The Road Hole - Why so tough?

[Jeremy_Glenn.]

As I was watching the Open, one thing struck me.  The Road Hole, at "only" 455 yards given 300+ yard drives, was still a really tough four.  What kind of irons were they coming in with?  How far off the tee did the fairway narrow into that little neck?

Is there something to be learned about the Road Hole? No one said anything about "tricked up", but they were struggling all around.

Thoughts?

[Mike Hendren]

There is no easy second shot available from anywhere, period.  

[James Bennett]

'There is no easy second shot available from anywhere, period.'

And the second shot is more difficult (politically correct term  for nigh impossible) from some places (eg left) than other (eg centre and right.  I assume.

Qustion -  How do you get on the 17th putting green surface and near the pin from the lhs of the fairway/short rough?

Answer - Very similar to the advice given by a local to a tourist in the far south-east of Ireland, seeking directions on how to get to Dublin from there.  The 'advice' was 'well, if I were wishing to travel to Dublin, I wouldn't start from here!'

[Doug Siebert]

They weren't hitting drivers on the 17th because they narrowed the fairway at about the 300 yard mark, presumably to maintain the integrity of the hole.  With a 350 yard drive, it may have been possible to hit over the Road Bunker and hold the green with a SW which would have really destroyed the mystique of the hole and exposed the R&A and USGA's failure to control technology.

Interestingly, when I was there in 2001 my caddie was fairly emphatic that I should hit my 1 iron (I wasn't carrying any fairway woods) because "driver is too much, you don't want to be inside 150 here".  The fairway wasn't narrowed nearly as much then as it was for the Open, and I didn't question him as to why he claimed that.  I'd just pushed one OB on #16 after a dumb decision to not listen to my caddy and play right of the Principal's Nose, and was planning on a sort of 3/4 punch with the driver for safety anyway which he agreed was fine.

I did get one up on my caddy in the end though as I had about 170 left from the wispy rough to the left and instead of playing safe well right like he suggested I took a 7i straight over the Road Bunker at the back left pin.  Either I pull it off and its a career shot, or I get to play from the Road Bunker or the Road, both of which I missed out on last time after I duck hooked a 5i near the 18th tee from position A in the center of the fairway.  I hit it perfectly but it didn't quite hold, but I bumped a 4i into the bank from off the asphalt to a foot and enjoyed the applause of the 20 or so spectators and passersby.  First time my caddie smiled all day long!

Anyone know why my caddy didn't want me within 150 yards of the hole?  If it was downwind I could understand it, but there wasn't much wind and it was pretty much right to left from where I was (straight downwind from 18 tee)  Seems like the closer the better to increase one's chances of holding the green, or am I missing something here?  Perhaps that was his point, if I got too good a look at the green with a wedge in my hands from the short grass he'd didn't think he'd be able to stop me from firing at that sucker pin

[David Sneddon]

Anyone know why my caddy didn't want me within 150 yards of the hole?  If it was downwind I could understand it, but there wasn't much wind and it was pretty much right to left from where I was (straight downwind from 18 tee)  Seems like the closer the better to increase one's chances of holding the green, or am I missing something here?  Perhaps that was his point, if I got too good a look at the green with a wedge in my hands from the short grass he'd didn't think he'd be able to stop me from firing at that sucker pin

My caddie handed me my driver, (light 5mph wind), I drove through the fairway and had about 150 left.  He then handed me my 8iron, with the advice to aim at the right side of the green, and my draw should position me nicely.  Hit a beauty, draw and all - ball finished about 23 feet away from the pin which was just to the right of the bunker.

Jeremy from Seattle, previously mentioned on this board, was my caddie, and we agreed at the second hole that he hand me the club and just tell me where to hit it.  it worked out very well indeed!!!

Obviously your man didn't want you messing with that bunker at all, same as mine, advising the right side line of approach.

[Mike Hendren]

Bill,

I'd say fear is more like it.

[Matt_Ward]

I mavel at the intellingence and manipulation by the R&A on how the 17th came off on TV.

Essentially, the narowing of the fairway was a deliberate attept at taking away the driver. Since they manipulated the tee shot option it then placed the player with the dilemma of a much longer second shot to an angled green with literally no room to land. Comparable to landing a 747 on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

I see no reason why the fairway could not be widened so that players were tempted to use the big stick and then derive some sort of advantage over those who played for the safer and much easier choice from the tee.

The Road Hols is indeed one of a kind. The R&A sought to maintain its position by a shrewd and deliberate slight of hand parlor trick with the fairway width.

[RJ_Daley]

I missed a lot of the tournament since we were having our own local men's club tournament.  Can anyone say if they kept a statistic on how many players were in the RHB, and how many got up and down?  Or maybe, how many made 5 from there?  I saw one fellow chip from the road through the green and into the RHB and casually play it out for an up and down from that point.  I saw another easily get out to the RHB and make a putt.  But, that is about all I saw.  It seemed the RHB was not as deep nor steep nor gathering as in past years.

[ed_getka]

Dick,
  They emasculated that poor bunker. The only reason I can think of is that the hole is already tough enough, so they must have felt having the bunker as penal as it was in 1995 was overkill.

[Mike_Cirba]

Dick,

Re: The Road Hole Bunker

The R&A turned Mike Tyson into Michael Jackson.

Still potentially dangerous, but only under bizarre circumstances.  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The Road Hole Bunker may have been emasculated, but an awful lot of people came up just short or wide of it and most were forced to play a very testing running shot or putt around its edges to get onto the green, and very rarely were they close to the hole when they'd finished.

In 2000 that bunker was horrible - flat floored and with a vertical sod face.  This time they had changed the surroundings in order to gather more slightly inaccurate approach shots from a wider area.  They didn't seem to achieve that aim.  It also seemed to be easier to escape from it.  In an ideal world it should be possible to escape from it, but only just, and needing the umpteenth degree of accuracy in order not to perish on the road or up against the wall.  And the threat of not quite escaping in the Nakajima fashion should be a reality.

[Mike_Cirba]

The Road Hole Bunker may have been emasculated, but an awful lot of people came up just short or wide of it and most were forced to play a very testing running shot or putt around its edges to get onto the green, and very rarely were they close to the hole when they'd finished.

In 2000 that bunker was horrible - flat floored and with a vertical sod face.  This time they had changed the surroundings in order to gather more slightly inaccurate approach shots from a wider area.  They didn't seem to achieve that aim.  It also seemed to be easier to escape from it.  In an ideal world it should be possible to escape from it, but only just, and needing the umpteenth degree of accuracy in order not to perish on the road or up against the wall.  And the threat of not quite escaping in the Nakajima fashion should be a reality.

Mark,

Well stated.  I agree entirely.

[rboyce]

Colin Montgomerie hit an iron off the tee and then hit what looked to be a little chippy five iron onto the front of the green to leave himself a moderately difficult up and down which he almost made for bird.

After watching that i asked myself if this was really one of the toughest holes in the world. I'm sure that it is very very tough, and i've not been there so i can't say for sure. But, it didn't seem as tough as in past Opens.

[Bill Gayne]

I was there on Thursday and Friday and watched a combined total of probably around 40-45 groups play through the Road Hole. The green is diabolical and I don't know why. It appears to have minimal slope and movement to the eye. However, I would guess that less than a third of the putts were made from the 5-10 foot range by the world's greatest players.

I don't know if it was shown on TV but Woods and Olazabol's back to back missed putts was unfathomable. Both had four footers from approximately the same spot. Olazabol putted first and the putt broke to the left at the end to miss. Tiger then putted having seen the previous putt and it was the exact same miss.

David Frost missed a six footer for birdie. While waiting to tee off on 18 he re-hit the same putt four times and missed all. Some missed left and some missed right.

I can't explain why it was so difficult for these guys to putt this green. On Friday, I watched games 4 through 38 play through which was 102 players and saw only two birdies. I probably saw 30 birdie putts with ten feet.

The landing area for the drive was very tight. The best drive was hit by Greg Norman. He's always been a great driver of the golf ball and he can still really strike the ball well. If I was to lay a bet at the Senior Open, it would be on Norman.  

The scholars bunkers actually came into play for a handful of players. The left rough was just thin enough that it tempted the player to go at the green rather than punch out. In some cases this led to a pull and a ball in the scholars.

From on the road, there is no way to control the shot back on to the green. I saw all kinds of clubs used: three wood, long irons, wedges, and putters. None were really any better than the other.

Most of the second shots into the greens were low runners that landed about fifteen yards short. Some players brought the ball in high. In most cases the green didn't hold the shot. Although Tiger hit a great high second shot on Friday that left him a four footer for birdie that he missed.

From the bunker, I saw players go all kinds of directions. One player putted in the bunker so that he could set up his bunker shot to get out. Thursday's pin placement was a much more difficult shot from the bunker. Friday's was not terribly difficult of a bunker shot because it was on the low side and he had room to land the ball and let it roll.

When Nicklaus came through on Friday it was pure magic. His group was game 34 and I staked out a spot on the hill pin high next to the BBC camera man early in the day when group four came through. The 18 tee box is a really an extension of the 17 green. It was incredible scene being there and watching Nicklaus and Watson play 17 and 18 together. An extremely emotional moment for the players and the crowd. Those few moments in St. Andrews made the whole trip worthwhile and one of my greatest golfing experiences.  

[RJ_Daley]

Great report Bill.  Thanks.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jeremy,

To start, because it's so difficult to drive to the position that provides the ideal angle of attack for the approach shot.

Secondly because of the configuration of the green, its surrounds and nearby hazards.

[ForkaB]

From the left, the green is very similar conceptually to the 11th except.......it is 10 yards deep rather than 40 yards, and also flatter so not as receptive to the aerial game, and, we all saw how the pros ate up #11--NOT!

I think if anybody tried to make a green complex like 17 for a short hole, they would be laughed off the premises.  This is why it is so hard.

All that being said, the hole played a lot easier than I have ever seen it do for an Open.  Partly technology (which took the fear away from the tee shot) and partly the emasculation of the RHB.  One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, I think, about the RHB.....

.....when Nakajima had his disaster there in 1978(?) the "lip" of the bunker was longer and better integrated into the green.  Nakajima actually hit the green with his 2nd and then putted into the RHB!  This is impossible today for an elite player due to the heightened lip.  Then, when Nakajima tried to get out, he actually did so on 2-3 of his shots, but because the lip was broader his ball rolled back into the bunker.  The flip side of this higher lip is that it now acts as a backstop for shots hit from the road itself.  In the old days, the threat of misjudging the chip and going into the bunker was much greater.  The bunker and the road were delicately integrated.  They are no more.  Finally, the depth of the bunker was no more than chest-high.  The bunker "evolved" dramatically from 1978 to 2000.  Those of you who saw it and loved it in the late 90's were seeing and falling in love with an impostor.....

I, for one, am very much looking forward to McPherson's book on the Evolution of the Old Course.  It should help clear up a number of popular misconceptions, the most prevalent of which is that TOC is a purely natural course that has only gently been touched by the hand of man.  Men are just not that gentle, in the real world.....

[Mitch Hantman]

Another aspect of the Road Hole Bunker that hasn't yet been discussed,   Biis that in 1978, the 60 degree wedge wasn't commonplace, but by 1995 it was.  

[Punchbowl]

It is extra tough when you hit it over the entire hotel...as I did about a month ago.  Then my second attempt was right over the "O" in "Old"....exactly where my caddie told me to hit it....and we never found it.

[Joe Andriole]

Narrow driving area; narrower approach

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Well once you get by the blind tee shot one has one of the really tough 2nd shots in golf. Remember the wind was their friend this year. That makes a huge difference. It was still tough as nails with a shot iron. I remember many a driver 2 iron or 4 iron to this green. I also felt my best shot into the wind was a low chaser with a slight draw that ended at the base of the front of the green. It gave me a good chance for par.