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Road, 495 yards, par four
Possibly the most famous hole in golf. Unchanged for more than 100 years, it's been lengthened by 40 yards for this Open, making for a slightly sharper dog leg. Driving over the corner of the Old Course Hotel, the fairway is unsighted from the tee. If you overslice you'll end up in the grounds of the hotel and out of bounds. If you go too far left you'll be buried in thick rough. The line is dependent on the breeze - with no wind the previous line was over the "o" of "Course" in the huge lettering painted on the side of the wall but now it's closer to the "o" of Hotel. Finding the narrow fairway will be trickier now, but even if you do, your problems are just starting. If you play any sort of aggressive shot you're playing with fire. The Road Bunker on the left edge of the green is a magnet for balls which are channelled that way by the ridges and hollows in front of the green. It's an absolute brute, and is to be avoided at all costs. Tommy Nakajima ran up a quintuple-bogey nine from the sand in 1984, while David Duval took eight after tangling with the Road Bunker when contesting the lead in 2000.
Duval was mired in the sand in 2000
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If you go long and a fraction to the right you end up on the hard road and maybe up against the wall. In recent times it has been a drive and a seven iron but with the extra distance (and assuming no wind) it's more like a four iron, which is back to how the hole played 25 years ago. The green is very narrow - about 13 yards wide - which is a very small target for a four iron. You'll see lots of players go short right and then pitch on or long and left, near the 18th tee, and chip back. Or you could play a big run-up around the contours. Bu anyone going straight for the green with a longer iron is taking a big gamble. The changes will restore the ultimate fearsomeness of the Road Hole that had lost some of its venom. It's a brilliant hole that you always feel you are better off playing in instalments. It's always wind dependent and will have a multitude of stories to tell. Road: Name derives from old turnpike road which forms the southern boundary to the Old Course.
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