Bunkers are supposed to stop you in your tracks. In links golf, they do. On many American courses, they've become something closer to a minor inconvenience.

No Laying Up raised the question on August 3, 2026, in a video post on X, in a segment from NLU Live presented by Titleist.

Watching the golf tournament that week made him notice an important difference between bunker design on American golf courses and on links golf courses.

"What made American golf designers decide to just make bunkers like extremely playable?" the host asked. "The whole bunker avoidance thing is what makes links golf interesting and golf interesting, like avoiding hazards, and how we've gone from that to just groomed, really groomed bunkers and balls almost always finding the bottom of them."

The argument is about the difference between links golf courses and American golf courses. On links courses, the ground is hard and uneven, so the ball can roll into bunkers from many different directions. Getting the ball out is really difficult.

On many American courses, the bunkers are smooth and flat, the ball sits nicely, and players usually get an easy shot.

"What I loved about these is like a ball rolls in at a weird angle, and you're like that your ass is in the jackpot now," the host said. "Maybe you got lucky and hit the sod wall, and it went into the flat part, but otherwise you are going to be standing on the outside of it. That is how you put a premium on ball striking and not make it easy to get up and down, easy to hit it on the green from fairway bunkers. Like it just is a real punishment."

The segment didn't name specific American courses or designers. It framed the issue as a broader trend in how bunkers have been built and maintained across the country.

The Design Philosophy Behind Bunkers, and How the Industry Has Talked About It

The American Society of Golf Course Architects says bunkers are used to protect important areas on a golf course. Players can choose a safer route that avoids the bunker if they do not want to take the risky shot.

This means the bunker is meant to make players avoid it, not just to make the course look nice.

The Fried Egg’s 2026 design notebook said that bunker shapes and green designs are often made to attract a certain type of golfer. This helps explain why smooth and easy-to-play bunkers have become common on many American golf courses.

The NLU host's position is that the grooming has gone too far. "Bunkers are supposed to be hazards," the caption on the video post read. The segment's title: "Back In My Day."

Do you think American golf courses should make their bunkers harder to play from? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

Written by

Sneha Abraham