Royal Troon may have the hardest hole in the Major rota – and you can play it

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Arnold Palmer would call it the toughest hole in Open golf; Jack Nicklaus even referred to it as the hardest hole in Britain. Years later the 2016 Open would make their mark when it played as the hardest hole on the PGA Tour that year, averaging 4.6 strokes.

The 11th hole at Royal Troon, 'The Train', is brutal in every way at 495 yards. In 1997 it was a very difficult hole, and so was 2004. On the opening day he played in an unusually favorable wind but again caused havoc and added two shots to Rory McIlroy's scorecard. With the wind behind him, McIlroy dropped to the right and never saw it again as it landed on the wrong side of the fairway.

Korean Youngan Song was calmly cruising at four-under when his approach shot flew left off the fairway and disappeared off the horse. He would make seven treble-bogeys.

The hole, which is still widening this year, starts with the eastern boundary wall and goes straight into the air. At the 300 yard marker the fairway narrows from 35 to 28 yards and there is an out of bounds that runs the entire length of the right side.

In the bottom left, if you find it coming in too fast, you'll run out of space and run straight into the gorse. Here sits one of Thomas Pieters' braces after the Belgian plucked it from his knee before putting it in there.

What we haven't mentioned is the tee look which is just an extra layer of gorse. You've just faced the next hardest shot on the previous hole, you know what's coming on the back nine again, to push forward on the hole, and you face this when you have to hit the best shot. .

“You just get that one on the fairway, it's a very difficult hole,” Bryson DeChambeau said. “You can't hit a 3-wood or a 5-wood; he's just too short. I can hit a 3-wood, and if it's 15, 20 miles an hour in the wind, it can go 250 yards, 240 yards depending on the elevation. If it rains again, that plays a big role, too. So, there are times when you may be forced to hit the driver and you have to suck it up and drive well.”

READ MORE: 7 shots every player must hit at Royal Troon

This is DeChambeau talking so you expect almost everyone to hit the longest club in the bag.

Not to mention anywhere too close is the second shot which is often a long iron in the air, with a wall a few yards to the right of the green and a deep pot to the left that is almost hideously hidden. boundaries.

We're not sure about his holeshot but US Open champion Jack Nicklaus would play 10 here in 1962. That's just one slide less than Tom Hoge managed in Thursday's first round.

Colin Montgomerie, whose father was the club's Secretary for many years, has played Troon more than any touring professional and is unwavering in his view of the hole.

“I guarantee that 11 will be a very difficult hole. It's usually played in the wind and everything you can see in front of you from the Championship tee is fantastic. It doesn't invite confidence I can assure you. “I would say the 11th hole is the hardest drive in championship golf,” the Scot told Today's Golfer.

“You can't go left or right, otherwise you're in big trouble. For the second shot you are thinking of going out of bounds to the right. It's a surprising hole and the bottom left gets a lot of traffic. Most of the players will be happy to go in there, give themselves a chance to get up from the bottom.”

As the first day drew to a close, it averaged 4.32. So how will the novice golfer fare here in open conditions?

For a 15-handicapper all these odds increase 10 times. In 2016, only 30 percent of players hit the green and nearly half the field (41 percent) made bogey or worse. And these are the best players in the world.

If you make a 208-yard carry chances are strong that you won't be able to reach the green. The good news though is that this is the 5th category of members.

READ NEXT: How to play at Royal Troon – a hole Phil Mickelson says is the best challenge in the world