I continue to be amazed that a hole that is no better than the fifth or sixth best hole ON THE FRONT NINE of a course gets acclaim for the best opener in golf.
I speak of Machrihanish, a course I revere, but one in which the merits of its opening hole are obscured by its setting. Yes, the drive over the Atlantic is cool, and perhaps unrivaled. And the drive is made all the better strategically by a series of pot bunkers on the far side of the fairway on the direct line away from the beach.
But I think a truly great hole must have greatness all the way from tee to green. And Machrihanish's opening hole is something of a let down after the tee shot. The land itself is fairly flat, and the bunkers fronting the green are not penal or strategic, in that they are 30-some yards in front of the green. The greensite is angled away from the beach, not hugging it, and features little of the dramatic mounding (it has some, but it's routine in the context of the rest of the course) that characterizes so much of what follows on the front nine. The green itself is rather routine, not severely contoured, and neither small nor large -- average sized. Combine Machrihanish's opening drive on 1 with the approach on hole No. 2 -- across the burn, up and over a huge sand dune to a green that is out-of-this-world, and you'd truly have a great hole.