<\/p>\n Even the best professionals find them with frustrating regularity, as far as they’re concerned, and they’re not easy to escape.<\/p>\n Much different to those witnessed on most parkland courses throughout the rest of the world, a revetted bunker is visually striking and often much deeper than its traditional counterpart.<\/p>\n As far as other differences go, Aaron Launchbury – the course manager at Prince’s Golf Club in Kent<\/a>, which hosted The Open in 1932 when Gene Sarazen won – explains: “Here, we have revetted and rough-style bunkers.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n “So you find the rough style that kind of has the the wispy rough around the outside. It’s just off the fairways into the semi-rough and they kind of blend in to the rough.<\/p>\n “And then the revetted you’ll find round the greens, and we have a couple of holes that you have revetted bunkers in the middle of the fairway.<\/p>\n “The rough-style bunker is kind of cut in to the land around it or built up and then long rough is left to grow up. Whereas a revetted bunker, you’re using turf to basically build a wall with a step to the ground around it.”<\/p>\n The ‘wall’ itself is still turf, but it’s made up of loads of layers of sods (grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by roots or a piece of thin material) in order to create that effect you see.<\/p>\n The layered design isn’t only there to help play mind games with the golfer, though. It’s also to fortify the bunker and reduce wind-based erosion, which can be a real issue with non-revetted bunkers.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n In terms of a revetted bunkers original build, construction starts at the base with either concrete or natural earth.<\/p>\n Prince’s – which is set to host the Walker Cup in 2030<\/a> – chooses concrete to offer a more stable base, facilitate better drainage and to ensure there is far less sagging of earth in the face – but the Kent club is certainly in the minority there.<\/p>\n There will be often be between 25 and 50 layers in the face, depending on the size and depth of the trap. A typical revetted bunker costs<\/a> around \u00a31,000 to build, although the costs can vary depending on several factors including size of bunker and base-material option.<\/p>\n \n A revetted bunker at Prince’s Golf Club under construction<\/p>\n (Image credit: Prince’s Golf Club)<\/p>\n Once a revetted bunker is in place, the grass around the top is shaved in order to attract more golf balls. They are often responsible for costing a player a shot in The Open, with no choice but to play backwards or sideways in order to escape them.<\/p>\n As far as the actual sand goes, it’s still regular bunker material which can be raked in different styles. At Royal Liverpool<\/a> in 2023, The R&A opted to have The Open course crew rake all the bunkers perfectly flat.<\/p>\n This wasn’t widely popular with the players, however, and it was quickly changed to a marginal slope.<\/p>\n \n Hideki Matsuyama stands in a revetted bunker at Royal Birkdale during an Open practice round in 2026<\/p>\n (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/unfaYa5JpviJsYf8FkucHk.jpg\")
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