Photo thread - Old Course Changes

[Mark Bourgeois]

Adam,

Thank you for that. Apologies for being dense but is that your observation from walking the site, from the pictures above, or from both? I could have sworn I read somewhere Dawson saying the top line was not being lowered.

[Adam Lawrence]

Both. It is clearly lower.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Adam,

If those photos are from the same angle it doesn't look lower to me (or certainly not more than a few inches). They've obviously resodded the roll-over at the back of the green but probably just to tie in to the scooped out back portion of the green a little better.... But then I'm looking at photos. You have been there...

By how much do you think the horizon line of the green on the middle-left was lowered?

[Tom Kelly]

There hasn't been much talk of TOC changes recently, so on a recent trip north of the border I stopped by the auld grey toon for a quick wander down the West Links for a look myself. I nearly froze to death, but came away with a few (lots) of photos of the changes to 2,11 & 17 among others. The light wasn't great but I thought a few of you may be interested to see the finished work so I've picked a few (lots) out with some comparisons to photos from the summer of 2010.


2nd Approach from RHS fairway
2010


2013


2nd Green from atop the mounds
2010


2013


A few more from 2013 without comparisons

2nd Approach from centre of fairway 2013.


2nd Approach from LHS fairway, just past Cheape's bunker 2013.


The old and new bunkers 2013.





More to follow.

[Mac Plumart]

 

[Tom Kelly]

The only positive thing I can say about the changes to the 2nd are that as with all the work done, the quality of the workmanship looks excellent.

[Tom Kelly]

Lots of gorse has been cleared out along the boundary between the Old and New courses. The most obvious changes were in front of tees 2, 6 and 7 on TOC.

6th Tee
2010


2013


7th Tee
2010


2013


I also noticed some rather odd looking mounding that has been built behind the New course's par 3 5th. It used to be gorse, but has been cleared and replaced by the mounds to shield the turf nursery in the area between the green and the 11th tees of TOC.

2013



Not keen, but hopefully once the grass/rough has grown more they will blend in a little better.

7th Fairway.
2010


2013

[Tom Kelly]

11th.
2010


2013


Looking down the 11th green from right to left.
2010


2013



From behind the green.
2010


2013



A few more from 2013.

[Tom Kelly]

The back edge of the green has definitely been lowered slightly in a few places as you can see in the picture taken from behind the green compared with the one form 2010, though it is still high enough to make the portion of the green which has been lowered look a bit like a basin/bowl area. This 'basin' (for want of a better word) is nothing too dramatic and the area does still fall back to front but it looks virtually flat in comparison to the rest of the green thus creating the 'basin' impression which seems strange on a green that is so famous for its back to front tilt.

[Matthew Essig]

 

What about #9...

[Adam Lawrence]

No changes to the ninth this winter. A new bunker on the left is planned as part of phase 2.

[Paul_Turner]

Tom

The 11th does look much flatter from those photos,  looks like a shallow saucer now.   How old was that green?  The worst of the work so far, from pics at least.

[Matthew Mollica]

Can you imagine, after all this, if the next Open at St. Andrews does not for whatever reason, feature a back left pin on Eden?

MM

[Tom Kelly]

Been away for a few weeks, here are a few more.

There is a temp hole in play for the 11th and it seems they've managed to make an even harder par 3! It's played across the 12th fairway and one of it's numerous bunkers to a knoll next to the 3rd green of the Eden. I thought it looked pretty fun.

[Tom Kelly]

The Approach to 17th
2010



2013




Looking down the green.
2010


2013


The bunker
2010


2013


A few more from 2013.



I was suprised at how similar the road hole bunker is from 2010 to now. The only real change I can see from the photos is that the ground feeds into the entrance of the bunker slightly more and the left edge has been raised a touch more, but not much. It does look abit more pronounced now when you look back from the 18th tee though and personally I am not particularly keen. What I found even more interesting is the pictures I found on the internet from years gone by.

This picture from a telegraph article shows Jean Van de Velde in 2000 in what looks like a far deeper bunker with less 'shaping' around it. I found a number of others showing similar things. How different is the bunker that was played in the 70's or 80's to what we see now? How different was it when it was first revetted?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/9709957/RandA-hits-back-after-Ian-Poulter-blasts-insane-changes-to-the-Old-Course-at-St-Andrews.html

[David_Elvins]

Thanks for posting Tom.  The 17th green appears to have lost some of it's uniqueness which may be a pity. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

Personally, I was less concerned about the rebuilding of the road hole bunker. After all, revetted bunkers get rebuilt every 5 or so years with slight variations anyway.

I was / am concerned with how the contour on the front left nose of the green may have changed though. It is difficult to tell from the photos if anything significant has been altered.

[Stephen Davis]

I get depressed when I see these pictures. It is a shame that I was never able to experience TOC before the changes. I don't see any of them that look like an improvement. 

[Jason Topp]

Apart from the philisophical issues associated with changing the Old Course, the change to 17 looks like an improvement to me.   

[Jud_T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_75RXbmO6k

[Ally Mcintosh]

Care of Tony Muldoon, a link to lots of photos of the current changes....

Lots of new micro undulations and bunkers being created:

http://livingasalinksgolfer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/st-andrews-old-course-changes-phase-2.html