Royal Troon countdown: 14 days to go

5th, Greenan – 209 yards, par 3 

The 5th, designed by James Braid, i the first of the short holes which would ordinarily be ragarded as the best of the set on any other course which did not have the Postage Stamp amongst them. It is a beautiful par 3, taking the course right back to the shoreline with the tee and green perched high giving great views of the sea. It is a testing hole of over 200 yards.

The tee has been rebuilt splitting up a large area into a smaller back tee and a main tee.

An area of non indigenous bushes has been removed to the right of the hole giving uninterrupted views towards the town of Ayr from the tee. Instead, the area has been left as bare sand with some marram grasses planted through it which provides an ecologically important habitat.

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The hole name… (Greenan)

The old Kennedy Castle ruin just south of Ayr lends its name to the short fifth hole.

Hole changes

• The old large tee has been split into two
• An area of bushes has been cleared leaving an area of bare sand

Architect Martin Ebert explains..

“A great 3! There was a big rose bush blocking the view through to the sea and the gorse management plan that was in existence was augmented; so as well as getting rid of the bushes but leaving the brash, we also scraped it back to sand.

“The 5th is a great example of this, with marram grass sprigged through it. Bob Taylor the ecologist said at The Open venues seminar every links course should have eight per cent of its area bare sand! This kind of scene – like we see from old photos of links back in the day – is going to be more prevalent.”

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