There are plenty of holes that can make you nervous. Particularly when it’s the first of the day.
There are holes with intimidating water carries, brutally narrow fairways and greens that just look tiny, surrounded by deep bunkers.
The opening tee shot on the Old Course at St Andrews is one of, if not the, hardest shots in golf. That might sound ridiculous at first glance.
The fairway is enormous, especially by modern standards. It can look almost comically wide, which is often the case when the Sky Sports cameras rock up for The Open Championship every five years or so.
There is no 200-yard carry over water, and you don’t have to thread your ball between two trees. Yet bizarrely, that is exactly what makes it so difficult.
I have had the privilege of playing the Old Course several times. It’s a special place. But not many say it’s a tough place to play, especially for the professionals.
For me, it’s a hole that does something to my head that very few golf shots can replicate. It gives you so much room that, rather than freeing you up, it creates doubt.
Of course, first tee nerves are nothing new. They are arguably heightened when playing at a course with so much history and significance. But this is more than that.
It is 100% the hardest shot on that golf course, and it might be one of the hardest shots you will play anywhere. It is ridiculous what it does to your mind.
I’ve seen it happen to everyone. I have played with very good golfers who all suffer the same fate. Before playing there recently, I had a whole conversation with a PGA professional about what he was going to hit from the first tee. He’s unsurprisingly a very good golfer, and he was adamant that he was going to hit a 2-iron.
He had no hesitation beforehand – that was his plan the night before. I told him it wouldn’t be as straightforward as that and he’d go back-and-forth changing his mind.
The mental effect of the Old Course
I said that when we actually got there the following morning, his certainty would disappear. He would stand over the ball and start thinking about all the ways he could hit it badly.
The thoughts of shanking, fatting and hitting it off the toe end will all start to enter and regurgitate around his mind.
And once those thoughts start creeping in, you begin to second-guess yourself. Maybe a 2-iron isn’t the right club, perhaps a 3-wood would be safer, or should I be looking to hit driver?
Then you start thinking that driver might go too far. Before you know it, you’re standing on one of the widest fairways in golf with absolutely no idea what club you actually want in your hands. And, as predicted, Lee got there and started doing exactly that.
That is the genius of the hole.
He went back to his bag about three times, changing clubs and faffing around before eventually settling on the 2-iron he’d originally been so certain about hitting.
Then he hit a low hook that nearly ended up on the road. I couldn’t help but think, this is a hole that has a unique way of mentally getting to you. No matter how good they are, it seems to play tricks on them.
To me, it’s what makes the first on the Old Course so fascinating. It isn’t necessarily testing your ability to hit a golf ball but rather your mental fortitude. Your brain will go into overdrive.
Golf is as much of a mental game as it is a technical one, and the first at the Old Course is one of the best examples of that kind of challenge anywhere in the world.
You are standing on the first tee at the home of golf, surrounded by history and expectation, looking at a fairway that seems to stretch forever, with not a clue which club to hit. And in my book, that makes it one of the hardest holes in golf.
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NOW HAVE YOUR SAY
Do you think the first at St Andrews is a hard hole? What’s the hardest hole you have played? Where would you rank the Old Course in terms of difficulty? Let us know by leaving a comment or get in touch with us on X!