Toughest shot at St Andrews?

[Andy Levett]

This is the approach to the 15th on the Jubilee.



Closer view of all the trouble:


I think this is fair - if you don't want to take it on  just bump your second  along to the end  of the fairway and pitch on from there - but it must be 'character building' for anyone with a good medal card going.

Another pic I thought worth sharing was the back tee on the 8th - worth seeking out as the angle from the yellow plates is a lot less interesting.

[Jack_Marr]

Assuming the wind is blowing...

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Andy,
Are you trying to torture me?

I will remain mum on the rest of the topic, but I think that the Jubilee is far under-rated and not respected as a golf course as far as ambiance and playability.  The 15th is m,y favotire hole on the course, but thats only after trying to pick it out of about 6 others!

[Matthew Mollica]

Agreed Tommy.

The Jubilee was a wonderful little jem to uncover on a trip to Scotland, where so many other courses get the juices flowing in anticipation.

That 15th was hard all over for me. Narrow off the tee from memory, and into a mother of a north wind. From memory, short right is a safe miss, but the green falls away on all sides?

Thanks for the pics of the course, especially the 8th. Great shot from that tee.

Matthew

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Matthew,
I was so busy trying to find my ball in the hill beind the green, I didn't get to see how the front looked the first time I played there!

Actually, the green does somewhat fall off at the left while the rest is set in a arena-like fashion. You might be thinking of the 14th? which is a really fun and quirky green that was built prior to the Open in 1995, and is similar as you describe.

This is one of those courses that can best be described as a "tour" instead of a really stearn challenge, although the last 4 or 5 holes are no pushover, the 15th being the toughest.

[Steve Wilson]

Played the Jubilee in May of 2000 on a "brisk" (probably a three club wind) day.  On the fifteenth I aimed my iron (wasn't carrying a driver or any other wood at the time--don't ask it's traumatic) twenty yards right of center.  It hit the wind when it got above dune height and worked it's way into dead center of the fairway.  When I got to my ball, the wind felt odd as it was howling through a gap or low point in the dunedirectly to the right of my ball.  I scavenged some grass, threw it up and it went both left and right.  I repeated this experiment with the same result.  Then I aimed an 8 iron thirty yards right of the green and saw it rise, hit the wind, and be swept through my wind allowance, the width of the green, and another ten yards or so until it was near the sixteenth tee.   Somehow I salvaged a five out of the mess, but it was only later that I realized I should have tried a 135 yard putt.  If it hadn't worked I couldn't have been much worse off, and if it had--well, what a story to bore   other golfers with for years to come.      

[BigEdSC]

It does look like a tough shot.  But I would like to nominate the third shot on the opening hole of TOC as one of the toughest, after you foozle a hot chili pepper right, into the crowd.

[Andy Hughes]

I have been to St Andrews twice and played 7 rounds. All were upon TOC. I always wondered if I had made a mistake by not 'spreading the wealth a bit.' It looks like perhaps I did
 

[Bob_Huntley]

Having played a few rounds at St.Andrews, I have always thought that the Jubilee is the most under-rated course in Fife. Apart from a bit of a weird second hole, now somewhat changed, it can be a brutal test in the wind.

The business about a 135 yard shot hit with a putter makes sense. I played with local scratch player and he vowed that if I ever saw him pull out a wedge he would buy me a drink. I did the buying.

If anyone here is making the pilgrimage to the shrine, ensure that you play all three major courses there. The New starts off with a couple of innocuous holes and then gets interesting. The three of the par threes are particularly good.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

And I thought the toughest shot at St. Andrews (TOC) was the tee shot on #1.  

I was so excited and overwhelmed, I felt nauseous.  Ripped a
three wood down the middle then promptly laid the
sod over my second and dropped it into the burn.  Double.  

That was my toughest shot at St.Andrews!  

[Mike Hendren]

W. H.,

The third shot from the first tee is far more difficult.  

Mike

[Darren_Kilfara]

I'll tell you what...the approach to the 15th on the Jubilee is indeed a bear, but trying to find the fairway from the tee is no picnic, either. As I've stated before in this forum, I feel that this hole - along with one or two others on the Jubilee - shares the same flaws as a number of holes at The European Club or (so I'm told) the Cashen course at Ballybunion: it can be OK in calm conditions, but in any sort of wind it very quickly becomes unplayable. That's why this hole is and always will be a complete mutt in my eyes, no matter what rhapsodic prose Mr. Naccarato and others might compose in its honour.

As for the question of TOC vs. the rest of St. Andrews: I think that if cost weren't an object and architectural experience was one's goal, I would probably play the four main courses in St. Andrews (New, Eden, Jubilee, Old) once, and then play TOC over and over again until I felt I was beginning to get the hang of it before playing any of them again. Because while there is some good stuff at each of the lesser three, there's not much there (apart from the odd green complex at the Eden, maybe) which you're going to need a second or third playing to understand. And TOC keeps getting better and better the more you play it...

Cheers,
Darren

[CHrisB]

The toughest shot at St. Andrews is out of the Road Hole bunker after you have putted into it!

I've played the Old, New, Eden, and Jubilee in tournament competition, and for me the hardest shots are:

1. Tee shot, #17 Eden--Road Hole/Principal's Nose hybrid, for me this is the toughest shot at St. Andrews
2. Approach shot, #17 Old--Road Hole
3. Tee shot, #15 Jubilee--pictured above, the tee shot is harder than the approach
4. Par-3 #8 Eden--toughest par-3 shot at St. Andrews; high elevated green set against a sandhill with massive false front and drop-off left and long
5. Par-3 #11 Old--the Eden Hole

Honorable Mention:
Tee shot, #6 New
Par-3 #9 New
Tee shot, #8 Jubilee
Tee shot, #14 Jubilee
Approach shot, #2 Old
Tee shot, #4 Old
Tee shot, #13 Old
Tee shot, #3 Eden

[Darren_Kilfara]

That's a great list, Chris!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Chris, I wish I had a twenty for eevry time I pused it into the gorse, right on #3 on the Eden. The patch between that seperates the Eden and the Old Course. I've been in the gorse that is left of that hole too!

I like many here was paralyzed on my first tee shot on the Old Course, and like Cos, I striped a 3 wood right down the pipe, only I made the second with little problem and then proceeded to three-putt the very first time I played it! But all in all, I think there is a fine line between the tee shot on #1; the tee shot on the 11th-Eden; the second shot on the 13th--Hole O' the Cross; the tee shot and the approach on the Road Hole.

However, the most classic description I have seen yet regarding the 14th and HELL, is without doubt Brad Klein's description in Rough Meditations. It not only hilarious funny, but its almost the same scenario for anyone that has ever played left on #14 while on their first and successive trips around the Old Course.

[Mike Hendren]

For someone who hits the push fade, the approach to the Road Hole is impossible (even with an 8-iron in from the extreme right side of the fairway after a career tee ball).

Also, for this dinker, the 12th at The Old Course.  I swear next time I'm just going to bomb the driver at the green - or go 7-iron / 7-iron.   This hole is an escaped convict and I am the warden's pretty wife.

Mike