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Anyone played a course without bunkers?

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sickyspider

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Has anyone played a course without bunkers and if so did you feel short changed?

Subject to weather I will be playing a new course this month but they have no bunkers! It's a 9 hole par 35 course. Not too sure what to make of the lack of bunkers!? On the upside, at least I won't get that sinking feeling as I approach the green only to see my ball buried in a deep bunker! ;)
 
Yes, one of my local courses does not have any sand at all, my home course only has 5 bunkers and all of those are right on the greens.
 
There was a course by my old house that had no bunkers. It was a rinky dink course (par 68, 5500 yards), but it is one of the narrowest courses I've ever played. The greens are also tiny. I didn't really feel short changed as the course is already tough due to the narrowness. You can really only hit driver on 2 or 3 holes and I am already a shorter hitter.

Also, the par 3 course that I learned how to play golf on had no bunkers.
 
No, never. I didn't even know there was courses without bunkers.
 
My home course doesn't have any real bunkers. There are a few areas that were bunkers at one time and now play as waste areas. The only thing that really bothers me about it is that I don't get any practice getting out of the sand. So when I go to a course that has them, I'm a complete beginner at it.
 
I wish I could find a course without trees. I'd cut every damn one of them down if I owned one of my own.
 
Hawk said:
I wish I could find a course without trees. I'd cut every damn one of them down if I owned one of my own.
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I would join that course in a heartbeat!

Havent played one without bunkers, played a few with no water at all around here, but always a few bunkers lurking
 
Hawk said:
I wish I could find a course without trees. I'd cut every damn one of them down if I owned one of my own.
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I feel your pain but I would leave a few standing.
 
None of the four courses that I played on the most when I started golfing had any bunkers.
My home course only has two bunkers and they front the 8th and 9th greens.

Personally, I'm not good enough to feel short changed by a course not having any bunkers. If there was no such thing as bunkers on any golf course, then it really wouldn't hurt my feelings any.
 
One of my favorite courses doesn't have any bunkers. I don't feel short changed because in the spring the club starts growing their rough and pretty much doesn't cut it for 3 months, so the challenge is definitely still there. Another course I play doesn't have any sand on the front nine and only three bunkers ont he back. It's not the best course, but I still like it. I don't think you need sand to make a course challenging. If the holes are laid out properly, there can be just enough challenge in that without having to add extras to increase the difficulty.
 
Hawk said:
I wish I could find a course without trees. I'd cut every damn one of them down if I owned one of my own.
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Sounds like you need to visit North Little Rock, AR and play Stonelinks's Golf Course!!
 
mikedean441 said:
I would join that course in a heartbeat!

Havent played one without bunkers, played a few with no water at all around here, but always a few bunkers lurking
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It will be named The Salt the Earth Club.

Howzat said:
I feel your pain but I would leave a few standing.
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I can deal with a few I suppose. I don't mind if there's space between them at least.

Arkie_3_fan said:
Sounds like you need to visit North Little Rock, AR and play Stonelinks's Golf Course!!
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I've just booked my flight :D
 
There is a course back home in northern Indiana that doesn't have bunkers. Doesn't have water either. 27 hole course, and somehow sand and water weren't included. Also neither were hills, that course is very VERY flat. Only real danger on the course comes when 2 or 3 holes (can't remember exactly) run along the train tracks and 2 more run along an apartment complex, only place there is OB. Luckily the course is relatively cheap, and the 3 9 hole courses mean you don't get backed up as easy, only upside to that course.
 
there is only one course near me that has no sand. it's shorter, about 3,500 yards & par is 59.
 
I played a course in Clearlake Ca that did not have any real bunckers there were some old unmaitained ones that played as waste areas
 
Hawk said:
It will be named The Salt the Earth Club.



I can deal with a few I suppose. I don't mind if there's space between them at least.



I've just booked my flight :D
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Put a few trees behind greens in the hopes they can slow down thin wedge shots
 
My home course only has 6 bunkers (2 on both 9 & 18). I would not say that I feel shortchanged as it makes up for it I guess with water, tons of trees, and pretty darn small greens.
 
Our Robert Trent Jones Trail course has two - 18 hole course. The "River" course has no bunkers. However, it's a nice course and I believe was designed that way on purpose. I guess they figured having water in play on 16 holes was enough punishment!
 
There's a cheap 9-hole course near me that only has 3 bunkers. They're kind of in odd places so I never end up in them.
 
Instead of bunkers,this course has these mounds that have about 6 inches of rough on them and they're put at the same distance as a fairway bunker would be.You'ld be lucky to find your ball in one( I prefer bunkers to them!)
 
The course I played last year didnt have any bunkers because the owner just didnt want to but the time and money into them, or so i was told. The couse really didnt really have any rough becase the tree line lined the fairway but it wasnt overly tight. When i was working on really tightening up my game i had wished there was some sand but i dont think it really hurt the course to much.
 
I can't say I ever have. That would be interesting though.
 
One of the courses that I play has no bunkers and is fairly open. It looks like it would be incredibly easy if viewed from a satellite. It has pretty steep and severe elevation changes (as much as 60 feet in elevation change on many holes), water on 2/3rds of the holes, elevation changes that draw balls to the water like magnets, and greens with a lot of break. There's seemingly not a flat lie all day long other than off the tee.

In contrast, I play another course that is tighter and has fairway sand and bunker sand on every hole. There's so much sand that sand is in the course's name. The lies are flat most of the time though. There's water on about 1/2 the holes.

Both courses are about the same handicap and slope. I put up similar scores at both (as the handicap and slope would suggest), but I find the first course to "feel" harder. I feel like I have earned my score out there far more when I'm done with a round. I also find that I'm much more apt to put up a big number on a hole there.

In short, I don't feel cheated at all if there's no sand. It's all about how the course is designed. It doesn't need sand to be hard.
 
If I had a choice between bunkers with no sand and hardpan (and not treated as waste areas) and no bunkers, I might take no bunkers. No sand in a bunker is like hitting a ball off a parking lot. No fun.

I have played courses where bunkers were converted to depressed waste areas, and found them to be a different type of challenge.
 
That is news to me...Spider you will have to share some pictures.
 
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