Mostly likely, it is either a 7 or 8.
A 7 is defined in the front of the book as
'An excellent course, worth checking out if you get anywhere within 100 miles. You can expect to find soundly designed, interesting holes, good golf course conditioning, and a pretty setting, if not necessarily anything unique to golf.'An 8 is defined as
'One of the very best courses in its region (although there are more 8's in some places and none in others) , and worth a special trip to see.'Those are the strict definitions. In my own ranking, it breaks out where more or less an 8 is world top 100 and a 7 is not.
Much to my surprise, only one person in Volume 1 gave it an 8 - moi (perhaps not unsurprisingly)! Like the Mickle thread, I am prepared to be right solo!
Does anyone else lobby for an 8? It does have something unique in golf with the iconic Postage Stamp hole. Is there any other par 3 where so much stress befalls the 2nd shot? You hear about Rye’s one-shotters and I suggest 13 at Muirfield but what a play on greed the “Stamp’s” narrowing green makes. The hole perfectly complements the 17th and together, they somehow overshadow the underrated 5th. So, the 3 pars are diverse and balanced.
As for the remainder of the course, the pressure to excel on Troon’s downwind par 5s is acute, which never helps. That leaves a slew of appealing two-shotters, some of which (7, 13, and 15) I would nominate as world class and two more white-knucklers (11 & 18) that with aplomb - insert OB into the equation. Holes 9 and 10 add spiceersity based on how they go up and over the landforms.
I am big into the pacing of a course. Here, the good club golfer eases appealingly into the round at holes 1-6, then enjoys the course's best in 7 and 8 as he plays in the dunes at the end of the property before returning home with good/great holes evenly mixed on the way in.
Detractors, I won't remember the 2nd or 4th on my deathbed but they aren't remotely close to being 'bad'. The greens don't have crazy contours in the middle of the greens but few Open courses do. Perimeter hole locations add putting spice.
Finally, Your Honor, as I rest my case, let me remind the jury: the playing surface here is the best grass for golf, bar none. Well-designed holes on fescue in a windy environment take on multi-dimensional qualities. Remember how Norman’s drive scooted in the playoff on 18 in the 1989 playoff? That's Troon - and its surfaces, humps and hollows and run-offs are worth a point on the TD scale when combined with ever changing wind conditions. In the midst of a 10 day trip to Scotland, you might start to take fescue/shifting winds for granted. However, I would be leery of equating that brand of golf to the more 'static' conditions found at a lot of deserving 7s in North America.
Anyway, that's my take. The zephyr of wind so far isn't helping to substantiate my position but ... conditions can always change in a moment. As you watch the play from Royal Troon these next few days, mull over its TCG grade. A friend sniffed,
'I respect it very much but I don't love it.' That's fine - as long as he gives it an 8.
Let us know your grade and just as importantly, why.
Best,