Question on fairway lines at St. Andrews

[Ran Morrissett]

On some of the aerials, I am noticing a straight rough line, for instance, down the right of the sixth fairway. Is this new? Did the fairway once extend more to the right, perhaps in an irregular manner up toward the gorse?

I ask because I see several bunkers that are totally surrounded by rough - and I don't recall seeing that. I thought all the bunkers had short grass, at least somewhere nearby, helping to feed balls into them. Otherwise, a small bunker just plays small (i.e. irrelevant) if it can't gather in balls from well away.

Seeing small pot bunkers well off to the sides of fairways and seeing linear fairway/rough lines seem distinctly un-St. Andrews like. Has something changed?

Cheers,

[Adam Clayman]

Ran, I've noticed the same from the aerial flyovers. I found it so Americanized and have been called stupid for saying so.

Beware, there are those out there who want to defend this type of dumbing down, and, condone vehemently the loss of any Sportsmen's creed to this grande sport.

[Tom_Doak]

Ran:

The fairway lines at St. Andrews have been creeping in slowly but surely over the last 28 years (as long as I've known the course).  It is not just for championship play but for everyday play as well.

The biggest changes are the connection between #2 and #17 has been pushed up more toward 17 tee; the rough on the far side of the mounds on #4, pinching in #15; and the fairway to the left of the Principal's Nose on #16.  There's also more of a carry on #7 before the fairway starts.

[RSLivingston_III]

I remember as much as ten years ago on a visit to Scotland hearing how much golf, and especially the young golfers, were being influenced by US golf. The future doesn't look good over there when the next generation takes over.

[Matt MacIver]

This topic deserves much more discussion on this forum - above all - so get with it.  I wish I could add something but I can't.  But IF TOC is loosing fairway width then that's a travesty.   

100 years from now which concept will win: TOC or Augusta?  Will ROG be up or down from today?

[Sean Walsh]

Ran,

As Tom suggests I think this has been happening for some time.  Possibly in Non-Open years for ease of mowing.  In Open years it is just more noticeable because the rough is allowed to get thicker and therefore more easily distiguished from the fairway cut. 

I've just looked at the course guide on the St Andrews Links site and would say that 3 of the six bunkers on the right of six were in very sparse rough and 1 was in slightly heavier rough.  Only those marked as 153 and 123 were in the short grass (from memory).  I haven't got time to go through every hole right now but have checked 2 and 3 and counted at least 6 bunkers that were in at least sparse rough. There are up to 6 others that I think may have been outside the fairway cut but am nowhere near certain.

I can't say what position these were in in realtion to the fairway pre 2007 and defer to Tom or others with better knowledge.

[Tom_Doak]

Sean:

Some of the bunkers on #6 were well out in the rough when I first saw the course.

However, don't kid yourself, the changes that have been made were NOT for ease of mowing.  They've been made to toughen holes -- mostly the closing holes [15, 16, 17].

[Sean Walsh]

Tom,

When I was there all anyone in the town, the caddies and the links seemed to care about was pace of play. I would have thought in non open years, where the rough is not required to punish those nasty pro's, they would be better off mowing it in similar fashion to the sheep/rabbits would have done in earlier times.

One place that was definitely difficult due to maintenance practices was he 7th, all rough until you carry the ridge (although the bowl before the ridge was pretty sparse because that's where 30% of golfers seemed to end up. 

The other area of rough that was a little strange was covering the three pots on the right of the 2nd fairway.  A good golfer could easily carry them and because it was blind from the tee it was sometimes difficult to find balls in there.  Left short many more balls would have found these pots. 

[Bill_McBride]

Ran:

The fairway lines at St. Andrews have been creeping in slowly but surely over the last 28 years (as long as I've known the course).  It is not just for championship play but for everyday play as well.

The biggest changes are the connection between #2 and #17 has been pushed up more toward 17 tee; the rough on the far side of the mounds on #4, pinching in #15; and the fairway to the left of the Principal's Nose on #16.  There's also more of a carry on #7 before the fairway starts.

From what I saw of the overhead views of #16, that's probably the worst.  All of the strategy of the hole has been taken away by the thick-looking rough just left of the Principal's Nose.  To get within 150 yards of the green, one has to ignore Nicklaus' Dictum and drive to the right or amateur side.  Very disappointing.  This also pretty much then takes Wig bunker out of play.   

[Ally Mcintosh]

Every time I've visited the course, there are areas where more rough has been grown in... Quite a few of those bunkers on the right hand side going out have certainly been in the rough for at least 20 years or more though... probably much longer...

Is it not true that the R&A recommend fairway widths of 20 to 25 yards and that although they only oversee The Open, many links courses that aspire to tournament play go with those recommendations because "that's what the R&A say"?

[Sean_A]

There is no question the fairway lines going out have been brought in.  But as Ace says, the most disappointing area is the 16th.  The PN, one of the most influential bunker packs in history is no longer what it was that made it so important - a centre-line bunker. 

Ciao

[Adam Clayman]

So, it is true that the fairway lines are moved in and key bunkers are shrouded in rough.

Does this support the claim that the powers that be are clueless to their sport, course and presentation of both?

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