Rich -
As Blaise Pascal almost said, "I should have written a shorter post, but I didn't have the time."
Re: How to play the 2nd at TOC.
The full Low quote is as follows:
"At SA ... it is most important that the first shot be played in absolutely the right direction in order to "open up the hole" as the saying goes. The seond hole at St Andrews ..... (he's also talking about the 2nd at Hoylake, hence the elipses)... illustrates what I mean. The first shot must be played well to the right ... in order to get in the best postion from which to conduct further operations. The playing of the hole thus becomes not a series of isolated shots with no bearing the one on the others, but each stroke has to be played in relation to the following one, and the hole mastered by a preconceived plan of action." (BTW, one of the earliest statements of a key principle of strategic gca.)
I'll quibble with you about Balfour. His 1887 account is of the state of TOC circa 1850. The course was very different in 1850, but I think it clear that even then the smart play was to stay right. From that side the hole was "quite playable". He also notes that if you take another line, the player "has to encounter some hazards".
I recalled reading a "how to play" account in Mack's SofSA, but didn't find it there. MacK discusses the 4th. I'll try to find where I saw it. Help from the treehouse is appreciated.
Desmond Muirhead's and Tip Anderson's account in their book on TOC:
"T. If you are a good enough player, you should never go left on [the 2nd], especially not in tournaments. If you are on the right hand side, you have a much better shot in; you can really see where you are going…
D. …the more daring you are and the more you go to the right, the more you are rewarded with an easier second shot. …avoid the whins, and then you are penalized with an increasingly difficult second. That's the classic ratio of risk to reward – another of the founding principles of golf course architecture.
What's the point of all the green on the right? …the flat area looks larger then it actually is, as this part of the green merges with the flatness of the third tee. The second green really has its own Valley of Sin, like the depression in front of the 18th.
(As a parenthetical note for history buffs, this green looks bigger in Alister MacKenzie's plan of 1924 because the tees are included in his map of the green.)"
Doak's account of how to play the 2nd is a paean to (what was once) one of his favorite holes:
". . . For me there is one hole – often overlooked – that could serve as a model for golf course designers looking to counter the adverse of equipment technology: TOC's par 4 2nd hole. . .
Like many other outward holes at St. Andrews, the strategy of the second hole is profoundly simple: the more the hole is cut on the left side (or middle) of the double green, the more the tee shot needs to be played to the fairway's right hand side, close to the fw bunkers and gorse along the boundary of the New Course. Every foot you play closer to the right yields a slightly better approach angle. If you don't drive the ball quite where you intended, it may be wise to adopt new tactics completely and play a defensive second shot – even if from a good lie in the fw.
. . . For players whose talent or imagination limit them to hitting high approaches, their cause may be bolstered by playing to the right from the tee; even so the approach must still be directed safely to the right side of the green to avoid the possibility of a bad bounce.
To be sure, the 2nd hole is not marked by the sort of terrific hazard – Strath, Hell, the PN or the Road. . . it is a hole brought to life by simple things, namely, the firmness of the ground and the rippling undulations of TOC. In short, the 2nd is the quintessential links hole and the perfect antithesis to the more Americanized pitch over the Swilcan Burn at the opening hole."
You really need to read Doak's piece in full. Golf writing at its best.
There are any number of similar accounts of the way the hole was played (quotes provided on request), including pieces by Louis Stanley (a golf jounalist from the 1920's and later), and Keith Mackie. The best of these is by Sandy Lyle in his book "How to Play the Scottish Championship Courses." Well done and a good book. Dawson should have talked with Sandy. But then it sounds like Dawson didn't talk to many people pre-construction.
You'll need to trust me on this, but I found no accounts that varied much from the above. Which shouldn't be very surprising since the best way to play the hole was common wisdom - at least until last week. The interest set up by the contrast between a difficult approach over humps and bunkers from the left and the bail-out to the right is now lost.
Bob