10 golf courses with the most bunkers in the world

Whistling Straits - hole 3 - 2015 PGA Championship — Matt Jones attempts to escape a treacherous bunker on the third hole at Whistling Straits during the 2015 PGA Championship. Fred Vuich/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

KEWADIN, Mich. — More than a few golfers refer to the Sundance at A-Ga-Ming Resort by an alternative nickname ... Sand-dance.

During a recent round, I ended up at the beach more than I care to share. Its 121 bunkers felt like a penal inquisition for resort golfers like me just looking for a little fun.

My misfortunes left me wondering: Which courses, heaven forbid, might have even more bunkers?

After doing some digging of a different kind - with my keyboard instead of a wedge - turns out the 121 bunkers on Sundance aren't many at all, at least compared to the world's most heavily bunkered courses. I found dozens of golf courses of all styles (parkland, links, resort, etc.) with at least 100 or more bunkers.

Many are famous venues that host major championships and pro tournaments - Shinnecock Hills (estimated 160 bunkers) in New York, Muirfield (147 bunkers) in Scotland, Kingston Heath (145 spread across 19 holes), Merion's East Course (131) in Pennsylvania, Royal Birkdale (123) in England, Pebble Beach Golf Links (118) in California, the Old Course at St. Andrews (112) and Carnoustie Golf Links (112). No surprise there.

Finding other public and resort courses littered with so much sand, though, was a bit perplexing. Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort boasts a whopping 172. Thanks Pete! The Senator Course at Capitol Hill (160 pot bunkers) in Alabama, International course at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate (155 bunkers) in Florida, the new Lido Course at Sand Valley Golf Resort (roughly 153), Purgatory Golf Club (133 bunkers) in Indiana, Higuera in Mexico (130 bunkers), the Montgomerie at Carton House (127 revetted pot bunkers) in Ireland and Bulle Rock (125) in Maryland seem built to scare golfers away not attract them. The only munis with more than 100 bunkers would be Hominy Hill in New Jersey (138 bunkers) and the South Course at Corica Park near the airport in Oakland, Calif. The modern renovation by Rees Jones and Marc Logan features 111 bunkers, all lined with reused/recycled artificial turf.

It's understandable why private clubs like Seminole Golf Club (159) in south Florida, The Cal Club (144) in northern California, Kingsley Club (133) in northern Michigan or the Outlaw Course at Desert Mountain Club (126) in Scottsdale might feature an oversized amount of bunkers. With seven other Nicklaus courses on property at Desert Mountain, that many bunkers creates a different look and playing style. Members who tee up the Outlaw will have played it enough to know their way around and understand what they're committing to ahead of time. Plus, they're all avid golfers with likely lower handicaps than the muni crowd anyway.

The idea behind this research is not to preach that the world of golf should have fewer bunkers, although there is plenty of that gospel out there. They cost a lot to build and maintain. Sometimes on certain courses, less is more when it comes to bunkers, but I'm well aware that they serve a key purpose, forcing golfers to strategize and play proper shots. Jack Nicklaus, through a spokesman, said that the number of bunkers shouldn't really matter.

"It's not about the number of bunkers you have on the golf course. It's how the property is defined and how you guide people around the golf course," Nicklaus said. "Bunkers, in many instances, serve as a guide for where to play and where not to play around the golf course. I have done a lot of courses where we did a significant number of waste bunkers. Then I came back in - a la Desert Mountain, Ibis, Pawley's Plantation and others - and as the trees go up and the course matures, you can reduce a lot of that."

Don't confuse the premise of the "most bunkers" with the "most sand", either. There are hundreds of courses with more acres of sand lining the fairways in the form of massive waste bunkers in places like Florida and Myrtle Beach or desert scrub in Arizona, Mexico and elsewhere.

If you've seen aerial photos of Friar's Head in New York, you know that sand is everywhere. Long-time Superintendent Bill Jones said the famous Coore & Crenshaw design has roughly only 75 bunkers that are raked by his staff. "The other areas in the dunes, we don't (rake)," he said. The course itself is rake-free.

All of the courses to make our top 10 are littered with at least 168 or more bunkers, most generally smaller in size.

And, just to clarify to the anti-bunker crowd out there, I've played and enjoyed three of these courses. None of them felt overly penal to the point where I would never play them again. I would have never recalled that Muirfield (which just missed the cut) was so dangerously fortified with sand. I won a media tournament there, proving that even mid-handicappers like me can survive a bunker minefield with quality, smart play.

I also love the Straits Course at Whistling Straits, the undisputed king of sand with nearly 1,000 bunkers.

Getting in a water hazard is like being in a plane crash...the result is final. Landing in a bunker is similar to an automobile accident - there is a chance for recovery.

Bobby Jones

Straits Course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin

Dustin Johnson's inadvertent Rules infraction from an obscure bunker on the 72nd hole of the 2010 PGA Championship cast a shadow on an otherwise exciting event. Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

The three PGA Championships held by the Straits Course at Whistling Straits were merely appetizers to the main event, the Ryder Cup that was supposed to take place last fall. Dye's figure-eight routing along the shores of Lake Michigan ensures that players will likely get an equal taste of downwind and into-the-wind holes. Golf Digest's Ron Whitten did the dirty work on the bunker count, taking more than a day to painstakingly flag and count the 967 bunkers strewn about. Many shouldn't be in play, but if the wind howls and the fall weather turns sour, anything's possible.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Take this list of the courses with the most bunkers with a grain of ... salt or sand, whatever. You may have played a course with more bunkers. It's likely a private club or an obscure one I didn't find. Let us know if you have other candidates in the comments below.

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Irish Course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin

Dunes made by Pete Dye's crew make frame holes on the Irish Course at Whistling Straits. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

Unofficially, the Irish Course sports roughly 295 bunkers by our best estimates thanks to Google Earth, some of them small scrapes no bigger than a backyard sandbox. The Irish doesn't boast the views of its more famous sister course, but it might be more fun to play thanks to more blind shots.
The Bear's Club, Jupiter, Fla.

A view over the water of a hole at The Bear's Club. The Bear's Club

Club Founder Jack Nicklaus completed a dramatic redesign in 2023, increasing the number of bunkers from roughly 75 to somewhere north of 340, according to this interview with Links Magazine. The goods news is many were placed as catch bunkers to keep the ball from running into lost-ball territory. Plus, their faces were significantly reduced, making them easier to escape for any handicap. Sounds like a fair trade to us.
National Golf Links of America, Southampton, New York

At National Golf Links of America, C.B. Macdonald took direct inspiration from the great holes of the British Isles and Europe and remade them in an American context. David Cannon/Getty Images

Long Island's exclusive National Golf Links of America is another club that didn't call us back, but Google Earth provided an impressive aerial view of its estimated 277 bunkers! This C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor treasure is most famous for its windmill. For another sandy adventure, there's also Sebonack, a Doak/Nicklaus collaboration next door.
GreatHorse Golf Course, Hampden, Mass.

GreatHorse Golf Course

Hampden, Massachusetts

Semi-Private

5.0

3

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GreatHorse features an incredible 207 bunkers, but they are placed in such a way as not to overwhelm the playing experience. "This course has bunkers, lots and lots, of bunkers…" notes golfer 'sorenj' in a 2017 GolfPass review. "What’s great (no pun intended), once you are out on the course, is that it doesn’t feel nearly as gimmicky as you might expect. Yes there is sand everywhere, and yes you will likely find yourself in some of it; however, you can also play a reasonable round of golf and miss the vast majority of them. Most of the fairways have fairly wide and open landing areas with the bunkers only looming for errant shots." Editor's Note: GreatHorse was added to the story after it originally published.
Pine Valley Golf Club, Clementon, New Jersey

Pine Valley Golf Club is on everyone's bucket list. GremlinGolfer/California Advisor

The true number of bunkers at Pine Valley - the consensus hardest course in the world - remains a mystery. "You can't count them. They bleed from one into another," said General Manager Charles Raudenbush. Using Google Earth, we did our best guestimate at somewhere around 191. The famous second hole has 48 (or so) alone! "The layout of the Championship course (is) mystical. That's all I can say," reads one of our reviews.
Garden City Golf Club, Garden City, New York

Garden City, an all-men's club, is one of the most exclusive private clubs in the world, which might explain why nobody called us back about the bunker count. A scan of Google Earth reveals an estimated 184 bunkers on a classic, yet rare par-73 routing with ties to Devereux Emmet, Walter Travis and restoration work by Tom Doak. Our lone GolfPass review gives a scant few details about the course as well, noting "Any further details would be sure to break 'the code'."
Hollywood Golf Club, Deal, New Jersey

The Hollywood Golf Club features more than 180 bunkers. Courtesy photo

The Hollywood Golf Club features more than 180 bunkers. Courtesy photo

The Hollywood Golf Club features more than 180 bunkers. Courtesy photo

Sporting 180 bunkers, Hollywood Golf Club is a highly regarded private club a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Walter Travis laid the original design in 1917 and Tom Doak's Renaissance Golf Design team restored it nearly a century later in 2014. Cross breezes originating off the ocean force players to aim properly or get bunkered at nearly every turn.

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Royal Lytham & St. Annes, England and Aronimink Golf Club, Pennsylvania (tie)

Adam Scott battles a bunker on the 18th hole during the final round of the 141st Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in 2012. David Cannon/R&A/R&A via Getty Images

Royal Lytham & St. Annes probably doesn't get the credit deserves as one of the premier links in the world. Consider the pedigree: 11 Opens, two Ryder Cups and numerous other top-shelf events, including the Women's Open, Senior Open and the Walker Cup. Starting off on a par 3 probably doesn't do it any favors. Like other links in the rota, its 174 revetted pot bunkers seem to have a magnetic appeal.

Yui Kawamoto of Japan plays a shot from a bunker on the 16th hole during the third round of the 2020 KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. Andy Lyons/PGA of America/Getty Images

Aronimink's bunker count has shifted with the sands of time. According to this article from the Fried Egg, it originally opened with 190, shrank to roughly 75 and a 2018 redesign by Gil Hanse reverted back to its clustered bunker style, bringing the new total to 174! The restoration effort has put the private club back on the radar of professional golf, attracting the 2018 BMW Championship and the 2020 KPMG Women's PGA Championship since the changes.
Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania

The Church Pews of Oakmont Country Club. Fred Vuich/USGA Museum

Gil Hanse's restoration heading into the 2025 U.S. Open actually shrank the bunker total from 175 down to 168, but that's a bit misleading considering how the famous Church Pews bunker between holes 3 and 4 and the "mini" Church Pews (also called the 'Piano Keys' bunker) on hole 15 are actually considered singular bunkers despite their size and difficulty. For this reason, we kept Oakmont in our top 10 over the Dye Course at French Lick. As an anchor site for the USGA, Oakmont Country Club will host future U.S. Opens in 2034, 2042 and 2049, along with U.S. Women's Opens in 2028 and 2038. Pros better brush up on their sand skills.

Roundups

Jason Scott Deegan

Jason Scott Deegan has reviewed and photographed more than 1,200 courses and written about golf destinations in 28 countries for some of the industry's biggest publications. His work has been honored by the Golf Writer's Association of America and the Michigan Press Association. Follow him on Instagram at @jasondeegangolfpass and X/Twitter at @WorldGolfer.

Comments (2)

Richard Bradshaw W.

September 17, 2021 05:21 PM

Freemasons have encoded golf in many ways especially the GOD=7_4 Code. I just discovered that Royal Lytham & St. Annes has 174 sand bunkers and Muirfield 147. I believe these are the most in Britain.