is just slightly in the water. 

 

[SavvySwede]

Lakewood Country Club has a bunker made of their initials. It is very shallow so you don't have to deal with any awkward lies around the edges.
 

https://www.bestoutings.com/uploadfiles/courses/915/_LCC%20course%20photo.jpg

[Buckeyebowman]

I remember an article by David Feherty about golf courses to avoid. One of the examples offered was anything by Arthur Hills. He claimed that if Der Fuehrer and Eva Braun were trapped in one of his bunkers, they would have committed suicide much sooner than they did before the Allies began closing in!

[Coronagolfman]

When you look at a course like Cypress Point or Pasatiempo you can see the genius of Alister MacKenzie's style of bunkering (of course, with Cypress Point he had some magnificent terrain to work with and in recent times folks at Cypress have tinkered some with the original bunkering).

Tom Fazio is the guy right now who seems to have captured the kind of "visual disorientation" that MacKenzie seemed to be looking for in his type of bunkering that was meant to give the player confusing signals as to how far away from the green a greenside bunker might really be or how far the carry really was for a fairway trap.

Not a big fan of the Dye concept of a waste bunker area on a piece of property where such expanses of unkept sandy soil are not native to the area - but for desert courses like Nicklaus' courses in Phoenix, Tucson or Baja areas (Desert Highlands, Desert Mountain, La Paloma, Cabo Del Sol, Palmilla) it makes sense as issues of irrigation in such locations really allow for no other way to build and support a golf course in such water-challenged properties.

Don't see much wrong with a course like Disney's Magnolia having a Mickey Mouse head bunker or other examples as mentioned above.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Coronagolfman