The test, or lack of, the Old Course at St Andrews presents to the world’s best players is a debate as long as time, and one that comes around when the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship returns to our screens.
Tyrrell Hatton equalled the course record of 61 in the third round on his way to winning the 2024 edition, but this can happen when one of the world’s best players is put on a golf course that is soft and set up to cater for amateur golfers in the pro-am portion of the tournament.
The argument for saying the Home of Golf is too easy is a compelling one in weeks like the one just gone. Holes such as the 9th, 10th and 18th don’t quite live in the players’ nightmares and given the way technology in clubs and balls has evolved, many of the Old Course’s qualities can be overcome by power and distance.
But as the course is prepared to suit amateurs as well, many of them celebrities on-site to entertain the crowd as well as themselves, the Alfred Dunhill may never be a stiff test compared to when The Open Championship rolls around to the famous links.
Like every championship golf course, they need the weather to bolster the defence barriers. If there is no wind and just rain falling with no deviation, the players will make birdies, a lot of them. To say it’s too easy in these circumstances is to look from the perspective of a non-major week in the Autumn.
This is the debate that surrounds the professional game at St Andrews. But how about us mere mortals? Is St Andrews an easy course? We pored through the Shot Scope – and the results concerning club golfers were fascinating…
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Is St Andrews an easy course for club golfers?
1st hole
Par: 4
Average score: 4.75
Rank: 7
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From the tee, the 1st hole looks relatively simple. After all, the fairway measures 148 yards at its widest point. It is though, framed with out of bounds left and right, plus there is the added pressure the usual crowds and, you know, the pressure of playing the Old Course.
Most golfers manage to keep the ball in play, but the cost of missing the fairway is high. The average score when hitting it out of bounds or in the dreaded burn is 6.3.
It’s surprising how many golfers make bogey or worse from the right side of the fairway, with 36% of double bogeys coming from shots finishing up on the West Sands Beach side. Perhaps having to carry the burn in three different places proves too much for the nerves?
All birdies made on the 1st hole came from a tee shot that finished inside the circle shown above.
5th hole
Par: 5
Average score: 5.28
Rank: 17
The first par-5 has a green that is extremely well guarded by bunkers, including those two famous “spectacle” pot bunkers which line the left and right side of the fairway. This is not the place to miss, as 25% of players who end up in the left spectacle bunker make double bogey or worse.
If you’re trying to get on, or close to the green in two, make sure you have enough club to carry these traps.
7th hole
Par: 4
Average score: 4.60
Rank: 10
The carry to the fairway on 7 can be anything from 200-224 yards depending on which tee box is in play. This may not seem very far but due to the lay of the land, it is all carry and to top it off this hole usually plays straight into a headwind.
As a result most club golfers actually struggle to reach the fairway and end up playing from the rough or, even worse, the gorse.
The trouble doesn’t stop there. The expansive Shell bunker lurks short of the green to catch any balls coming up short, from here your chances of making up and down are virtually impossible.
9th hole
Par: 4
Average score: 4.15
Rank: 18
This ranks as the easiest hole on the course and offers a great chance at birdie for golfers of all abilities. The key to good scoring, though, is avoiding the first two bunkers on the left and right.
The best chance of making birdie is, unsurprisingly, from the fairway but interestingly this is one of the only holes where the best miss is to the right.
11th hole
Par: 3
Average score: 3.76
Rank: 6
The second of just two short holes on the Old Course layout, the 11th is a very testing hole with danger lurking in every direction.
It sounds obvious, but this is a hole where you really just need to hit the green, as missing it increases the average score by a full shot. Whether you are short, long, left or right, the chance of a double is lurking.
Even if you hit your ball on the green, you’re not in for an easy par thanks to the severity of the slope from the back to the front. So much so, 15% of players who hit the surface end up three-putting.
14th
Par: 5
Average score: 5.59
Rank: 11
Par-5s are often opportunities to improve your score, but the 14th actually plays more than half a shot over par.
The biggest hazard is Hell Bunker that runs across the middle of this hole. It covers 250 square metres and is more than three metres deep. Get past this dreaded trap in two and you have a massive advantage.
17th hole
Par: 4
Average score: 5.31
Rank: 1
One of the most famous tee shots in golf rewards the brave. The further right you dare to go the easier your approach will be. Yet nearly half of golfers miss this fairway left.
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The Road Hole bunker is, unsurprisingly, the biggest hazard on this hole. Only 15% of amateurs get up and down from here and more than 50% of players who end up in here walk away with a double bogey or worse.
18th hole
Par: 4
Average score: 4.34
Rank: 16
The closing hole offers all golfers a good chance of birdie. The fairway is 129 yards wide so it is perhaps no surprise that 96% of golfers find the short grass. Getting your driver over the road gives you the best chance of making a birdie.
The Valley of Sin just short of the green is seen as the biggest challenge on this hole yet nearly 50% of golfers make up and down from here.
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