This is one I would welcome....I remember standing in it around 1990 and it was a frightening hole in the ground but I stood in it again last year I thought to myself that I would fancy my chances of up and downing it more times than not.
Open Championship organisers, the R&A, orignally took a lot of stick from some players and golf traditionalists for adding a new tee to the 17th hole at The Old Course.
But the R&A felt the hole wasn't tough enough to handle the new technological equipment the players were using so stretched the hole to a 495-yard par-4 to put more emphasis on the length and accuracy of the tee shot. They were proved correct and indeed only 38 per-cent of players hit the green in two shots.
Now, it seems, they are considering other changes to the contours of the hole to bring the Road Hole bunker more into play in time for the next Open Championship the course hosts - probably in 2015.
Following a de-brief among the championship committee and representatives of the custodians of the course - the St Andrews Links Trust - R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson said the intent had been to bring the road behind the green back into play.
And among the incidents that will long live in the memory was Miguel Angel Jimenez ricochetting his shot purposely on to the wall and back onto the green.
“I think the new 17th tee has been a great success in terms of stiffening the test of that hole,†Dawson said. “I said at the beginning of the week, we were hoping that the road might come more back into play, and by gosh, it did. We had far more people on the road this year through the back of the hole than I’ve seen at previous Opens in recent times. To that degree we are very pleased with the hole.â€
There are no plans to make the Old Course any longer but the focus of any possible alterations is likely to be on the slopes on and around the green.
"We would like to see more balls go in the Road Bunker," said Dawson. "It's lost its ball-gathering capabilities."
Compared to the past, the bunker face is no longer the vertical wall that it once was and has an incline of 67 degrees, about 3 or 4 degrees less severe than previous years."
"We wanted to give players some sort of chance to get out rather than no chance," Dawson explained
Open Championship organisers, the R&A, orignally took a lot of stick from some players and golf traditionalists for adding a new tee to the 17th hole at The Old Course.
But the R&A felt the hole wasn't tough enough to handle the new technological equipment the players were using so stretched the hole to a 495-yard par-4 to put more emphasis on the length and accuracy of the tee shot. They were proved correct and indeed only 38 per-cent of players hit the green in two shots.
Now, it seems, they are considering other changes to the contours of the hole to bring the Road Hole bunker more into play in time for the next Open Championship the course hosts - probably in 2015.
Following a de-brief among the championship committee and representatives of the custodians of the course - the St Andrews Links Trust - R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson said the intent had been to bring the road behind the green back into play.
And among the incidents that will long live in the memory was Miguel Angel Jimenez ricochetting his shot purposely on to the wall and back onto the green.
“I think the new 17th tee has been a great success in terms of stiffening the test of that hole,†Dawson said. “I said at the beginning of the week, we were hoping that the road might come more back into play, and by gosh, it did. We had far more people on the road this year through the back of the hole than I’ve seen at previous Opens in recent times. To that degree we are very pleased with the hole.â€
There are no plans to make the Old Course any longer but the focus of any possible alterations is likely to be on the slopes on and around the green.
"We would like to see more balls go in the Road Bunker," said Dawson. "It's lost its ball-gathering capabilities."
Compared to the past, the bunker face is no longer the vertical wall that it once was and has an incline of 67 degrees, about 3 or 4 degrees less severe than previous years."
"We wanted to give players some sort of chance to get out rather than no chance," Dawson explained
