St. Andrews’ Old Course is gearing up for changes: here’s what’s coming

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and the lengthening of championship golf courses. Yes, that even applies to the Old Course at St. Andrews – especially ahead of the 2027 Open Championship.

The world’s most respected links will undergo numerous changes that will lengthen it by 132 yards before the world’s best golfers take to the course in 20 months. It will be the biggest renewal of the Championship T-shirts since the early 2000s. Here’s everything you need to know about the changes.

Four new tee boxes

The 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th holes will get new tees for the 2027 Open. These are a par-5 and three par-4s all running in much the same northerly direction on the east side of Fife.

The par-5 5th will see the biggest increase, with an addition of 35 yards, which at least makes sense for championship purposes. The 5th played an average of 4.598 at the 2022 Open, the third easiest hole, according to par.

The 6th and 7th will grow 17 and 22 yards respectively, but neither was an easy birdie hole at the 150th Open. At the 7th, at 371 yards, players had to launch tee balls high into the air downwind, portage the huge Shell bunker (324 yards of coverage) and find a putt for the eagle.

“It was very solid and very fast [in 2022] and that presented a challenge,” said Grant Moir, R&A Chief Governance Officer, “but there was certainly an increase in the number of par-4s reachable and both par-5s were reachable (in two) most days.”

With 29 yards added to the 10th and 21 to the 11th, the total yardage for the par-72 setup will now reach 7,445, continuing a clear trend that you can see in the chart below.

Where do the tee boxes go?

Great question! It’s unclear. The design firm responsible for the adjustments is Mackenzie and Ebert, who have been helping the R&A make adjustments to the Open Championship for years, including adding new holes to old properties. Consider their renovation of the final stretch at Royal Liverpool for the 2023 Open, creating a new, bite-sized par-3 17th that had everyone talking that week. (And not necessarily radiantly.) Or look ahead to next year’s site, Royal Birkdale, which will use a new par-3 15th.

As for St. Andrews, there is still room to wrest land behind where the current tee boxes are located, but not much! The renovation work will undoubtedly require the removal of several gorse bushes and will creep beyond the various footpaths that wind through the property. But given the back-and-forth nature of the course, every step back from the tee begins to encroach on the previous hole or a hole on the new course next to it. Take a look at the photo below to understand what is currently outside the 6th and 7th tee box.

Bunker movement

Two of the extended holes – 6 and 10 – have also seen new bunkers added closer to the green, or rather closer to the ‘elite level drive length’, as the R&A put it. Now the bunkers to the right of the 6th have a meager coverage of 260 yards. Sure, the alley to the green narrows a bit, but bunkers closer to the green will do more damage to a player’s scorecard than playing from any length. With an extra 17 yards from the new tee, players will be tempted to hit the driver, but will be very concerned if it goes offline.

The bunker addition that has made the R&A particularly jazzy is on the left side of 16, where in previous years the rough layer was cut close to the famous Principal’s Nose bunkers. In 2027, players will find two additional bunkers on the left side, with some of the rough bunkers reduced to fairway level, allowing aggressive play to skirt or fall victim to the sand.

“We felt like players lately were focused on hitting the ball into the rough ground there to avoid the strategic challenge that the hole traditionally presented,” Moir said. “It may sound counterintuitive to some, but widening the fairway with the installation of two new bunkers actually increases the strategic and overall challenge on that hole.”

There is truth in it. During a practice round of the 2022 Open, I watched Scottie Scheffler drop balls into the rough left side of the 16th fairway and wedge his way to the green. It felt funny to see a player deliberately hit multiple shots from different spots in the rough environment, especially when one of his drives ended up in the fairway. Scheffler told me that he deliberately aimed for the rough left side, and that he was completely content to play from there, if his drive did not return to the short grass. Below is a screenshot from the final round of the 2022 Open, showing how often players attacked the left flank of the hole, and were still often rewarded for doing so.

Pace of play; bits and pieces

A major reason for all this? Pace of play during the championship. At the 2022 Open, with record attendance and incredible weather, the opening rounds lasted longer than six hours. Without much wind, it became apparent that players were hitting a large number of par-4s in one, and both par-5s in two. Normally, when there is wind, only one of the par-5s is reachable in two, allowing professionals to play their second shot without having to wait for the green to open up for them.

Below you will find some further adjustments to the role.

What does it all mean?

The Old Course will never be the same again. Basically as it is has never been the same. It is a living, breathing organism that adapts over time. Gorse grows well in some years, not so well in others. Bunkers were added to the course ahead of the 2022 Open, but no one really seemed to notice. The weather wasn’t great that dry summer, but in 2015 there was so much wind and rain that almost the entire golf Saturday was canceled.

It does mean that the Old Course continues to be pushed and manipulated for championship purposes, the likes of which will be particularly important during Championship Week alone, or during major competitions such as the Dunhill Links or high-level amateur comps. The old rate that You play will remain largely unchanged, with the black tees extending to 6,721 yards. The people in charge at the Links Trust are not making these changes without years of discussion.

“We are very sensitive to the history of the course with these changes,” Moir said, “but we feel it is appropriate to make these changes at this time to adapt to the way the modern game is played.”

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