Ran:
From the tips, Prestwick is 6678 yards these days, SSS 73.
Regarding #15, also one of my personal favorites at Prestwick, I have included some varying angles one might encounter on the approach. It is ever so delicate because the green slopes severely to the back and a little bit right, and I think most players are hitting some percentage of a wedge, making the distance control even trickier. I think you really just need to land a high flying shot on the top of the ridge and a little left of the flag and let it roll down, or otherwise putt it up the slope and hope it loses momentum at the right location and funnels down slowly. The bump and run for me is always rejected here. Other success stories would be interesting, no doubt.
Another thing that makes the 15th great for me is that it is right at the clubhouse and allows you to play that great (exclude #18 if you like) four-hole stretch back in. It also acts to relieve congestion at the first tee as we started from #15 the last time I played there.
I think these mini-loops near the clubhouse make a course so multi-dimensional and fun, and if I join a club in the future, I will certainly look for one that has a nice little stretch of 3,4, or 5 holes near the clubhouse to play a couple times after work, etc.
FYI. The hole is a par-4, playing anywhere from 347 yards to about 307, depending on the tee placement for the day.
This is the approach shot (you can barely see the white flag left of the farthest bunker) for the safe driver, right of the first fairway pot, about 140 yards frorm the green. Good luck from here...
This is the right fairway bunker, the largest on the hole, from which escape can be made with a high, 100-yard blast, to the top of the ridge in front of the green.
This is where you might find your ball if you hit a relatively long drive with a slight cut. You have likely bumbled around in the fairway and avoided all the fairway hazards by pure good fortune. It is a hollow with a couple mounds about 50 yards from the green, and if you get lucky enough to be in the semi-rough, a high flop shot may be pulled off quite readily. Two right greenside bunkers must obviously be skirted.
If you absolutely crunch a drive, you will still probably not reach this point atop the ridge fronting the green, but who knows. If your first approach flop fails, you could be here, where you get a nice view of the green and the massive hollow back left that you hit over from the 16th tee.
All in all, one of my favorite links holes, more than a little due to the vast array of textures, colors, and undulations in the ground and vegetation in this part of the course.