Old Course..The Nothing 8th Hole..

[Bob_Huntley]

In a recent thread, there seemed to be a coterie of contributors who thought the 8th hole was not much of anything. It certainly didn't appear easy to the R&A's Royal Medal winner.

"Graham Brown, the current Captain of Royal Liverpool, won the principal scratch award on the final day of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's autumn medal meeting yesterday(Thurs) over the Old Course in St Andrews. He shot a brilliant four-under par round of 68 - it included seven birdies and a triple bogey six on the par 3 eighth hole - to collect the club's Royal Medal. He pipped the former Formula One world racing champion Nigel Mansell, who had set the early pace in the competition when he returned a three-under par 69 in the first match of the day."

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Bob,
I would consider the 8th/10th green to be the most deadly, subtle, head-scratching putting surface on the course, and I would surmize that it probably also delievers the most three putts out there, if not the most head scratching.

Would that be a overstatement? Personally, I just don't think so.

[Bob_Huntley]

Tommy,

In my opinion, yes. To get it close from forty feet seems much more difficult there, than anywhere else on the course.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Bob, you forgot to end it with, "If not the world...."

[Eamon Lynch]

I played it on Tuesday and certainly didn't find it to be a nothing hole. Not the strongest short hole on the course by any means, but the bunker in front distorts the distance perception quite a bit, so it's easy to have a GIR but leave yourself a very long putt. Or three, as I did.

[Mark_F]

Tommy Naccarato:

At the risk of once again incurring your wrath, you must be out of your mind.  

The 8th is one of the most simplistic holes anyone has ever tried to pass off as good.  The green slopes front-to-back. Put a big bunker in front and the flag always behind.  Of course it's going to be difficult to get it close.

How about the 6th at Brora?  Now that's a magical par three. Dornoch has four beauties.  Macrihanish a couple.  Carnoustie a couple.  

Forget the Old Course.  If it was located anywhere other than Fife, it would be a trailer park.  

 

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mark,
I make it a point to never argue with an Australian--especially when he is wrong and has missed this one by the same distance as it is from The Gray Old Town to Dornoch!

Its alright though. You got Melbourne down there from which to study and learn further about which course influenced it as well as Dornoch.

The Old Course is the Root of Golf Greatness...........

[Bob_Huntley]

Cardinal Naccarato.

Please initiate steps to call in the Inquisition, and examine why Mark Feruson should not be punished for heresy.

A trailer park indeed. I think that is worth a flogging before the ritual immolation.

Bob

[Mike Hendren]

Forget the Old Course.  If it was located anywhere other than Fife, it would be a trailer park.  

Mark,

I believe the correct quote is:  "If a trailer park was located in Fife, it would make a great golf course."

Bob,

The 8th is a hoax.  There is a visual relaxation on both 8 and 9 that is deceiving.  All of a sudden there is a golf course out there that is plain as day and it's somehow unnerving.   My first round there was with a couple who were marginal players at best.  The wife's 30 footer for 2 was topped by her husband's 6 footer for 2.  There is absolutely no way I dropped two shots to each of them that day at the 8th.  I still refuse to believe it.    

Don't even get me started on the 9th.   It reminds me of the boxer whose right-hand (i.e., right-side OB) you have learned to easily avoid until, wham, he clobbers you with the left.  

I initially found The Loop rather pedestrian.  I was wrong.

Mike  

[Mark_F]

Tommy,

You mean you know how far it is from The Old Course to Dornoch?  Is this because you read it on a map, or have personally driven there?

If you don't want to argue with an Australian ( a reasonable point of view, since we are never wrong), how about arguing with one Mr Lee Westwood?  It isn't even in the top 100 of Fife.  Ahh, sweet music to my ears.

One day, I promise you, you will understand.  It may come slowly, certainly painfully, but if there is anything I can do to help...

Bob Huntley:

I have been punished.  It's called a week in Wales.  

[hoggmeister]

A simple hole--you just have to play it like I did three weeks ago.

Since the wind was blowing 40 MPH from the right,  I aimed at the 10th flag. Hit it great and ended up 30 yards to the left-- up against the gorse. As we walked to the green the rain started. Into the horizontal wind and rain I hacked it out of the rough, over the 9th tee, across the green to two feet. Tapped in for a par.  No problem.

As the strokesaver says  "in windy conditions the Short Hole demands the utmost respect"

[Brian Phillips]

Tommy and Bob,

I think it is one of the most underated holes on the course. It is one of my favourite green complexes on the course and 8th requires more thought than people realise.

Brian

[Brian_Ewen]

From an article in today's Scotland on Sunday .

Eventually everyone gets it .



http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/othersport.cfm?id=1153432004

Lee Westwood :
"I have learned to enjoy the Old Course," he claims. "The turning point was when Dave Musgrove caddied for me in the Dunhill Links in 2001. I missed the cut, but he showed me how to play certain holes in certain winds. It was a great education. Dave showed me that hitting the fairway isn’t enough round there; you have to be in the right place on the fairway."

[Tommy_Naccarato]

[TEPaul]

Bob:

Graham Brown made seven birdies?? Isn't Graham Brown the one who imitates Seve so well?

Now that Graham made seven birdies and a triple on the formerly "nothing" 8th does that mean we can now expect at least seven of the holes to be deemed "nothing holes" and the 8th to be deemed "great" by some idiots?  

You know, my friend, this is all getting to be like what touring pros go through with some of the contributors on this site and what actors go through with some movie critics;

"You're only as good as your last performance!"