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Howard Riefs

  • Karma: +0/-0
This worked well with the U.S. Open last month.  A few links of course tours, analysis and historical accounts of past Open Championships at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.  Feel free to add others.  


COURSE TOURS

RoyalLytham.org
“Hole by Hole Tour”
http://www.royallytham.org/hole_by_hole

TheOpen.com
“Course Tour”
http://www.theopen.com/en/TheCourse.aspx

Golfweek
“Royal Lytham, hole-by-hole”
By Brad Klein
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/15/2012-open-championship-hole-hole-guide-royal-lytha/

Golf Digest
“Hole-by-hole tour of the 2012 British Open venue”
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/2012-07/photos-royal-lytham-st-annes#slide=1

BBC Sport
“Helicopter course guide to Royal Lytham”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/18844312

Reuters
“British Open course at Royal Lytham & St Annes hole by hole”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/us-golf-open-guide-idUSBRE86F01220120716


COURSE FEATURES/ANALYSIS

Golfweek
“Royal Lytham deceptively difficult”
By Brad Klein
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/14/2012-open-championship-royal-lytham-deceptively-di/

Fox Sports
“Longer Lytham deceptively difficult”
http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/Tiger-Woods-British-Open-Royal-Lytham-071512

NY Times
"A Challenge That Is the Stuff of Legends"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/sports/golf/2012-british-open-course-is-test-of-a-champion.html?pagewanted=all

Geoff Shackelford
“Tiger Ably Describes Rough "Almost Unplayable" In Spots”
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2012/7/16/tiger-ably-describes-rough-almost-unplayable-in-spots-uk-pap.html

ESPN.com
“Bunker mentality”
http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/8132129/how-avoid-bunkers-royal-lytham-st-annes-golf-club-espn-magazine

BBC
"Consistency is the key at 'unusual' Royal Lytham"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2012/07/english_major_winners_are_rare.html

AP
"Closing hole at British Open should deliver drama"
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/story/2012-07-16/british-open-18th-hole/56240076/1

Wall Street Journal
"Playing Chess on a Golf Course"
By John Paul Newport
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388004577531000798573824.html?mod=djemMTIPOFF_h

Golf Digest
"Royal Lytham Has A History Of Identifying The Very Best"
By Geoff Ogilvy
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2012-07/gwar-geoff-ogilvy-final-say-0716

USA Today
"Royal Lytham's 205 pot bunkers can turn players sideways”
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/story/2012-07-18/british-open-royal-lytham-nightmare-bunkers/56296274/1

Geoff Shackleford
“And Yet More Observations From Rainy Lytham...”
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2012/7/17/and-yet-more-observations-from-rainy-lytham.html

Golfweek
“Players embrace Open's rough terrain, weather”
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/17/mccabe-players-embrace-opens-rough-terrain-weather/

Golfweek
"Royal Lytham simply gets the job done"
By Alistair Tait
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/18/tait-royal-lytham-simply-gets-job-done/

Golfweek
“10 things you might not know about Royal Lytham”
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/18/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-royal-lytham/


HISTORY

AP
“Previous Opens at Royal Lytham”
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/15/2012-open-championship-previous-opens-royal-lytham/

RoyalLytham.org
“History”
http://www.royallytham.org/1952_open

The Guardian
“Gary Player: I tamed wild winds and putted like Houdini to win Open”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/14/gary-player-open-royal-lytham

Golf Magazine
“Tony Jacklin reflects on taming Royal Lytham”
http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/tony-jacklin-reflects-winning-british-open-royal-lytham

ESPN.com
"Open Championship Golden Moment -- Seve and the car park"  
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8148756&categoryid=2630020

Golf Digest
"Searching for Seve"
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/british-open/2012-07/british-open-seve-ballesteros


VIDEO ESSAYS

ESPN
THE OPEN at Royal Lytham & St. Annes
By: Wright Thompson
Narrated: Ian McShane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6sWPDCmC5Y&list=UUARmQakWqL8CbXEgne_o5bA&index=1&feature=plcp

ESPN
"SOOT & ASH" Royal Lytham & St. Annes
By: Wright Thompson
Narrated: Ian McShane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Jure0wf6k&feature=BFa&list=UUARmQakWqL8CbXEgne_o5bA
« Last Edit: July 19, 2012, 05:02:57 PM by Howard Riefs »
"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
If championship courses are measured by those who have won a tournament of significance there, shouldn't Lytham be considered one of the best courses of the Open rota? Consider who has won there:

-- Duval in 2001, who in the few years prior to his win was probably the only player in the world who could reasonably claim to be able to go head-to-head with Tiger.

-- Lehman in 1996, arguably one of the two or three best players in the world right before Tiger showed up a year later (actually later that year).

-- Seve, twice, and you'd have a good argument as to who was the best modern Euro-based player in history between him and Faldo.

-- Tony Jacklin, along with Nicklaus and Trevino the best player in the world at the time.

-- Player, one of the five or so greatest players in the game.

-- Bob Charles, the best left-handed player in history pre-Mickelson, and an under-rated talent who won worldwide throughout the 1960s and 70s.

-- Peter Thomson, winner of 5 Open championships, T-2nd for most wins in the championship.

-- Bobby Locke, four-time winner of the Open championship (who also had 8 top-5 finishes in majors in addition to his four wins at the Open).

-- Bobby Jones, who needs little introduction.

There's not a cheap winner in the bunch.

« Last Edit: July 16, 2012, 11:48:43 AM by Phil McDade »

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Well done again, Howard, many thanks.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Jason Topp

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thanks Howard.  The drawings on the official site are very good.  I wish they would add prevailing and secondary wind directions because it is so difficult to guess what the holes play like without that information.

Howard Riefs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Delete. Updated with below.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 09:28:16 AM by Howard Riefs »
"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Howard Riefs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thanks for the positive feedback.  Added a few additional Golf Digest and WSJ stories above, including a very good piece by Geoff Ogilvy.  See the last items under "Course Features/Analysis" and "History"

« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 09:29:06 AM by Howard Riefs »
"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Shane Wright

  • Karma: +0/-0
Howard, thank you for the links!  I really enjoyed the NY Times article.  The brief history coverage on the Bobby Jones victory at Lytham was awesome.  What a great way to get ready for the best week of golf of the year.

Thank you!


Jay Flemma

  • Karma: +0/-0
Mackenzie, MacRayBanks, Maxwell, Doak, Dye, Strantz. @JayGolfUSA, GNN Radio Host of Jay's Plays www.cybergolf.com/writerscorner

Matthew Runde

Many thanks for compiling this.

Michael Tamburrini

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thanks for making this up.  It'll be interesting to see the changes to the course this year.  Traditionally the front nine has always been the easier of the two nines whilst the back nine has been regarded as more of a beast.  Looking at the new yardages that could well change this year (obviously depending on the wind too).

The 6th is now a par 4, rather than the gentle par 5 it had been in the past.

The three longest par 4s, the 2nd, 3rd and 6th, are all early in the round.  Add in two 200+ yard par 3s and it makes for a much more challenging start than it's been in previous Open Championships. 

Meanwhile the last few holes don't seem to have been lengthened much.  13 and 16 are both short with the 18th also being pretty short by modern standards.  I wonder if players will be able to simply blast driver past the bunkers or if the heavy rough and wind conditions would make that impossible.  Even 17, a hole I'd always considered to be really tough, is only 453 yards - a distance which seems much tamer these days than it did 10 or 20 years ago.

I definitely think the course will play a lot differently this year - be interesting to see how it goes.

P.S. I also wouldn't mind a major where Tiger didn't tee off early on Thursday.  I've nothing against him - he's great to watch - but does he have to have an early tee time in EVERY major?  Couldn't they occassionally give him an afternoon time, just for a bit of variety? 

Howard Riefs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Updated with the last five stories (starting with USA Today) under "Course Features/Analysis."

Also added two ESPN video essays that are worth a view.  Great visuals and production, with copy by wordsmith Wright Thompson.

ESPN
THE OPEN at Royal Lytham & St. Annes
By: Wright Thompson
Narrated: Ian McShane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6sWPDCmC5Y&list=UUARmQakWqL8CbXEgne_o5bA&index=1&feature=plcp

ESPN
"SOOT & ASH" Royal Lytham & St. Annes
By: Wright Thompson
Narrated: Ian McShane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Jure0wf6k&feature=BFa&list=UUARmQakWqL8CbXEgne_o5bA

"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Mark Alexander

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thought I would add my own link to the list (see below).

I photographed the course last summer for the club as part of their preparations for this year's Open Championship. In particular, they were looking for some impressive images for their website and recently revamped dinning room.

The course itself is one of the toughest on the Open Championship circuit - whoever lifts the Claret Jug on Sunday will deserve it. Surrounded by buildings and with limited access to high points, it was also a tricky course to shoot.

Over a series of days in June 2011, I photographed the layout in the morning and late evening light. The results hopefully show a course full of twists and turns that will test the very best players in the world.

Judge for yourself - http://www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk/RoyalLythamandStAnnes/


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