Black Butte Ranch Hole 14
In a recent edition of The Sacramento Bee, Damian Pascuzzo, ASGCA shared his thoughts on bunkers and explained how he makes use of them on a golf course.
Having designed thousands of bunkers inmore than 20 years as a golf course architect, Pascuzzo believes their primary purpose is to serve as hazards, though they also provide visual balance and composition. Pascuzzo describes them as “the yin to the yang of the fairway.”
When placing bunkers, Pascuzzo thinks about strategy, rather than solely focusing on bunkers’ penalizing purpose. “I will tempt golfers by placing a bunker in a location where they may think they can carry it, and if they strike a good shot they can,” he says. He compares this “temptation” to dangling a carrot in front of golfers.