A good bunker starts influencing your shot long before your ball reaches the sand. It changes the line you see, the club you pull and the amount of risk you are willing to take.

That is why counting bunkers tells you almost nothing. The better question is where they sit in relation to the landing area, the green and the shot a designer is trying to invite—or scare—you into playing.

Read the hole backward

Start at the green. Find the angle that gives you the simplest approach, then trace that line back toward the tee. A fairway bunker often protects the most valuable side of the hole, not merely the shortest route.

If the safe side leaves a blind shot or forces you to carry another hazard, the bunker is doing strategic work without ever collecting your ball. The best option may be a shorter club from the tee that preserves a clean angle rather than a driver that brings every problem into play.

The sand changes the shot

Not every bunker plays the same. Fine, compact sand can produce a firm base and a cleaner strike. Softer or deeper sand asks for more speed and can create buried lies when a shot arrives steeply. Drainage, depth and construction all affect what happens next.

Look at footprints, rake marks and how the surface reacts near the face. Those clues help you decide whether the club should slide under the ball or enter with more force. The lie, not the distance alone, chooses the shot.

Good architecture makes you choose

A memorable bunker is rarely just decoration. It creates doubt: challenge it for a better angle, or play away and accept a harder next shot. That choice is the point.

Once you begin seeing bunkers as instructions instead of random punishment, a course becomes easier to decode. You may still end up in the sand, but at least you will understand the question the hole was asking.