The Old Course at St Andrews has evolved with the changing requirements of an ever-developing sport. As the game’s popularity grew, fairways heading out and in required clearer definition, so two holes were cut on each green to lessen the risk of head-on collisions. As ‘gutty’ balls replaced ‘featheries’, steel shafts replaced hickory and titanium replaced persimmon, tees were shifted to lengthen the course and keep the test current.
One aspect of the ‘Grand Old Lady’ has, however, barely changed in the last 125 years or so. If you look at plans of the Old Course from around the turn of the 20th Century (and before) you’ll see that almost all the iconic bunkers that so famously characterise the holes were well-established. The names ‘Hell’, ‘The Principal’s Nose’ and ‘The Coffins’ were already known, and feared, by golfers.
A long history
Many Old Course bunkers have been subtly manipulated over the years, perhaps even moved slightly by nature or design. Two traps short and right of the 2nd green were moved closer to the putting surface, for example. A number of bunkers have been added to the course, but very few have been removed over the years. In fact, if we discount those moved on the 2nd, the last bunker to be filled in on the Old Course was ‘Hull’ bunker on the 15th fairway, back in 1949.
In 1869, the greens committee of the day decided to fill in a small pot bunker on the 15th fairway – it bizarrely reappeared overnight. Local golfer, A.G. Sutherland, who was a vocal opponent of the change, received the blame (apparently wrongly). The bunker is still there and called ‘Sutherland’.
Hazards and waypoints
The bunkers at St Andrews are one of the course’s most significant defences, but they also act as waypoints to be noted and avoided for successful navigation of the Old Course.
In 2000, Tiger Woods didn’t find a single bunker over the four days of competition and went on to win by eight, with a record total of 19-under-par. It was some achievement, since avoiding the 112 sandy hazards around St…
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