Bunkers, Pits and Other Hazards (2006)

 

The game of golf would not be the unique creature it is were it not for the many and varied hazards which present themselves during a stroll around the links. Whether natural or man made, as any hacker knows they will at some stage ‘conspire’ to ruin what was up until that point a ‘perfect’ round. Hazards are such an essential element of the game and without them golf would be mundane, characterless and without doubt a lot less humorous, especially if your playing partner is the one flailing despondently in the base of a massive trap which has so cruelly snared another victim from an ‘unlucky’ drive or approach shot.

Given that hazards are there to make the game harder and end up frustrating the average punter, one would suspect they would be the last thing you’d want to read about. On the contrary, hazards – bunkers in particular – are often the most discussed part of the game and you only have to ask any course superintendent who will concur. Whether it’s debate about the penal nature of a certain hazard or its appearance and maintenance, there wouldn’t be a superintendent around the world who hasn’t had a heated discussion or 10 with a member.

Superintendents therefore may like to add this edition’s featured book to their library and slip a copy across the board room table come their next committee. Titled Bunkers, Pits and Other Hazards, this superb 300-plus page hardcover text by Forrest Richardson and Mark Fine provides a comprehensive reference which traces the history, planning, psychology, design, construction and maintenance associated with all forms of golf course hazards and does so with a sense of authority and humour.

As the authors so eloquently observe in their opening address, “You are holding a book about inconveniences. But, unlike those unpleasant interruptions in life when we bite into a sour strawberry or encounter a pothole that costs us an expensive new tyre, the interruptions covered here lead a dual life. While they are inconvenient on the surface, they are essential to the core...”

The opening chapters trace the evolution of hazards and examine the form, function and purpose of all forms of hazards whether natural or artificial, formal or informal, bunkers, water hazards or integral obstructions. After classifying what hazards are the authors then handpick 20 of the game’s most famous, or should that be infamous, hazards. Making their exulted list are the likes of Augusta National’s Rae’s Creek, the Old Course’s Road Hole bunker (17th), Hell bunker (14th) and the Principal’s Nose (16th), the Church Pews at Oakmont and the aptly named Himalayas of St Enodoc.  

The final three chapters provide perhaps the most practical information for superintendents looking at all manner of issues from as hazard placement, size and shape, aesthetics, severity and the concept of fairness through to all aspects of construction, restoration and maintenance.  Superintendents will certainly take heart from the heading titled ‘Hazard Education’ and the terrific anecdote the authors use to conclude this section…

“Is there too much opinion involved in setting up and maintaining our courses,” the authors quiz. “Are hazards becoming maintained to a degree that is crossing a line, John Philip, head greenkeeper at Carnoustie, may have a good solution to the opinionated golfer. He recently placed a small suggestion box on the course and notified members that he would check it regularly. Oh yes, did we mention that the suggestion box rests on top of a metal pole? Or that the pole was installed in the middle of the water hazard at Carnoustie’s famous Long Hole, the 6th?”