The Old Course at St. Andrews is golf’s foundational text. Much of what we consider to be the bedrock principles of golf emanated from the Old Course, from the rules of the game to 18-hole rounds to enduring concepts of strategy. Without its guidance golf would look very different.
That doesn’t mean the links are sacrosanct. Throughout its long history the Old Course has simultaneously evolved and been intentionally modified. New tees have been built, fairways have been adjusted and bunkers added and removed. As golf changes, so does the Old Course despite its aura of permanence.
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On that note, The R&A and the St. Andrews Links Trust announced Tuesday a series of renovations the Old Course will undergo ahead of the 2027 Open Championship. Individually the alterations are subtle and might not be observable to anyone not intimately familiar with the design. But taken collectively, the governing bodies believe they will create a more consistent challenge for major championship competitors in places around the course that have become vulnerable.
The modifications, beginning next week under the guidance of the British architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert, include adding 132 yards across six different holes—five, six, seven, 10, 11 and 16—bringing the total yardage to 7,445. The teeing areas of the 11th and 16th holes will also be enlarged, and the championship tees on 12 and 14 have shifted. At the par-5 fifth, a new tee will add 35 yards to the hole taking the length to 605 yards. Two short par 4s, the seventh and 10th, will be 22 and 29 yards longer, respectfully.
“What we saw in the last Open on the par 4s were more players, in relatively calm conditions, being able to get on or near the greens with their tee shots than in the past,” says Grant Moir, executive director of The R&A. “No. 10 has been drivable downwind before, but the extension means it’s unlikely to be drivable in flat conditions, and the length on seven makes it less likely, though not impossible, that players will be able to carry Shell bunker.”
Moir also believes taking the par-3 11th, the famous Eden hole, back to 195 yards will also have an impact.
“In recent times, for instance, that well-known hole location just over Strath bunker has become relatively accessible given the clubs players have in their hands. Adding 21 yards to that tee shot will enhance the challenge to that hole and to all the hole locations, certainly into the prevailing southwest wind.”
Two new bunkers will angle into the right side of the landing area on the par-4 second, replacing two obsolete bunkers in the short rough. A new fairway bunker at the par-4 sixth will protect against long drives down the left. The 10th will receive a new bunker 60 yards short of the front of the green to the left. Fairway bunkers and surrounds on nine and 12 are set to be recontoured, and the top edge of the Road Hole bunker on 17 will be lowered slightly to offset years of bunker sand-splash build up.
The biggest alteration comes at the par-4 16th, one of golf’s finest alternate route holes. For generations players had to decide whether to squeeze a drive between the Principal’s Nose bunker (with the Deacon Sime bunker lurking beyond it) and the out-of-bounds line on the right, or play safely left of the centerline hazards and then contend with a more difficult approach to the green.
Prior to the 2000 Open, the fairway left of Principal’s Nose was converted to rough. Rarely used as a primary hazard at St. Andrews, the expanse of rough made the 16th an oddity, and one-dimensional. Over time, however, more players began risking a poor lie in the left rough over the greater disaster of driving out of bounds to the right. That area will be reclaimed as fairway, with two new bunkers constructed on the through-line beyond and to the left of Deacon Sime, waiting to capture drives played too conservatively.
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“That’s been somewhat unsatisfying,” Moir says of players intentionally hitting toward the rough. “So, although it kind of seems counterintuitive to replace rough with fairway to increase the challenge, the combination of the fairway extending left as it did in the past and the addition of those bunkers long actually provides optionality as well as the enhanced strategic challenge that we’re looking for.”
The expansion of short grass at 16 fits into St. Andrews’ overall design concept, says Sandy Reid, director of greenkeeping for the St. Andrews Links Trust.
“We’re cognizant of how the Old Course has been played in the past with more tight turf, and that’s something we’ve been looking at enhancing as an organization,” he says. “I think these changes represent a nod to the past. More tight turf complements our thoughts on how the course should be presented.”
We’ll know soon how the changes impact a course that’s been in a defensive crouch, from a scoring perspective, for 25 years (the average winning score in the five Opens since 2000 is 16.8 strokes under par). One thing the golf world can count on is that this will not be the last round of modifications at the Old Course. As players continue to hit the ball farther and harder, St. Andrews will have to respond again in the future if it continues to be in the Open rota. Which brings up the next question: for a venue that’s already been stretched to the point that championship tees are now positioned on parts of the neighboring courses, is there any more room available?
Moir thinks there is. “For any of us to say it wouldn’t be possible to extend it in the future, I think that would be unwise,” he says. “I’ve never ceased to be amazed by the creativity people have in finding ways to enhance the challenge of this golf course.”
