The 15th at Royal St. George's

[JNC Lyon]

I have just returned from my fourth-month stay in the United Kingdom, and I am beginning to reflect back on the great golf courses that I played during my trip.  One hole that sticks out in my mind is the 15th at Sandwich.  I absolutely loved this long par four in both of trips around next year's Open venue.  It is a long four, over 430 yards from even the weekday tees.  It is, at first sight, a long, open slog.  It plays over some of the flatest land at Sandwich, and it appears to be a letdown from the drama of the preceding holes.  However, I was a huge of the hole.  Why? The green complex.  The green repels approach shots on all sides.  The dominate interior contours run with the angle of the green from front left to back right.  However, the right side of the green is built one foot above the adjacent fairway, meaning that any shot coming in from the right will be shrugged off to the side of the green.  To make matters more complicated, a string of three bunkers run perpendicular to the line of play some thirty yards short of the green.  These features make the green, and, indeed, the hole, truly unique and vexing to play.

Going into my rounds at Sandwich, I remember nothing about Sandwich's 15th.  Afterward, I began to find more references to the 15th.  Bernard Darwin highlighted it in his search for an ideal golf course.  Tom Simpson selected the hole for his Ideal Golf Course in The Architectural Side of Golf.  George Peper and Golf Magazine picked the 15th as one of the Top 500 Holes in the World.  Clearly, many different people in the game have viewed the 15th as a great hole.  However, I have never seen any great reference to the hole on this site or anywhere else in modern golf literature.  Until well after the fact, I figured I was the only person who thought highly of Sandwich's 15th.

What do those who have played Sandwich think of the 15th?  Does it deserve the praise that Darwin, Simpson, and Peper gave it?  Why doesn't it get more discussion and praise on this site?  Does modern golf need more holes where the sole distinguishing characteristic is the green complex, as at Sandwich's 15th?

[JNC Lyon]

I thought I would bump this once to see if anyone was interested.

[Mac Plumart]

JNC...I am all ears, but I've never played it.  Wish I could chime in.

But isn't it great unexpectedly stumbling across a hole you come to love so much?

[Scott Warren]

John,

I think one of the reasons it doesn't get more airtime is that it's surrounded by such a strong group of two-shotters.

Is it a better hole than 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17 or 18? I'd say no.

[John Mayhugh]

John,
I'm with Scott.  I thought it was a good hole, but for me far from the most memorable at Sandwich.

In case you wanted a few photos of the hole.

[JNC Lyon]

Scott,

I preferred the 15th to 2, 8, 10, and 17 at the very least.  Why?  For me, it just comes down to the great green complex.  All four of the holes I just listed have cool green sites, but they are not necessarily as unique as the one at 15.  The line off the tee and the strategy on 15 seems to change from day to day based on the hole location.  The same cannot be said for those four.  Most importantly, I think it takes more skill to design a hole like 15 that it does to design many of the other par fours.  The hole takes a bland part of the property and makes it wild and unique.  Isn't there more to learn from 15 than those other holes?

The other four holes you listed, 4, 9, 13, and 18, also have great strategy and green complexes.  They were all superlative in my book.

John, thanks for the photos.  That third one really captures what I like about the green's challenge and orientation.

[Adrian_Stiff]

JC- I like RSG, generally its never been popular with the pro's because of blindness or partial blindness. Its better now than the 1949 days and the blindness will be seen as a plus by most of us on here. 15 is only an ok hole to me. 1 I could see how someone thought that was a poor hole, 2, 3 I like, I like the quirk of 4 and 5 love the maiden and the par 5 7th. 8 is ok, 9 I like the cant, 10 the skyline, 11 is ok, i like 12 with the bunkering, 13 i dont quite fully remember, 14 is a great 5 with the OB and suez, 16 is a great championship par 3, 17 is awesome because of the fairway and green complex..18 probably just ok...So for me 15 could only come out about 12th best hole. The green complex as you say is its redeeming feature.

[Philip Gawith]

John, I don't think it is a great hole, though it is certainly an immensely challenging one. My reason for saying this is that i actually think the shape of the green makes the approach shot too difficult. I have hit one or two very long drives down that hole, and even so, especially if you are into the wind, you are faced with an immensely difficult/nearly impossible approach shot. The green is just immensely difficult to hit and hold - and running it up is also incredibly difficult.

In thinking about the hole, Foxy at Dornoch comes to mind. Also a hole that requires a very good drive and then an excellent approach - or a brilliant chip. But Foxy is a great hole because it looks unique in terms of the hazards down the right, has no bunkers, has a wonderful green etc etc. But Foxy green is probably three times the size of the 15th at RSG, and it still hard to hit. I think Foxy is a great hole, but not the 15th at RSG. Difficult, certainly, great  - no.

[JNC Lyon]

Points well taken gentleman.  Here is my take on the toughness of Sandwich's 15th:

There are two kinds of tough for a golf hole.  One is the brutal, beat-you-over-the-head type of toughness that makes the hole thoroughly unenjoyable to play.  These types of holes are overly long, too narrow, and laden with hazards that make the hole unplayable for all but the lowest handicappers.  I abhor these types of golf holes.  They are no fun to play, and they do not inspire me.

The other is the maddening, subtle type of toughness.  This type relies on more subtle hazards like short grass, unusual undulations, and well-placed bunkering.  These holes are very difficult, yes, but they remain interesting and eminently playable for low and high handicappers alike.  These holes have a certain type of charm and quirk that make them endearing and timeless.  The 13th at Prestwick is this type of hole for me.  Prestwick's 13th is very difficult--too difficult, some might say, for a par four.  The green is outrageous and makes achieving a score of 4 very difficult.  Yet the hole is pure fun and very playable for all levels of golfers.  The green is unfair by modern standards, but is there a better feeling than hitting a running pitch to within five feet on the treacherous 13th?  I think not.

For me, 15th at Sandwich falls squarely into the second category of toughness.  The green is extremely difficult to hit and hold, as you say Philip, even for a running approach.  However, that was one of the things that made the green so appealing, especially on a links course.  Many links green sites make it clear that you can and should run the ball onto the green for the approach.  At Sandwich's 15th, it was never clear what the best strategy for attack was--in fact, it still is not clear to me.  The green, like Prestwick's 13th, is tough for a hole of its length.  It doesn't make sense for a hole of its length, BUT THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT SO FUN!  Furthermore, any level of golfer can play Sandwich's 15th.  The hole is long, but it is wide open from tee to green.  The golfer can play safely to the right on his second and have a decent chance at a four.  There is no type of player that cannot play the hole.

Philip, I suppose I would put Foxy in the same category as RSG's 15th without making claims on which is the better hole.  I've only played Dornoch once, and I didn't quite know what to make of the 15th my first time around.  I'm sure I would grow to like it.  However, I think I found it less playable than my above examples due to the penal nature of the tee shot.  The approach to the green at Foxy is so unique, so shouldn't everyone get a chance to hit it?  Also, I think the greens on all three holes are outrageous, charming, unique, and great in their own ways.