Like America's Riviera: A Bunker Sits in the Middle of the Green at Gunsan CC

The 12th hole (par 4) of the Tournament Course (par 72) at Gunsan CC in North Jeolla Province is named "Harmonious Bunkers." It is a dogleg-left hole that wraps around water, with a beach bunker stretching long down the left side of the fairway and a deep vertical dura bunker lurking in the center. The left and right sides of the green are also bunkers.

There is one more bunker in an unexpected place. In the very middle of the green sits an unexpected patch of sand. Over two months of work last winter, Gunsan CC built a bunker 2 meters wide, 7 meters long and 1 meter deep within the green of this hole. Kim Kang-ho, vice chairman of Gunsan CC, who is a doctor with deep knowledge of course design, led the work.

"I got the idea while touring famous overseas courses," Kim said Tuesday. "The 12th hole on the Tournament Course wasn't that difficult, but the difficulty rose when we built a bunker within the green. We also built a riveted bunker just behind the green. So now you can experience every type of bunker on a single hole." The hole's name was also changed to "Those Bunkers."

For four days starting Wednesday, the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Tour's KPGA Gunsan CC Open will be held on the Gunsan CC Tournament Course. The event, which began in 2009, has since 2024 been held as Korea's first "additional-prize charity tournament." Pro-am events are sold to golf fans, and all proceeds from merchandise and food and beverage sales are added to the total prize money. Last year the base prize was 700 million won, but the actual prize exceeded 1 billion won. This year the prize will be determined in the same way.

This year, the event has earned another "first in Korea" title. Gunsan CC understands that its "bunker within the green" is the only one among domestic golf courses. As this is the first professional golf tour tournament since the bunker was built within the green, it is in effect "the first domestic tournament held on a course with a bunker inside the green."

A bunker inside the green is rare worldwide as well. Among them, the 6th hole (par 3) at Riviera CC in California is the most famous. It is the venue for the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational and also hosted this year's U.S. Women's Open. True to their status as PGA Tour players, feats of wedge shots from the green over the bunker to lay the ball close to the hole often appear during play.

Scenes of KPGA Tour players' "wedge shots from the green" may also appear at the Gunsan CC Open. The 12th hole is about 350 yards in a straight line from the teeing area to the pin, making it possible to reach the green in one when using a tailwind. But now the bunker within the green is a variable. It is designed so that even a good shot can easily trickle in, possibly acting as a black hole.

Players who experienced the bunker within the green through the pre-tournament pro-am and practice rounds were thoroughly wary, saying, "It has become a far-from-easy hole" and "If you fall in, it's hard to escape in one shot."

The players' wariness, conversely, comes across as intrigue for gallery and viewers. For the third and fourth rounds, the teeing area is said to be moved forward so that reaching the green in one is achievable in most cases. Joy and sorrow are expected to diverge sharply depending on whether the tee shot avoids the bunker within the green or drops right into it.

In March, the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour's Rejuran Championship drew attention with a "real" island green surrounded by water on all sides. At the 17th hole (par 3) of the venue, Amata Spring in Thailand, players took a boat to the green after their tee shots.

This time the "green that embraces a bunker" is the viewing point. The "little hidden" joys of watching domestic golf tournaments are growing one by one.

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