Most Boring Opening Shot In Golf

[Wade Whitehead]

Because of the rain delay, today's coverage featured player after player on the first hole at St. Andrews.

Every player simply hits a long iron, hybrid, or fairway metal to a bunkerless fairway that's impossible to miss (Ian Baker-Finch aside).

Is there a less interesting opening shot on any great golf course?

I'm ignoring the surrounds, of course (R&A, sea, town, etc.).  I'm just thinking in terms of the "demand" placed on the player.

WW

[Philip Hensley]

I wish more courses had a similar type opening shot. Get off the first tee, though the first hole, and get into the course without a 20 minute first hole because players are searching for balls, hacking out of bunkers, etc.

[Jim Franklin]

I have never experienced a bigger rush for an opening tee shot in golf. Never.

[John Handley]

I can only believe that you have not played at St. Andrews Old Course.  To think that first tee shot is boring is absolutely false.  You cannot ignore the surroundings and the feeling you get in your stomach when the starter calls your name.  It may not require the most accurate of opening tee shots, but to say it's boring....I couldn't disagree more.  Maybe you've played TOC but if you have not, you owe it to yourself.

[David Kelly]

Whether it is boring for Dustin Johnson or Matt Kuchar I could care less.  As for me, as others have said, I was more nervous and more excited on that tee than any other 1st hole I've ever played.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Maybe so in champioship golf.  All I know is that my first tee shot there ended up near the "Ladies putting course."  Hitting three off the first tee.  I never was more nervous in my life, including playing a pro-am with Arnie.  Did end up shooting 76 though.

[Peter Pallotta]

Tommy - maybe this is not the place for it (but, heck, why not):
 
I'd love to hear more about your round at ToC, how you pulled it together so splendidly after starting so, ahem, inauspiciosly (with a bogey? a double?), where you gain strokes and where you lost them. Alsom, of course, would love to hear about your pro-am with Arnie, as detailed and lengthy as you're willing to be.
 
Peter

[J Sadowsky]

Because of the rain delay, today's coverage featured player after player on the first hole at St. Andrews.

Every players simply hits a long iron, hybrid, or fairway metal to a bunkerless fairway that's impossible to miss (Ian Baker-Finch aside).

Is there a less interesting opening shot on any great golf course?

I'm ignoring the surrounds, of course (R&A, sea, town, etc.).  I'm just thinking in terms of the "demand" placed on the player.

WW

Wade,


Having been there, it is a pretty visually stunning and intimidating (due to the history alone) tee shot, even if there's really not much to it.  Kind of like Tobacco Road, if in a very different way (or Ballyhack...kidding).

PS - Better nominees?  How about BPB #1, Medinah3 #1, or Torrey Pines #1 (really, TP any hole).

[Jason Topp]

I understand the point but at least there is incentive to get some length off the tee for most of us.  North Berwick, on the other hand, involves a layup of something like 150 yards.

[David_Tepper]

Ward -

Is the tee shot on #18 the most boring closing tee shot in golf?

DT

[Carl Rogers]

Some thing tells me that if you are a plus 4 golfer thinking you can make a 3 on the hole, a precise tee shot may be required in order to hit the approach shot from the best angle to get it close to the hole.  Thus, the tee shot might be more of a challenge than you might think, if as other have said, you can calm yourself down. and align yourself towards some distant indistinct target.

[Chris DeToro]

Not a boring tee shot at all even without the influence of the surrounds.  If you want to get the ball close, you've got to play from the right spot--yardage and angle.  And with such a huge fairway, it's easy to let your mind wander from the small target that you actually want to hit it to

[Pete Lavallee]

Indeed, last night my wife walked by while I was watching the action. They showed people teeing off on #1 and she asked "were you nervous teeing off there, because I know I was!" Although it might look like trying to keep one within the fences at the local driving range, you really do have to hit the right angle and yardage if you want to set up a reasonable chance at birdie.

[Peter Pallotta]

....And with such a huge fairway, it's easy to let your mind wander from the small target that you actually want to hit it to

A discussion for another time and place; but Chris reminds me of an aspect of our much-beloved "width" that doesn't get mentioned very often, i.e. for certain kinds of inexperienced and/or mid handicappers like me, very wide fairways can be a challenge in terms of our ability to focus on/pick out a target. I'm not sure of the psychologicial and/or physical mechanisms involved, but I do know that I tend to hit better (straighter, longer, more accurate) tee shots when the target is narrower rather than wider; with a narrow target I may be in the rough sometimes but mostly still playable, while with a wide target there seems no limit to how far off-line I can hit it.  All of which to say, I sometimes question the conventional wisdom that "width" helps the average player who's just looking to get it somewhere on the fairway and then maybe somewhere on the green while challenging (if the green is a good one) the better player to hit a specific area/side of thr fairway to improve his approach and chance of making birdie. Maybe a very wide fairway actually doesn't do me any favours at all against a better player -- all it does it give that better player a bigger margin for error just on the off chance that he hits it off line. The fact that he might not then make a birdie is no reason for me to celebrate, especially if I'm still struggling to find my ball and salvage a bogey. 
 
Peter

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Why doesn't someone go for the green - it can't be too difficult to calculate where the second or third bounce will skip over the burn onto the green?

[Mark Chaplin]

Last year I took three friends to St Andrews for a couple of days to celebrate my 50th. On 18 during one round one player was on the road by Russocks and another on the road left. The spread was well over 150yds!

[David Kelly]

I played with someone the starter paired us up with once who manged to hit it OB left on both 1 & 18 and he wasn't that bad of a golfer.

[jeffwarne]

Is there a less interesting opening shot on any great golf course?

I'm ignoring the surrounds, of course (R&A, sea, town, etc.).  I'm just thinking in terms of the "demand" placed on the player.

WW

The surrounds are what MAKE the demands.
I could watch that first tee shot all day-and in fact I did

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tommy - maybe this is not the place for it (but, heck, why not):
 
I'd love to hear more about your round at ToC, how you pulled it together so splendidly after starting so, ahem, inauspiciosly (with a bogey? a double?), where you gain strokes and where you lost them. Alsom, of course, would love to hear about your pro-am with Arnie, as detailed and lengthy as you're willing to be.
 
Peter

Peter, I caught the Old Course on a pretty benign day the first time I played it. It was overcast, still, and about 60 degrees. The tees we played were little more than 6300 or 6400 yards long. I made a bunch of birdies and a bunch of bogies after my double on one.  The caddie my wife and I had was great. After the second hole he had already figured out my game.  On every tee he'd tell me the best line for my tee ball.  He got me around the course in fine stead. Without him I wouldn't have broken 80. 


As for Palmer, I played with him at a Pro-Am at  Senior Tour event at  Harbour Towne in 1987 with my best friend. We played the back nine first. I shot 39 and Arnie shot 38.  I was pumped. He then proceeded to shoot 31 while I shot 40. He could not have been nicer.  Between each green and the next tee dozens would ask him for a picture or autograph. He spoke to each person, stopped for pictures, was gracious to everyone. 

[Matt MacIver]

I understand the PoV, however...right is dead so if you are iffy about your slice, with no driving range warm up and plenty of people watching...aim left. Even way left...or aim straight and play a pull...or a draw. Since the ground is usually fast and firm it runs forever...?taking you further away from the green and bringing the curve of the burn way more into play. Ask me how I know.


This would/could all be true on any course in the UK.


But it's at St Andrews which put all the above in another stratosphere. I agonized for A YEAR about what club to hit...so the above can get in your head (a tour pro's?: I care not, but probably not). I was so close to Swilican Bridge my caddy didn't have a yardage for me - he seemed pretty unamused when I said I hadn't planned on crossing it for another 3.5 hours.

[Michael Goldstein]

Asides from the surrounds which make the hole not boring in the slightest, let me point to the strategy.

If you hit it right, the burn comes into play at a shorter distance from the tee (I'm guessing around 260 yards). Similarly, the burn is closer the further you hit it left.

Watch Tiger's shot again today; or DJ. They were both looking on anxiously (in particular Tiger who went right).

It's interesting to look on google earth to see the path of the burn is anything but linear.

Personally I am uncertain about what to play there. With my driver / 1 iron the water is in play but the alternative is a longer shot in (say 140 yards) over the burn.

[Scott Little]

I have heard many of my fellow golfers in SOCAL talking about how great Rustic Canyon is...but that the first hole was pedestrian.  I could not disagree more.  The huge fairway allows for a quick start to the round. There is nothing that destroys the pace of a round like a killer first hole which usually results in two or three groups hanging out on the first tee.  While I have never had the pleasure of playing TOC, I must assume that it experiences heavy play by a wide range of talents.  I know that my heart would be pounding and I would be thankful for a little bit of slack knowing what is coming later in the round.  Cheers.

[Pat Burke]

I was in the first group on #1 in 1995.
Exhilarating and nerve wracking.
It will explain a bit about my lack of success as a player, but after playing,
I walked back down to watch Arnold start his last Open.  After watching IBF hit it OB
I'd be a liar if I didn't say the tee shot looked a bit tougher!


May be boring to watch, but I guarantee the players aren't bored!

[Paul Gray]

Boring or the perfect 'gentle handshake' as Colt advocated? This is, in my opinion, precisely how a golf course should start.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Boring or the perfect 'gentle handshake' as Colt advocated? This is, in my opinion, precisely how a golf course should start.

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