Bunkering at Viniterra - why?
I just got to play 18 at the Golf Club at Viniterra and the bunkering really surprised me. The course is challenging, but carries a consistent theme - bunkers. The course has strategic bunkering in two places - landing zone in fairways and front of the greens. This has you strategically deciding on every hole if distance is worth the risk of ending up in a bunker off the tee or around the green.
That bunkering on a few holes is fine, but the consistency of that bunkering across the entire course seemed repetitive.
Let me explain with a comparison to the premier golf course I’ve played in Richmond, Kinloch Golf Club.
At Viniterra, most of the greens are guarded by two bunkers in the front with a very small sliver of fairway between them. Combine this with the entire green complex being elevated and small, and you have an extremely difficult green to hit with a mid-to-long iron.
Of the 18 greens, we see this setup for:
- Front 9: 7/9
- Back 9: 4/9 (2 of the other 5 are guarded by two bunkers, just off one side and the rear instead of both front sides)
Here are three example holes with this setup.
Compare that with one of the elite courses in the area, where you see a variety of green complexes from hole to hole.
Of the 18 holes, this specific setup (two bunkers tight on the front side of the green) made up 2 of the 18 complexes. The other 16 were a variety of bunkering/water/fairway/rough setups.
What irks me about Viniterra’s setup the most is that the strategy is largely the same for each of these 11 greens - get your approach as short as possible so you can attack the green vertically. If you have a longer approach, you run the risk of missing shot/left/right and ending up in a hazard. Needing to attack vertically influences your drive, as you need to get the ball further down the fairway to encourage a shorter approach.
On the other hand, playing at Kinloch, with a variety of green complex setups, lets the golfer approach each hole a variety of different ways. Playing a hole aggressively off the tee will present different approaches than teeing off conservatively. The structure of the green influences a different approach on every hole.
Viniterra, if you play from the green back to the tee, plays largely the same on every hole. This is fine if you are visiting the course infrequently, but would be exhausting if you played it consistently.