Royal Troon might just have the hardest hole on the Major rota – and you can play it

19/07/2024 08:42

Arnold Palmer would call it the toughest hole in Open golf; Jack Nicklaus went as far as to refer to it as the hardest hole in Britain. Years later the 2016 Open would bear out their comments when it played as the hardest hole on the PGA Tour that year, averaging 4.6 strokes.

The 11th hole at Royal Troon, ‘Railway’, is a brute in every sense at 495 yards. In 1997 it was the hardest hole, likewise in 2004. On the opening day it played with an unusual helping wind but still wreaked havoc and notably added two shots to Rory McIlroy’s scorecard. With the wind behind him, McIlroy took it down the right-hand side and never saw it again as it landed on the wrong side of the railway track.

Korean Youngan Song was going serenely along at four-under when his approach shot came flying out left from the rough and disappeared into the gorse. He would make a treble-bogey seven.

The hole, which has been lengthened further still for this year, begins against the eastern boundary wall and then ordinarily heads straight into the wind. At the 300-yard mark the fairway narrows from 35 to 28 yards and there is that out of bounds that runs the entire length of the right-hand side.

Down the left, if you get it coming in too fast, you will run out of room and run straight into gorse. Here resides one of Thomas Pieters’ irons after the Belgian snapped it over his knee before depositing it in there.

What we haven’t mentioned is the view from the tee which is just a blanket of more gorse. You’ve just faced the next hardest tee shot at the previous hole, you know what's coming with the rest of the back nine and, to kick you further in the guts, you then face this where you simply have to hit a great tee shot.

"Just get that one on the fairway, it's a very difficult hole,” Bryson DeChambeau said. “You can't hit 3-wood or 5-wood; it's just too short. I could hit a 3-wood, and if it's 15, 20 miles an hour into the wind, it could go 250 yards, 240 yards depending on the height. If it's raining too, that plays a big factor, as well. So, there are times where you may be forced to hit driver and you've just got to suck it up and hit a good drive."

This is DeChambeau speaking so you can expect nearly everyone to be hitting the longest club in the bag.

What isn’t talked about anywhere near as much is the second shot which is generally a long iron into the wind, with the wall a few yards to the right of the green and deep pot bunker left which almost lurks as ominously as the out of bounds.

We’re not sure as to the make-up of his hole but the US Open champion Jack Nicklaus would run up a 10 here in 1962. Thats just one less swish than Tom Hoge managed in round one on Thursday.

Colin Montgomerie, whose father was the Secretary at the club for many years, has played Troon more than any tour pro and he is pretty adamant in his view of the hole.

“I guarantee that 11 will be the hardest hole. It's usually played into wind and all you can see in front of you from the Championship tee is gorse. It doesn't invite confidence I can assure you. I'd say 11 is the toughest driving hole in championship golf,” the Scot told Today’s Golfer.

“You can't go left or right, otherwise you're in serious trouble. With the second shot you're thinking about the out of bounds on the right. It's a dramatic hole and the front left bunker gets a lot of traffic. Most players will be delighted to get in there, giving themselves a chance to get up and down.”

As day one drew to a close, it was averaging 4.32. So how would the amateur golfer fare here under Open conditions?

For the 15-handicapper all these problems magnify 10-fold. In 2016, just 30 per cent of players hit the green and nearly half the field (41 per cent) made bogey or worse. And these are the best players on the planet.

Should you make the 208-yard carry the strong likelihood is that you won't be able to reach the green. The good news, though, is that this is a par 5 for the members.

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