TOP 100

OPEN COURSE
from holes used in Open Championships staged in England.
is almost 90˚ and uphill. There is
excellent fairway bunkering and
a well-sited green.
Honourable mention: St
George’s
11 ROYAL LYTHAM
Par 5, 598 yards
A par 5 with a tight drive and
well protected green which
caused much grief to Graeme
McDowell at the last Open. The
rippling fairway is protected by
good fairway bunkering.
Honourable mention: St
George’s
12 ROYAL BIRKDALE
Par 3, 181 yards
Arguably the finest par 3 in the
UK, with its green lying between
two sandhills and four bunkers
sited asymmetrically to make
lining up a tee shot difcult. A
fantastic test of golf.
Honourable mention: Lytham
13 HOYLAKE
Par 3, 194 yards
The 11th in normal routing is
played as the 13th at the Open,
a medium-length par 3 to an
angled green making judging
the length of an approach
difcult. From the left-hand tee
has a Redan feel to it. The green
is angled 30˚ to the left –
pointing out to the nearby
estuary. A tough hole, that also
happens to be arguably the
most picturesque of any of the
holes on the English Open rota.
Honourable mention: Birkdale
14 ROYAL ST GEORGEÕS
Par 5, 545 yards
Usually a pivotal hole on Sunday
with out of bounds all along the
right, as Dustin Johnson found
to his cost in 2011. A burn and
out of bounds are the stress
factors from the tee. If you can
get close enough to the burn
without going in, you get to go
for the tricky raised green whose
right edge literally touches the
out of bounds.
Honourable mention: Birkdale
15 ROYAL ST GEORGEÕS
Par 4, 493 yards
A narrow fairway and small
green make this a brute of a par
4, which boasts exacting and
well placed fairway bunkers. The
approach is protected by cross
bunkers 50 yards short of the
green. The green itself is raised
and angled slightly, with wicked
contours to boot... as well as
deep rough left and behind.
Honourable mentions: Birkdale,
Prince’s (Shore)
16 ROYAL ST GEORGEÕS
Par 3, 165 yards
The scene of Thomas Bjorn’s
downfall in The Open and my
hole in one – the first on
television in the UK – in the 1967
Dunlop Masters.
Honourable mentions: Cinque
Ports, Lytham
17 ROYAL LYTHAM
Par 4, 467 yards
As tough as the Road Hole at St
Andrews, it was the scene of one
of the greatest shots in Open
history, Bobby Jones’ mashie
from a sandy area into the
middle of the green.
Honourable mentions: Hoylake,
St George’s, Birkdale
18 ROYAL LYTHAM
Par 4, 410 yards
As good a finishing hole as there
is in golf. Exacting, demanding
and theatrical. Cleverly bunkered
hole, both around the green and
the fairway. A grand finish, even
without the Championship
grandstands in place.
Honourable mention: Birkdale
Drama, beauty
and challenge:
The 18th at
Royal Lytham.