WEBVTT - A Preview of Royal Troon 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:04.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.960 And when I find my ball in a fried egg 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.600 Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg Friday Eg, Frida Egg Egg, 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:12.959 Frida Egg, Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:39.240 off of the use. Welcome to the Friday Egg Golf Podcast. 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.200 I'm Garrett Morrison, and today we're talking about the host 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:48.639 of the upcoming Open Championship, Royal Troon Golf Club. Might 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.640 have heard of it. We're digging into the history and 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.040 architecture of Royal Troon and also discussing some of the 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.080 other great courses in its area on the west coast 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.880 of Scotland. To help me do all of that, I'm 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.520 bringing on Sam Cooper. Sam is an associate for the 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:11.080 architecture firm Clayton, Devrees and Pont and he has played 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:16.720 literally every Links course in Great Britain. That's not an exaggeration, 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.520 just a description of his very ambitious Links from the 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.200 Road tour, which he took a couple of years back 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.560 and is currently writing a book series about so. In 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.640 addition to discussing Royal Troon, I thought I'd also pick 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.600 Sam's brain about some of the courses that he saw 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.600 around Royal Troon because he saw them all so really fun. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.199 Episode ahead. And by the way, if you enjoy Sam 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.440 Cooper's contribution to our podcast, then check out his podcast 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.280 Golf Badgers. That's a fun listen as well. Sam's a 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.840 great guy and a really sharp architecture mind. First, though, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.560 I thought i'd talk a little bit about our sponsor, 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:02.560 golf Forever. Golf Forever is an at home training system 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:08.280 that combines great coaching and personalized follow along video programs 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.640 in the golf Forever app with an incredibly versatile golf 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.639 training tool called the Swing Trainer. This program and this 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:22.800 tool will help you add flexibility, strength, and balance, and 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.160 you'll find yourself far more able to hit the first 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.960 tee ready to go. 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All right, let's get to my conversation with 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:29.560 Sam Cooper about Royal True. So, Sam, you live in Liverpool, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.720 as I understand it, not far from Royal Liverpool. You 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.640 live in Hoylake. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry you live 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:40.280 in the Liverpool area. I'm I'm an ignorant American here 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:41.280 these discisions. 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.800 I am just winding you up. That's exactly where I live. 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.760 I'm in Northwest England, but I'm about a five minute walk, 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.480 maybe a four minute walk to the Spike Bar. It's 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.280 at Ropool Golf Clubs. So yeah, I'm pretty pretty lucky 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:55.200 where we are. 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.640 Pretty good place to be. I assume this means that 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.880 you went to the Open last year, or that you 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.760 were at least around the Open. So what was that experience. 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.920 Like every day? Yeah, well it was very different from 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.640 the two other Opens that we've had in my lifetime 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.839 at the club, twenty fourteen when Rory won, and of 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.719 course two thousand and six when Tiger won. It seems weird. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.240 I never would have believed if at the time you'd 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.960 said Tiger wouldn't win another Open championship. Since since then 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.760 and same for Rory, Let's hope both of them are 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.960 just another one so far. But yeah, we've had three 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.160 pretty memorable well certainly certainly two and a half as 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.280 have been very memorable and one that was a bit 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.240 of a washout last year, which was such a shame. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:49.479 But they're brilliant. They consume everything, they take over the town. 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.159 It's only a small Hoylake itself. It's not big, it's 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.359 just this little coastal coastal town twenty five minutes we 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.400 are from Liverpool itself. But it goes from I don't 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.239 know how many of us that live here, but not many, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.119 and then all of a sudden a couple of hundred, 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.720 maybe quarter of a million people descend for the week 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.040 of the Open, so naturally it's sort of really does 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.840 take over and it is a real buzz buzz for 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:15.680 the week and leading up to us as well. 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.360 I haven't thought of it this way before. But there 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:24.960 is kind of a royal Liverpool curse, right Tiger, Tiger 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:26.960 wins there, Rory wins. 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.400 There, and we never again, never again? 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:30.680 Well or opens. 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.279 I like you, I've not really thought about it either, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.000 but if you, if you were to go back, we 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.880 were historically, you know, in nineteen thirty, we were the 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.920 last Open Championship that Bobby Jones won, although I'd say 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:44.960 that's for slightly different reasons. You know, he sort of 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.839 hung everything, everything up the end of that year in 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.560 that pretty impressive year that he had, but he won 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.200 the Open Championship of his Grand Slam here at hoy 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.760 They in nineteen thirty. But yeah, so maybe not for 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.640 all of them, but Davicenzo he won it seven. He 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.880 didn't win win again, but not like he was someone 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.360 that necessarily had an enormous streak. But Peter Thompson did 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.080 he won again? I think, no, of course he did. 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.719 So he won in the fifties and Walter Hagen won 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.880 in the in the twenties. But yeah, I guess, I 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.800 guess at least let me think about this quickly, maybe 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:26.880 six or seven maybe more never won another Open championship, 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:32.760 So you can you can draw it reasonably, I'd say. 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.880 So look out Brian Harmon another way. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.799 That's it now, game over. I'm sure if he puts 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:42.159 anything like you did for that week last year, then 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.440 there's nothing that he couldn't win. Really, but that was 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:49.600 just I wonder what the likes of Lous Stagner and 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.080 the guys would make of that pussing performance statistically. 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.560 I mean, I assume they would think it's pretty good. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.640 You never know, you never know, you never know what 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:08.279 the garrett In any case, changing the subject real quick, 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.720 let's talk about Royal Troon. Yes, this is why I've 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.760 brought you on the pod first and foremost to discuss 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:19.560 the venue of the Open Championship next week. Truon. You're 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.480 very familiar, as we'll discuss more in depth later with 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.640 every links course in Great Britain. But let's dig into 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:34.480 trun specifically broad strokes, not talking about any specific holes yet. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.960 What's the history of the design here? How did it 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.840 evolve from from its earliest form to its Open Championship form? 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.640 Well, you forgive me, I'm no historian really on Truon's 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.680 complete evolution, but like many places it did, it did 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:53.720 change the loss and I think that is a distinction 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.800 that we make in Britain. This is slightly lost on 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:58.840 your side of the Atlantic, you know. So it was 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.520 a going from nine whole corres courses and then extending 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.920 and expanding. But you know it's back in eighteen seventy eight. 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.240 It's quite quite some time ago now that well, what's 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.240 that almost one hundred and fifty years in in just 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.280 a few years time. So it's old, you know, it is. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:19.520 It's old. Not necessarily old in absolute Scottish terms, but yeah, 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:24.040 no it is. And I think it was probably safe 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.200 to say it was shaped by its early professionals, you know, 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:31.840 the source of the Willy Fernies, the guys who when 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.720 golf really was growing in that late part of the 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:42.120 twentieth century, it was the it was sorry the nineteenth century, 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.760 forgive me, it was those Scottish professionals who really then 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.360 went around built new courses in the area. I think 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:55.760 Willy Fernie was he the Open championship in eighteen eighty two, maybe, 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.920 but he was for many many all of the course 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.800 that sort of exist in that Ayesha region, going down 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.880 to Dumfries and Galloway. As you get close to the border, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.760 in Southwest Scotland. There were so many that he would 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.040 have had a hand in laying out or popularizing or 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.280 playing matches, opening matches when the course, you know, drum 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:24.000 up that popularity because golf was later to Southwest Scotland 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.440 than it certainly was to the to the east coast 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.679 of Scotland. But of course Prestwick next door to Truon 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.720 was probably an intrinsic part of it. It was early 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.000 days and its history. But really in our modern era, 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.760 you know, it is true this is well known for 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.640 the Open Championship and not Prestwick next door. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.439 Right, This, this evolution that you spoke to earlier, from 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.800 nine holes or sometimes like six or seven halls or 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.200 eleven halls to eighteen holes is one of the most 0:09:55.200 --> 0:10:02.040 interesting general stories in early golf, the way that eighteen 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:07.199 holes eventually became standardized and Royal Truan is sort of 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:08.040 an example of that. 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.959 You should do a podcast absolutely on how many holes 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.560 should you know, this is maybe getting slightly off topic, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.480 but how many golf how many holes should a golf 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.000 course be? But you know, if you think that, or 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.160 forgive me, I think maybe maybe Prestwick had the first 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.800 twenty three Open Chapel well whatever, No, no, of course 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:28.320 it wasn't that at all. But I think they did 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.920 have twenty three before Truon had its first. But if 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.320 you were to think how many they had when the 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.120 open Rotor then sort of grew at all by the 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:42.160 time Muscleborough joined, By the time that the old course joined, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:46.120 you had three courses between twelve hole Prestwick, between nine 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:50.120 hole Muscleborough and eighteen holes and Andrews. As it ultimately 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.400 became that just you know, they picked a number, well, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.120 what's a common multiple thirty six holes and you know 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:02.000 it's a three twelve, four nines or two eighteens. And 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.640 really to think that virtually every golf course in the 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:10.600 world then becomes eighteen holes when the first open rosso 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.439 if you can call it, that was three courses with 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:18.520 three different numbers, is just world's away from where it 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:19.200 came from. 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.760 If anybody's out there, if anybody out there is interested 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:27.920 in looking into this history. Peter Lewis, that's the name. 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.720 Peter Lewis, the historian, wrote a great book called Why 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:35.720 Are There Eighteen Holes? And essentially his thesis is that 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:40.960 Saint Andrew's influence was such that every other course eventually 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.200 adapted to the Saint Andrews model. But there are some 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.480 nuances in that history and some little sort of roads 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.800 not taken that could potentially have been taken, that are 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.160 very interesting to think about now, because we could be 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:01.920 facing a very different golf landscape had become the standard 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:02.400 number of. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.680 Holes absolutely and the great you know St Andrew's historian 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.920 Roger mcstravic would say, well, if that explosion in popularity 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.440 had coincided with the point in time when Saint Andrew's 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.080 was twenty two holes rather than eighteen, then then maybe 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.640 it's a different number again that actually prevails as the 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.880 sort of as the norm. So there are so many, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.760 as you say, lit or quirks and nuances and points 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.320 in time, and I think if we were to think 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.680 of golf, this is just my minus of philosophy, especially 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.480 having grown up at Hoylake and thinking a lot about 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:40.920 one distile point in time where where Royal Liverpool was 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.360 a point that sort of pushed the game of golf forward. 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.600 You know, it's easy to think that golf moves forward 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:52.360 uniformally and sort of constantly, and it's just not the 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.000 case at all. There are just certain points and junctures 0:12:56.080 --> 0:13:00.760 where things really really explode and change move forward, and 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:05.160 then perhaps they're followed by a lot less or maybe 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.800 even a bit of regression. So it's just timing all 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:09.400 of these things. 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.560 Let's get back to Royal Troon, the eighth hole, the 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.200 famous postage stamp. How much do you know about how 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.000 this hole came about? 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.400 Well, it's as good a place to start as as any, 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.200 isn't it. It's probably the most famous, certainly the most 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.520 famous part three on the on the open rotor. But again, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.440 you know that is I think Troon would be well 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.280 characterized as generally a bit like Hoylake, you know, a 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.360 sort of a flatter course that goes out and certainly 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.240 the first half a dozen holes and the last let's 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:49.040 think about it, maybe the last five holes run parallel 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.400 to one another. But it's that section from the seventh 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.360 when you cut in land round to the sort of 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:01.440 twelve thirteen where for me, that is the most memorable 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.000 and interesting part of a golf course. It is a 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.680 lot more memorable and interesting than perhaps some give it 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.480 credit for, but no more so than that postage stamp. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:16.199 And yeah, I think different stories. You get so many 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.320 conflicting things whether it was Braid who had a hand, 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.080 whether it was Willy Fernie who had a hand. You know, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.480 you've got these beautiful illustrations that we all associate with 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.960 Bernard Darwin's Golf Course of Great Britain and Ireland book. 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.720 Those beautiful illustrations sort of think for true it shows 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.400 or there you go right there? Does it show the. 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.880 For people who are listening to this audio only I've 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.120 interrupted Sam by holding up my copy of the Golf 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.080 Courses of the British Isles by Bernard Darwin, and on 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:53.240 the cover there's this wonderful illustration by Harry Rowntree or 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:59.280 painting of the postage stamp, which really puts an emphasis 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.840 on the doom that the greens cut into. But this 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.960 illustration dates back to I would assume at least nineteen ten, 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.200 though I'm not sure that the whole really had taken 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.840 the form that it has now at that point. At 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:14.920 least the green site was. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.040 There, yeah, and changed, and the famous coffin bunker I think, 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:24.440 certainly added afterwards. But it was well, so the story goes. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.560 I know there are many different retellings of it, but 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.160 it was it was Willie Park who described it as 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.920 being skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp, 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:37.040 wasn't it? And you know it's God, has there ever 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.280 been a better description of a golf hole, you know 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.520 that becomes eponymous. It's perfect because that green is miniature. 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:51.040 But you know, despite being tiny, I think that it's 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.800 a hole that has a lot more subtlety than perhaps 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.000 first first appears. And perhaps that's what makes it such 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.160 an enduringly interesting hole that we will always talk about 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:02.640 when the open goes back to Trune. 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.800 What are some of it subtleties? Like, what's what's the 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:07.960 secret sauce of this hole? Aside from the fact that 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.560 it's a very small green, a penal green, a short hole, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.280 What's what's the secret sauce here? Well? 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.000 I think it's so interesting that you've just said, you know, 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.160 it's it's short and it's penal, and of course you know, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.040 of course you're right. I think I did some I 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.640 wanted to sort of make sure I wasn't imagining this. 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.000 But the green is so small, it's only two hundred 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.080 and something square feet two hundred and seventy you know, I. 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.440 Think they've expanded it slightly for this year, but like 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.040 at the front, but two. 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.240 Square meats I should say, rather that's that's the Atlantic 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.520 between us, that gets that imperial and metric. But the 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.920 green itself is it's deep. You know, it's almost one 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.880 hundred feet front to back. And I always make this 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.800 point because people just think, oh, it's tiny green, and 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.680 of course it is. But I think that for me, 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.240 the best part three is on the open rotor. I'm 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.439 thinking of the the eleventh Fitz and Andrews being absolutely 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.600 the embodiment of this. They are greens. Where As the 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.440 pin moves around on day to day in the Open Championship, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.240 as the wind changes direction and strength, as you know 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.080 whether you are attacking or whether you are defending, you 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.160 know whether the ground has gotten particularly firm or whether 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.480 it's a little softer, all of those characteristics kind of 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.840 combined to maybe slightly change how you might play the hole. 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.200 And I think if you just think of a typical 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.960 penal hole, that's probably not really going to be the case, 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.600 you know, just you might end up playing it the 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:46.399 same way irrespective of those conditions. And I do think 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.200 that the postage damp is that slice anomaly, because with 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.160 such a deep green, it's it's sort of broader, which 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.639 isn't say wide, because it's not wide at any point, 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.440 but it's a certainly wider at the front to the green. 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.600 I think I measured it almost fifty feet at the 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:08.000 front and certainly under thirty feet at the back, so 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.440 it gets narrower. So you have this point you stand 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.000 on the tee, and if that pin is right at 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.680 the very back of the green, you might say, well, 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.440 you know what I'm going to I'm going to take 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.919 a club less which you can do over one hundred 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.400 feet of green, and play to the front of the green. 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.720 I've got less club, so I'm probably going to be 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.000 slightly more accurus and I've got twice the width to 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.160 actually aim for because I know that I can two 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.479 put and that's all I need to do. I just 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.040 need to avoid, you know, the blow up, the disaster 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.760 that might come if you try and be too greedy, 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.240 too aggressive and you know, don't quite execute. So you know, 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:49.960 it is that battle between the golfer's ambition and you 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.560 know the pride coming before the fall. So it's probably 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.040 a little more strategic really for a hole that people 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:59.320 wouldn't necessarily ever think that hole has any strategy that 0:18:59.359 --> 0:18:59.959 comes into the mind. 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:05.359 I love that description because it gets at what most 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.399 great short part threes have in common, and that's the 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.240 mental battle on the tee. This is what's so fascinating 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.400 about the twelfth hole at Augusta National. Obviously a bit 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.439 of a longer hole, but still, especially for the pros 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.800 these days, a short part three. But what you go 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.359 through in your mind when you're standing on that tee 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:29.800 and trying to figure out where to play your ball, 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.679 and then standing up to the ball and trying to 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:37.000 execute a shot that is just really uncomfortable. I think 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:41.359 there's a lot of commonality between between that tension and 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.320 what you get on the eighth t at Royal Troon. 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.000 I wonder care how many players have in their mind 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.560 before they play any shots of the championship. You know, 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.560 they go and they play the practice grounds, practice rounds. 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:58.280 They have their strategies in place, and they say, right, 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.520 this is what I'm going to do. And how many 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.880 of them actually change it because they get tempted into something. 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.760 You know when that pin because it's one hundred and 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:12.639 twenty three yards that hole, it's not long, and they 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:14.360 can play it forward as well. I think it can 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:16.959 be sub one hundred yards and ninety nine yards if 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:21.719 they push the tea forward. So you know, there's got 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.920 to be players who maybe started the week thinking, nope, 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.720 I'm going to play short of the pin if it's there, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.200 or really try and be disciplined and realistically never going 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.720 to have a very long put because it does have 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:38.679 a slight false front. So as long as you're on 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.600 the green, and again you know what's the maximum put, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.760 you might have forty something feet, so you're never going 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:48.439 to walk off if you've hit that green really worrying 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.440 too much about about three putting it. But they might 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:56.080 just get tempted into taking something, biting off more than 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.840 they can chew, and then and then coming to regret it, 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.520 you know, And that's the source of real common honesty. 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:03.920 I guess between there in AUGUSTA. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:08.639 If you had to rank the five bunkers on the 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:13.560 postage stamp according to how little you would want to 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.320 be in them, what would your ranking be? And just 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:22.240 to clarify, you've got the coffin bunker green side left right, 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.040 correct me if I'm getting any of these wrong, deep 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.960 bunker green side right, and then pot bunker's short left 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.919 short right, and then one long right, So there are 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.159 five bunkers, not all of them are hard against the 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:39.000 green or anything. So what's uh, you know, where where 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:41.000 do you really not want to be? And where is 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.040 it kind of maybe okay to be obviously dependent on 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:45.040 pin position. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:46.919 I never really thought of that, but it's such an 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:50.080 interesting question, and I guess comes again back to that 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:54.520 point of what's the winding, where's the pin, and how 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:58.560 firm is the how firm is the green. But one 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.920 of the things I particularly look about it, I seem 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.639 to remember you'll remember this better than me. I'm not 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:06.000 very good on championship golf. But was it Tony Fenw 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.440 who almost hold it last time and then it's spun 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:10.240 off into the bunker? Short? 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.159 It could have you know, that's that's a good question. 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:16.240 I should remember that, But I don't that sounds right, 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:18.679 That sounds like something that would happen to certainly. 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.960 Say that it's certainly something that can happen. And again 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.520 I think it's it's a good illustration that bunker, the 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.960 interaction between you know, a really really short that's you know, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:34.320 pinished front and tiers forward and you have got suber 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.360 hundred yards, Well, it becomes then a challenge not of 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.800 can you carry the ball ninety nine yards? Yeah, of 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:45.040 course these guys can. They can tell you too, half 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.800 a yard where it's going to pitch. Probably the question, 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:52.320 and it's probably the thing I love most about watching 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.520 the Open Championship, especially when the wind is blowing, which 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:59.080 unfortunately it hasn't for this a while. But can you 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.879 manage your spin? Can you control the spin? You know, 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:06.639 it's something that we being golfers of you know, a 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.800 million miles off their caliber, but it's something that you 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:14.359 just have absolutely ground into you from being a little 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:16.280 kid playing golf. If you play golf in the wind, 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:19.880 can you sort of dead arm your pitch into the wind, 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.040 take the spin off, Can you, you know, get a 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:25.240 bit more spin when it's down wind, get it higher, 0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:28.240 get it landing a bit softer. You know, I'd say 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:32.480 my standard of golf and theirs is just the distance 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:37.480 between the two is absolutely astronomical. But it's a skill 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:40.680 that you kind of need in Britain that you don't 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:44.679 necessarily have in other parts of the of the world. So, 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:48.199 you know, to come back to your question, spinning it 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:51.920 off the false front and into that bunker that's short 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:55.159 of the green. Well, then you're going to invariably be 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.320 left with you know, the kind of bunker shoss. Who 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:03.960 was it it at Rawst George's when he on the 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.680 sixteenth and he kept and he left it coming back 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:10.600