Hogan's Alley (Part One)

STAND on the tee of the 6th hole at Carnoustie and you can almost imagine yourself having travelled 50 years back in time.

Though the championship tee has moved back and new bunkers down the right have been added, the integrity of the hole remains. White posts run down the left-hand side of the entire hole, all 578 yards of it. In the middle of the fairway, some 247 yards away, stands the first of two deep bunkers. A carry of some 285 yards is required to clear it and the second trap beyond.

The choice is and always was simple. The execution much more difficult. Those with no ambition of reaching the green in two can lay up short of the bunkers. Typically, this will leave in excess of 325 yards to the green. Alternatively, you can play to the right, short of two more bunkers at around 300 yards from the tee.

In terms of yardage, this approach can bring the green into range but because of the way the hole and green are angled, it will be a blind shot and hit across the line of the green. Laying up from here will mean hitting towards the out of bounds.

The third choice is the boldest. It involves aiming between the bunkers and the posts down the left. The gap between the two is over 20 yards, but the penalty for missing the shot is severe. Pull it off, and you will be able (in the right conditions) to attack the green. Get it wrong and a double bogey or worse is the most likely result.

It was here that Ben Hogan, as legend has it, split the gap between the fence and bunkers in each round of the 1953 Open on his way to winning the championship. Now the hole is named in his honour.

The demands made on the player by the 6th are typical of Carnoustie as a whole, which, happy to report, will present a very different kind of test than it did in 1999. Then a combination of a wet and warm spring, coupled with the fact the Open
Championship had not been played here for almost a quarter of a century meaning no-one knew quite what to expect, led to an extreme test.

This time around, while Carnoustie will undoubtedly provide a stern challenge, the rough will be much less of a factor. In the summer of 1999, every links course on the east coast of Scotland had experienced incredible growth; this year has been a different story.

The difficulties on a course designed principally by five-time Open champion James Braid come in the shape of severe bunkering. Severe, that is, in the sense of the placement of the hazards, rather than in their depth which is not generally extreme.

But a recurring theme here is the way they catch shots that are almost perfect. To make birdies at Carnoustie it is necessary both to drive the ball extraordinarily well, and also to flirt with the hazards, on occasion. It is possible even for the world's best to play very nicely round here yet drive into four or five bunkers, find another couple around the greens and walk away having signed for a 75.

What is simply not true to say is that Carnoustie is impossible. Far from it. Demanding, yes. Unforgiving, yes. Impossible, no. The greens are, as a rule, large and flat and will hold no fears to the majority of the field. Only two tee shots, those at the 12th and 14th, are blind while the 1st green cannot be seen from the fairway (though the flag can).

Carnoustie is not one of those links where the fairways are rumpled and uneven and it is extremely rare to see a crooked bounce from a straight shot.

Click here for part two