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Fairway Bunkers

• DoctorLarry 4,311 Posts

  Tue, Apr 9 2019 10:59 AM

  middbrew:

  Personally, I like the challenge of a realistic course, that includes those fairway bunkers. If we take those out what's next, no more back tees? Only slower greens?

  Exactly.  If this changes to an arcade game that gives out participation trophies, people will quit in droves - me included.

• Kenher01 1,151 Posts

  Tue, Apr 9 2019 11:17 AM

  SimonTheBeetle:

  That's how it is in RL golf as well, isn't it? It depends on the conditions of lie you end up with, but usually it is very very hard to clean-contact the ball and stick it to the pin in that situation... even for professionals.

  I have to agree & I know I'm stating the obvious & to quote Meghan Trainor "It's all about the lie"

  Sometimes we just have to take our medicine & just get it out & other times on certain courses with certain lies (Bethpage Black) you can not only hit the ball quite far out of a Fairway Bunker but you can also carry the ball to the green & there's a Fairway Bunker on a course that if you take the tiger line to shorten your distance in for your approach to a Par 5 but hit late you'll be in that said same bunker BUT because of the lie & even though that bunker has a high lip that if you're in the middle of that bunker you can get on that green from 250+/- yd's out with a Punch 3 Wood

  Ken

   

• Tony08888 641 Posts

  Mon, Jul 8 2019 8:39 AM

  If I'm not mistaken all of the course on WGT are exact replicas of the real courses. Therefore, this is not a WGT issue but the real life course designer's issues. In real life this is in part is what separates professionals from amateurs. Course management...

• VFisher01 1 Posts

  Wed, Aug 25 2021 10:32 AM

  Actually, that is not real golf.  High handicappers say 16 - 20 routinely hit balls from fairway bunkers that travel 85 to 100% of what they hit them off of fairways, depending on how much sand they catch.  In real life, Boogie golfers can reach a green from a fairway bunker over 150 yards from the green more often then not.   WGT should fix this as almost every other aspect mimics real golf.  Watch a PGA tournament this weekend and see how real pros play bunker shots.  Nothing like WGT 

• BWerthy 1,009 Posts

  Wed, Sep 15 2021 8:51 AM

  When I’m in a fairway bunker that is 30-40, we’ll your ball is essentially plugged so yeah, you hit your wedge to get out.  But if it is 15-20 hard sand you can smack it good with a 3 or 4 iron out of those. Usually only with minimal loss of yardage as well. 

  take a look at pro golfers, if their ball is sitting up on the sand they can attack. If it’s down or plugged a little they are taking their medicine and moving on.  

• SamSpayed 5,018 Posts

  Wed, Sep 15 2021 12:19 PM

  BWerthy:

  take a look at pro golfers, if their ball is sitting up on the sand they can attack. If it’s down or plugged a little they are taking their medicine and moving on.  

  WGT programmed each individual bunker (including fairway bunkers) with either a fixed lie % or range of lie %s.  Their programming does not take into consideration the characteristics of the shot that got you into the bunker - eg. was it a shot that hit the bunker hard on the fly and plugged (a 50-60 or 60-70 lie) or a shot that landed next to the bunker and barely rolled in (which would let your ball rest up on the sand like a 15-20 or 20-25 lie).  That is the problem.

  The only way I see them fixing this is to increase the range of possible lie %s for each bunker, and take the characteristics of your previous shot into consideration when determining what lie % to assign.  Unfortunately, I don't think WGT has the programming talent to do that.

• BWerthy 1,009 Posts

  Wed, Sep 15 2021 5:18 PM

  Well that was informative. Thank you sir. 

  the only point I was trying to make is that if your ball is up on top and not plugged at all you have some kind of a chance to get it.  

  now certainly the way your ball enters a trap should have some effect on the lie of the ball, but as you stated it is unlikely to change.  

• Greynurse0 39 Posts

  Fri, Oct 8 2021 6:33 AM

  I agree to a point. It's the percentage plugged that is the real issue. How can a ball be over 40% plugged when it has rolled slowly into a fairway bunker? It should be realistically sitting at no more than 10%. This would equate then to a reduction in distance, but not so bad as landing in 1st cut rough. Even Bethpage Black with contant 25% bunkers, both fairway and greenside seems ridiculous.

• MikePreisser 1 Posts

  Tue, Nov 1 2022 9:03 AM

  I understand the issue. But when I play against higher level opponents they seem to be able to hit the ball up to 175 out of the fairway bunker. How are they able to do this when at level 70 I can't?

• SamSpayed 5,018 Posts

  Tue, Nov 1 2022 12:40 PM

  MikePreisser:

  I understand the issue. But when I play against higher level opponents they seem to be able to hit the ball up to 175 out of the fairway bunker. How are they able to do this when at level 70 I can't?

  It depends on the course, the bunker (type of sand), and the lie %.

  From fairway bunkers that are hard sand, like you see on Kiawah and Bethpage, 175 yard (or even longer) shots are possible.  But from most bunkers, where the lie is 30-40% or worse, you'll be lucky to get more than 80-90 yds.  That holds true regardless of your level or tier.  Again, just the way the game is programmed.