The Memorial: Jack Nicklaus and Furrowed bunkers

Jack understands.  Bunkers are hazards.

From the Palm Beach Post article, by way of Golf Observer:

“All I want them to say is, ‘That’s a place I don’t want to be,’ ” Nicklaus said Friday at his North Palm Beach offices. “I don’t care about penalizing the guy. I’m trying to force him to play the strategy of the golf course by not wanting to be in a bunker. Guys aim for bunkers because it’s an easy shot.”

The pros didn’t handle the changes well at last year’s Memorial. At least most of them. Many complained because they thought it brought an element of luck into the game. Some guys who hit into fairway bunkers had no choice but to pitch out because of a bad lie, while others could try and advance the ball if they had a decent lie.

Entering last year’s Memorial, the PGA Tour’s average sand-save percentage was 49.1, meaning players saved par from the sand almost half the time. For the week, that number dipped to 43.8 percent, with a low of 36 percent in the first round as players struggled with not being able to spin the ball from greenside bunkers.

But the biggest effect of the furrows arose from the fairway bunkers, because trying to save a decent score on a hole requires a full shot. It was no coincidence the winner, Carl Pettersson, hit only one fairway bunker all week.

“It changed the way I played off the tee,” Pettersson said. “I took a few 3-woods where I might have hit drivers.”

A year later, Nicklaus smiled at that comment. “That was the point,” he said.”