bobyero:
Mixed feelings about this but balls shouldn't be bouncing out of bunkers. There are several holes where its easier to get up and down( even hole out ) like BP#15 and OAK#9 so I often aim for them. Not sure if it happens on many courses but definitely on BP#15 where I have flown a hybrid or 3 wood into the deep front bunker only to end up over the green. Also the 12th where I just flew one into the front bunker and finished 7ft from the back pin! Ironically it helped me shoot 28 as did a hole out from the bunker at 15! Maybe softer sand WGT? : )
I don’t know if you play(ed) golf in real life but that happens if the ballistic coming in fast and, to a lesser extent, low.
If it bounces first in the bunker, it shouldn’t fly over the green, but may struggle to get out, but just out none the less.
If it hits the fairway first, especially at a low flight and hard (or fast, whatever) it will more than likely go through the bunker, so lower club, the more chance.
I’ve played golf for nearly 30 years and play off 4, worked as a Greenkeeper* so I know how firm the sand should be through playing and feedback from members (I was a member from a mid teen and throughout my time working there).
So I come from a position of empirical knowledge about this, not just a guess.
Ps if the sand is softer, it gets unstable and hard to get consistent, fair and not too much ‘plugging’ were the ball stays in the crater it made by its impact and are notoriously difficult to get out of, more precisely, difficult to stop the ball with a lot of run out. Ok for longer shots, but not short ones with little green to the pin.
WGT do already have différant sand ‘firmness’ from Kiawah’s 15%, to Bethpage 25-30%, Most courses with 40-50% and some with 50-60%. This is relevant as you mentioned a holes, all Bethpage I believe (BP#15) where this happened. Bethpage has mostly 25-30% lies in the bunkers so this would help a ball go through it easier, as oppose to a 50-60% lie bunker.
Hope this helps
*Just for interest... becoming 2nd in charge of what’s known as the best inland course in my County in the U.K. with a few links courses on The Open™️ Rota which we had 5, 4 of which I picked the pin positions with the guy from the R&A, then the summer after I left as it didn’t pay well and was in need of a better salary, but they’ve not had it since, much to my chagrin on behalf of the current crop of Greenkeepers.
(I managed to use ‘chagrin’ in a sentence that made sense, albeit had to do it in a footnote).