'Enhancements' to the Old Course at St. Andrews

Ahead of the 2027 Open Championship, the R&A and Links Trust of St. Andrews called upon its old friends Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert to evaluate the state of the Old Course.

The result, as announced on Tuesday, produced a set of modifications to the Old Course that will largely be too subtle for viewers to notice. That said, here are three takeaways from the announced plans.

1. Subtle tweaks every five years in preparation for the Open cannot mask the underlying issue. Think of the Old Course like it is the face of the most handsome actor or gorgeous actress who has ever lived. A little plastic surgery — a face lift, some forehead Botox, some filler in the cheeks — can maintain the illusion that everything is the same. But not forever. Eventually, time is going to tip the scales, and the surgery required to keep up appearances will begin to make the original face unrecognizable.

We cannot combat time, but we could combat the creep of distance in the professional game, which is the impetus behind these changes. The Old Course — which already resorted to placing championship tees outside the boundaries of the course at the last Open — will add another 132 yards in this remodeling. That will bring its total length to 7,445 yards from the back tees, more than 1,000 yards longer than its original design at the start of the 20th century. Adding a few more yards may not feel like a significant change, but we have already reached a point where rounds at the Old Course during a major take in excess of six hours to play. It took groups an hour to play the 14th hole during the second round of the 2022 Open, with a 20-minute wait after each shot. At some point, it becomes worth asking: What is the Old Course? Is it the home of golf, or just a mask that rests on top of the original?

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2. Mackenzie and Ebert now have total control over the Open rota. I do not feel qualified to critique the work of Mackenzie and Ebert, who clearly earned the trust and the respect of the Royal and Ancient with their work at Open venues like Royal Troon, Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool, and Royal Portrush. But hiring their design firm to make changes to the Old Course means they have now had their hands on every course in the Open rota. One of the greatest charms of the Open is that its venues have their own character and personality. By putting them in the hands of two men — no matter how skilled or revered they are within their profession — there is a real risk in losing a bit of that unique charm. The bunkers at Liverpool or Turnberry don't necessarily need to play like the bunkers at Troon or Royal St. George’s. Are we at risk of flattening some of those quirks in the name of uniformity?

3. The restoration of the original 16th fairway is a welcome change, and one we should embrace. Even an architectural novice like myself understands that the 16th at the Old Course is one of the best holes in the world. Dr. Alister MacKenzie said he was still thinking about the best way to play the hole 20 years after seeing it for the first time because of its subtleties. But some of its original strategy was taken away over the years when the fairway left of the Principal's Nose bunker gradually disappeared. Players no longer had the option to hit a drive left, away from the out-of-bounds fence, and give themselves a worse angle. But plans to restore that fairway will bring back that strategic option, and restore the hole's original intent. If we can't curtail the distance gains in time for the 2027 Open, at least we can restore some risk/reward on one of the course’s best holes.