Changes to the 2nd hole of The Old Course

[Tom_Doak]

There's a book that Paul Daley published a few years ago entitled "Great Golf Holes by Design," where he asked 50-60 architects each to pick a favorite hole of theirs and write & illustrate why they liked it so much.  It's a terrific book, because it illustrates so clearly how different architects tend to think [pictures, diagrams, sketches, narrative] and because the choices aren't so obvious.

In fact, I'm going to Himalayan Golf Club in Nepal in 4 days, entirely because of Ron Fream's piece in the book.

I wanted to pick a golf hole that I thought was fairly simple and vastly underrated.  So I picked the 2nd hole on The Old Course.  I don't remember suggesting any changes to it though.

Rich, the problem with your various arguments is that any of us can do this for any golf hole in the world.  Move the bunker closer ... move it further away ... add a bunker in the left center ... ad infinitum.

Somehow The Old Course had survived since the early 1900's without any of that b.s.  I still don't understand the reason that policy needs to change this week, other than that the Secretary surmised that he had accumulated the power to push it through, and that the opposition would be muted by pedantic discussion about whether the bunkers should be slightly closer or slightly further away.

[Jud_T]

 The punters who flock to the course every year and pay exorbitant sums to play, do so not because they want to experience what golf was like 50 or 200 or 500 years ago (they ain't gonna get that anyway, BTW), but because they want to play where the pros and top amateurs play.  Nobody yet on all the related threads on this issue has yet made a cogent case for exactly which TOC should be preserved as sacrosanct.

I think you are completely off base on this.  That's why people play Medinah #3, Butler National, Whistling Straits, Hazeltine, Valhalla etc. not generally why they play the Old Course.  Unfortunately, that may be the case after these guys get done...Shouldn't the burden of proof in this instance be on why it shouldn't be kept sacrosanct?

[Sean Walsh]

Further to my last post on this thread here are a few details about the 2nd from the medal (pro in brackets) tees and why this hole is no pushover.  The very front of the tee takes 36yds off the unbracketed figure.  My usual experience would be that you would be taking 10-20yds off the medal tee for your yardage.

2nd Hole 411 yds (453yds)

From tee
Cheapes Bunker 262 (304)
Bunkers on right 214 (256)

to green from
Cheapes 142
landing area Bunkers on right 184
next set of paired bunkers on right 54 & 35 respectively (only on line of play if in the right rough)

From the medal tees a scratch or better amateur was driving to within around 90yds of the green taking both Cheape's and the RHS bunkers out of play.  Their only concern was trying to bite off too much land on the right and catching the rough. FWIW this rough on the right was one of the places on the course other than gorse where you would most often lose a ball.  The rough was thicker than most areas and blind from the tee.  

Green approx 35yds deep on left down to less than 25 on far right.  Green on left does run away from the player while that on the right has a bit of a backstop before the rough.

Cheape's was never in the equation for me unless I had a strong following wind.  I would usually have between 150 and 165yds in.  From the 14 cards I could find from my rounds there I had 5 pars, 6 Bogeys and 3 doubles.  I played 4 of those rounds clearly under my handicap on those rounds best score on 2 was a 5. I played 5 rounds within one shot of my handicap and had 3 4's in those rounds.  I can remember parring the hole to at or around the Sunday pin, I can also remember double bogeys to the easy right hand side of the hole.  

Granted this is a relatively small sample but in my rounds at St Andrews I was playing good golf for my ability and always considered a 4 at the 2nd as an achievement.  I would say at the time of playing TOC I was at or near the median club golfer. 16 Hcp, 200-220yds off the tee and usually straight. I am a reasonably poor putter, spasmodic with my irons and a pretty good ground game (as long as it doesn't involve a putter) for my handicap; for many golfers I caddied these attributes would be flipped for a similar end result.