The toughest holes at Royal Birkdale, the home of the 2017 Open Championship

Dustin Johnson of the United States walks up to the 4th tee during a practice round prior to the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale
Getty Images
Standard Sport19 July 2017

The Open returns to Royal Birkdale this week for the first time in nearly a decade.

The course, located just outside Southport - almost equidistant between Liverpool and Blackpool - will host the British Open for the tenth time.

At 7,156 yards, this year’s course is some 17 yards shorter than it was back in 2008, the last time it held the Championship.

John Huggan examines the holes where the world’s best golfers could come unstuck over the next four days...

COURSE GUIDE

Hole 1

448 yards, Par 4

 

Johnny Miller, the  1976 champion at  Royal Birkdale, calls the opening tee shot “one of the most intimidating in  the game”. Out-of-bounds lurks on the right side and the left, guarded by a strangely magnetic bunker. This  448-yard par-4 is demanding all the way from tee to green, the putting surface - which is largely hidden to those who drive  into the right half of the fairway - protected by sand on both sides. In each of the last two Birkdale Opens, it has been the second-most difficult hole on the course.

Paul Lawrie of Scotland hits a bunker shot on the 1st hole Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Hole 6

499 yards, Par 4

 

Labelled  “a brute” by Jordan Spieth, this 499‑yard par‑4 has been the toughest on the course in the past two Opens at Birkdale. 

During the third round in 1998, Mark O’Meara took almost the full allocation of five minutes to find his ball in the rough right of the green and was lucky to escape with a bogey five. But the American fought back to become champion.

The drive is also no bargain. Only a player skilful enough to avoid the bunkers right and left will have any kind of opportunity to find the distant green in two shots.

O`Meara in action at Birkdale in 1998 Photo: Gerry Penny/AFP/Getty Images
Gerry Penny/AFP/Getty Images

Hole 15

542 yards, Par 5

 

The first of Royal Birkdale’s two par-5s measures 542 yards but typically plays much longer into the prevailing  west wind. 

In the worst of the wet and windy opening-round weather nine years ago, many players needed a 3-wood to find the green. And the hole yielded only one eagle over the four days of the Championship. Unfortunately, “normal conditions” aren’t too much easier either. As many as 13 bunkers line the fairway and two more wait by the far-distant green to grab the careless approach. When the breeze blows, this is a hole that can seem almost “endless”. It’s crucial to hit the fairway with a drive or the chance of a birdie will disappear.

Lee Westwood of England hits his tee shot on the 15th hole Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Hole 17

567 yards, Par 5

 

Especially downwind, this par‑5 will surely yield its fair share of sub-par scores. Back in 2008, Padraig Harrington famously struck a 5-wood approach to less than three-feet from the cup on the final day en route to a title-clinching eagle three. 

However, less accurate players will find such success much harder to come by, especially around and on the crazily-contoured two‑tier green. Look for the odd eight and nine across the week to counter the conveyor belt of birdies on what was the “easiest” hole (relative to par) on the course nine years ago. At 567 yards, it’s the longest on the course here in Southport.

Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

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