The Most Stunning Change at TOC

[Bryan Izatt]

A year has passed since the ill-advised modernization changes of last fall to The Old Course.  After this week's Dunhill, I suppose they'll be at the phase two changes.  I recently was at St Andrews and looked at the last year's changes.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a tee time (there was only one ballot day in all of September).

The most stunning change, at least visually, was not one of the much debated changes, but rather one that perhaps most on here would actually agree with and that didn't impact the seminal architecture of the course.

And, that is, the gorse clearing in front of the 7th tee.  What used to be a blind shot over the gorse is now a panoramic clear view of the 12th tee, 11th green and 11th tee.  If you saw it before and now the change is stunning.  I'm not sure I like it, but it surely must improve the pace of play somewhat.  Were the blind shots over gorse part of the original (whenever that is) essence of the course?




More on the other changes as I have time.

[Jonathan Mallard]

Maybe this was something that the locals wanted done.

[Bill_McBride]

Much of Alan Robertson and Old Tom's changes in the 19th Century were gorse removal.  This is a real positive.  

And that's the 12th tee outlined against the skyline above the Eden estuary.  It's a frightening tee shot unless a) you are Tiger Woods, or b) your caddy has suggested you play way right to avoid all the hidden bunkers!   Thank you Bruce Sorley.  

[Richard Choi]

Any change that results in fewer lost balls during the round is a change for the better in my book.

[Tom_Doak]

I suppose the gorse removal on the 7th hole is a good thing.  I rather liked the feeling before of getting past trouble and then getting out to the corner and having the whole crossover open up into view, but the play on #7 should always be to the left, so opening up the right side does not make the hole any easier and might make it harder to resist playing more toward the green.

I thought the most stunning change to the course was the change to the 11th green ... they made sure to get a hole location on that left side, by lowering the slope way more than I expected from the advance descriptions.  I only played it the one time during our 100-hole hike, so it was hard to see whether the softening of the slope had made a great change in how the ball fed to the right-hand hole locations, but I would expect it's much different than before.

It is still the insidious little changes to holes like #2 that bother me the most.  They are just completely unnecessary tinkering with what ought to be considered sacred ground.

[Michael Goldstein]

Exactly...  those new bunkers on 2 are a real shame.

[Bryan Izatt]

Bill,

Of course you are right, that is the 12th tee.

My feeling is that the gorse removal has exposed some uninteresting ground and, in my opinion, makes the whole area look barren.  It is also off putting to me to see the group on 12 tee, the 7th fairway, and the 11th tee, all in your field of vision when teeing off.  I wonder if ever in its history that the hole looked like this.

[Bryan Izatt]

The second most stunning change, in my opinion, is the bunkering of the second green.  From an architecture point of view this is the most egregious of the changes to the sacred ground as I see it.  It totally changes how the hole plays for right hand pins.  If the green is, as it will be most of the time, maintained very firm, getting to a right pin behind the bunkers will be very difficult for amateurs and maybe even the pros.  It'll be interesting to see how it plays in the Dunhill this week.

Some scrolling of the pictures is required.

From the championship 3rd tee (my those championship tees are a long way back) the remnants of the old bunkers are obvious in the foreground.







Closer in and from right of the line of play, but this day's pin position shows how it can be hidden.




From the right side of the fairway.  The risky line up the right side near the gorse on the tee shot will no longer be the preferred play to a right pin.  The design intent of the hole has definitely changed.







The right edge of the green appears to have been raised a bit and a depression created (although it's not too obvious in the picture) to reject shots to the right and to make an up and down slightly more difficult for the pros.  The tie in from the bunker to the green will propel any shots that clear the bunker by a bit off the back of the green.

[Greg Taylor]

I'm pretty sure you'd have still seen the group on the 12th tee even with the gorse.

For me, downwind, this hole is potentially driveable for the bigger hitter, so giving him line of sight allows him to see the risk in full before he takes his chance... Because it adds that choice therefore for it's a positive change. Given the grass time to grow in...

As an aside, Health & Safery legislation means that blind shots were be subject to HASWA legislation if grounds crew are at risk of being hit... they course could be held liable/negligent for putting people at risk in the event of court action. As least that was the logic offered up at my old course when the took the gorse down.

[Jud_T]

I thought the most stunning change to the course was the change to the 11th green ... they made sure to get a hole location on that left side, by lowering the slope way more than I expected from the advance descriptions.  

Ugh...good thing I skipped breakfast...

[Brian_Ewen]

Is this really recent ?

I don't remember noticing it, in August for the Ladies Open.

And certainly the flag system was in use.

[Alex Miller]

When does phase 2 start?

Please say November, please say November.



Also those bunkers on 2 are awful. I haven't been to TOC...yet, but I've tried to make myself as familiar with it as possible through literature, aerials, pictures, etc... I don't know if the "easy" opinion is to side with Tom Doak or the status quo or what, but I know  given my knowledge of how that hole plays, this is subtraction by addition. I am slightly saddened to know that when my time comes to play TOC, that #2, and to a lesser degree #11, will be in their current forms.

[Bryan Izatt]

The changes at the 11th hole are much more subtle and perhaps more insidious as a result.  There is now a subtle bowl on the left side of the green although it doesn't show too well in the pictures.  The front slope I'd be hard pressed to say if it's been changed and by how much.  I watched one group play the hole and two of the players hit shots between the bunkers that I felt would likely feed back off the front down the slope.  But, they didn't, so maybe the top end of the slope has been flattened to tie into the slight left hand bowl.  Finding pin locations on the left side now appeared not to be an issue.

There appears to be a little depression behind the guy standing on the mound.










From down in front there almost appears to be a crease across the front slope where the upper portion was flattened.




From behind.

[Bryan Izatt]

Finally, the 17th road hole bunker.  It looks to me like there's more of a ring around the collar effect or funnel opening than there used to be, but I'm not sure.  Will have to look at some old pictures to compare.  This appears to me to be more of a cosmetic adjustment than a functional one.

[Bill_McBride]

Bryan, don't you think that new look Road Bunker looks like it's going to gather a lot more shots than it used to?

[Brian_Ewen]

Bryan, don't you think that new look Road Bunker looks like it's going to gather a lot more shots than it used to?

It certainly didnt do that for the Ladies Open.

[Bryan Izatt]

Bill,

That wasn't my impression.  The little ridge in front would probably stop, rather than gather, shots that are weakly rolling up.  The left side ridge looks like it's higher so maybe it'd catch more shots going a little left.  I'd imagine that most people try to roll it up the right side. Maybe we can see something of the effect at the Dunhill this week.