And, what can be learned from playing and studying TOC in reverse ?

There was an article about playing the reverse TOC in the Sports Illustrated "Golf Plus" supplement issue previewing the British Open that was published in early July.  I think Alan Shipnuck wrote the article based on his playing of the reverse TOC in early April of this year. I cannot recall what observations he made or conclusions he arrived at from the experience. It is possible the article may be available online.  

Was my thread on the reverse old course not good enough for you???  

I'll let y'all know next April.

Jonathan,

I agree that probably very few have been fortunate enough to play TOC in reverse, but I think your estimates of how many have played TOC in the normal order once and (especially) more than once are way low.  I've played TOC twice (forward both) but I read about all these guys playing PV, CPC, Sand Hills, and on and on and I feel jealous  Getting to TOC, especially for those on the east coast, isn't exactly like getting to Barnbougle in either time or money so there probably aren't many who have it as their #1 golfing goal who haven't done it yet.

I remember in another thread a while back talking about getting to Pebble, the general consensus was that for those of us in the midwest or on the east coast, it was probably a wash in terms of time and cost going on a trip to play Pebble versus a trip to play TOC, and I damn well know which one I'd pick from those two!

Back to Patrick's question.  I'll go in his style and answer a question with a question.  If playing TOC in reverse is so widely regarded as a great thing, why in the heck does the R&A only do it early in the year when the weather's very iffy?  Are they still on mats then or does that end on March 31?  If they did a reverse TOC on the first of every month, I'd schedule my next trip around it.  But I can't see making a trip out there just to play TOC in reverse, when the weather's likely to be so bad I'd be lucky to play more than a couple times in a week, and one of them might not be the day I'd booked TOC (sorry I guess I must be a big pussy, because I'm not one of those nutcases who plays when it is in the mid 40s and with howling wind and spitting rain)

No it is not...having played both ways in the same year, same month...it is forced and does not flow as well as the new routing.  It is very congested and seemed to be even more dangerous than the modern routing..

I have played TOC around 30 times in the correct order

Darren, you spent a year living there and only played the course 30 times? Methinks you went to class too much!

I think for me at least playing into 17 from the other side would be ten times more terrifying because there is absolutely NO margin to pull or hook at all, and if I cheat right then I get to pitch it right over the Road Bunker!  I'd probably be better off playing deliberately long right and chipping back!

If I win the $340 million Powerball jackpot tomorrow, I'm going to call the R&A and see if I can book the course for an entire day next summer and host a GCA event there Sheep Ranch style.  I think that might be more fun that playing it forwards or backwards

Well, that's OK Martin, I didn't win, and if I did I'd probably have hired someone to book it for me and he would have eventually figured out who to call.

Seems to me that NOT seeing Hell might make it a bit more fearsome.  You'd know one of those bumps out of there had Hell behind it, but you wouldn't be sure exactly which one.  That, and knowing that a hook could be a real problem, would probably be enough to make me play my tee shot off #16 tee to #14 green via the 5th fairway just to be safe  Actually might not be a bad angle to approach #14 green from the behind off the 5th fairway...

I guess I never looked at it that closely when I was there before since I wasn't playing it into a really strong wind where it would come into play.  So I can't remember if it has much of a lip on the low side.  I guess the worst you'd face might only be a downhill lie in the sand.

Plus I guess it probably wouldn't be that hard to carry off the 16th tee anyway so you are probably right.

Martin, et. al.

My understanding is that when TOC was single file, you played 5 from where the current 4th green is over Hell to the Elysian Fields.  There was no (modern) 5th fairway in those days to bail out right.  It was probably a pretty fearsome tee shot, particularly in the feathery age.

Hey MacWoo...er..um...Rich,

What are you doing providing historical perspective?

Someone is going to mistake you for a purist in here!  Now, go back to being the good contrarian that you are.  

My publisher made me do it!

I thought I'd resurrect an old topic to highlight this video. It looked they had a great experience. Hickory, one of the best players in the world and the reverse old course. A very enjoyable watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA0OvJN4Loo

This I  know:  Playing The Old Course is the greatest experience in golf.  The opportunity cost - i.e., foregoing another round along the current routing, is simply too high to bother playing it in reverse.  Unless your prime objective is to appear "cool,"  enhance your street cred or pose as a member of the cognoscenti a reverse round is foolish in my book and a waste of time and space.


Bogey