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Where'd the Pot Bunker Come From?

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Jack_Marr:
I'm surprised some aren't claiming that Edison invented it.

TEPaul:
Forrest:

Wow, that's some pretty cool research. Was there a cop in Stalinwick in 1355 who played golf on that pitch and putt near Castle Idle on the Bay of Pilnoof?

David Sneddon:

--- Quote from: Forrest Richardson on May 29, 2005, 11:41:00 PM ---Damian Pott. First introduced in 1355; Stalinwick. Pott was the son on David Whitehall IV. Whitehall operated the Stalinwick Pitch 'N Putt aside Castle Ide on the Bay of Pilnoof.

--- End quote ---

Actually that style of bunker predates 1355.  In 984 Calum Cean-Mor, King of Scotland commissioned Rannoch MhicPott to do some trenovation work on TOC and requested some hazards.  MhicPott, noticing the sheep sheltering in depressions dug them out and hence the now named 'pot bunker'.    Legend says that in 991 Calum hired intinerent ditch digger Dougal o'Fazio to bring the course up to Championship standards - fortunately all of his work no longer remains, although the base of the fountain can be seen in the middle of Hell Bunker, if you dig deep enough.

TEPaul:
DavidS:

After reading your post I find I'm becoming quite depressed to think that I could've been named Rannoch MhicPott Paul and wasn't. I might consider officially changing my name to that though. For short my friends might even consider calling me Ran.

Adam:

It was probably inevitable that this crowd go screaming all over the place like a herd of unruly children with a subject like this one. If they actually knew the answer they might tell you but since they don't this was inevitably what you were bound to get. However, the reality is probably something as mundane as a few bladefuls of some rudimentary shovels that created a little roundish hole in the ground that looked to most around like a big pot one boils haggis in. One does boil haggis in a big pot, doesn't one?

Forrest Richardson:
Adam — Having just completed a book on hazards I can report that there was no information we uncovered which could answer your question. I do not think we missed anything along these lines. I would suspect that the origin of pot bunkers had to do with transforming inland sites — Alpinization. On gently rolling and perhaps uninteresting land, compared to linksland, it is evident that hazards and features were manufactured. A hole dug in the ground would be such a feature/hazard. And it would have been the "easy" way of creating a bunker as a sharp edged smallish hole would be much easier than a slopes larger hole requiring more earth to be displaced. A pot would have been distinguishing, too.

(FYI: According to Cornish & Whitten, The O'Fazios were still in the Egypt as of 935.)

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