The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the "home of golf" because the sport was first played on the Links at St Andrews in the early 15th century. It epitomizes everything that links golf is about. The course is littered with pot bunkers that are a nightmare to deal with. The greens are very large and have many hills and bumps in them and the ball will roll off if you hit it in the wrong spot. It's a fairly flat layout with a lot of different options off many of the tee boxes. It is a truly historical site and the castles that are present throughout the course make it an incredibly special site to see. It has hosted 29 Open Championships in the past and all types of different players have won on this track.

 

The course does play pretty short at 7305 yards with quite a bit of less than 400 yd par 4's. There should be some good opportunities to score on this course and we expect scoring to be similar to last year and maybe even lower scores. With the distance off the tee that players have today we expect a lot of wedges and shorter approach shots on this course. You do have to be careful though as there are a myriad of hazards throughout the course that could force players to post some big numbers on holes. You can also get some wind and weather at times which can increase the difficulty quite a bit as well. The greens are very large and there are a number of double greens on the course, they will most likely be on the slower side when compared to major championships in the US so there may not be as big of a premium on putting. Around the green and approach skills however, will be essential to be successful on this course. 

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Every player in the world will want to win on this course and past champions have been a who's who of the best players in the world. We expect the top players to have success here but don't count out some of the older players on tour who are very accurate and will be able to use prior knowledge and experience here to find success. It is a course that never disappoints and should provide an incredible venue for the 150th Open Championship.