WIf I had a hole like this built on a golf course today, my client would call me crazy,” claims the American Robert Trent Jones junior, one of the most famous golf course architects in the world. Indeed, the Road Hole, the 17th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland, demands something unusual from even the world’s best professionals.
What’s more, every year when the British Open is played on this strip of dunes, this par 4 hole ranks as the most difficult in the world by all statistics. On average, the players need between 4.6 and 4.7 shots – and that on a fairway where the ball should land in the hole on the fourth shot.
