The 18th hole at St. Andrews sucks as a finishing hole!

[PEZGolf]

I know it is a sacrilege to criticize the "Birthplace of Golf" but the 18th is one of the worst finishing holes of any Major venue. The fairway is wide open and the green is almost driveable. The only thing that saves it from being the "laughing stock" of the Golf World is the Valley of Sin!

[PEZGolf]

23 minutes ago, PEZGolf said:

I know it is a sacrilege to criticize the "Birthplace of Golf" but the 18th is one of the worst finishing holes of any Major venue. The fairway is wide open and the green is almost driveable. The only thing that saves it from being the "laughing stock" of the Golf World is the Valley of Sin!

And the 17th is one of the best holes in all of golf! That makes the 18th a real let-down!

 

[Golfingdad]

Because of the aforementioned swale, it's certainly no gimme hole.  But there's definitely no drama on the tee shot, I'll give you that much. 

[caniac6]

6 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

And the 17th is one of the best holes in all of golf! That makes the 18th a real let-down!

 

Well, I guess the next time the Open is at the Old Course, you will turn off the tv after the leaders play 17.

[bkuehn1952]

6 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

... the 18th is one of the worst finishing holes of any Major venue. 

For us mere mortals, playing the the 18th is special. After a tough day, having a wide expanse of bunkerless grass is welcome.  The backdrop of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse and village of St, Andrews is priceless with the sun at one's back. Take time to stop on the Swilcan Bridge for the obligatory photo.  Hope our drives haven't stopped on Grannie Clark's Wynd, the roadway bisecting the 18th fairway (everyone is not "pro long" off the tee and the road is considered part of the course - play it! ).  Possibly negotiate the Valley of Sin or just 2 putt the immense green and you are done.

Yes, there are more punishing finishing holes in major golf but for the other 99.9% of us, it will do just fine.

[PEZGolf]

1 hour ago, caniac6 said:

Well, I guess the next time the Open is at the Old Course, you will turn off the tv after the leaders play 17.

No, but I hope Jordan Spieth has learned what NOT TO DO: do not drive WAY LEFT on the widest fairway on the planet Earth, do NOT have a 60 yard shot at the WORST possible angle, and DO NOT hit your 2nd shot so it gets sucked down the Valley of Sin! He needed birdie after missing the short par putt on the Road Hole. If he had made birdie, he would have qualified for the playoff with Zach, Marc, and Louis. Then, he still could have TIED Ben Hogan who now is still the ONLY player in Golf History to win the Masters, US Open, and the Open Championship in one year!

[Coronagolfman]

There is sometime quaint and charming about the 18th at St. Andrews where it practically is in the town itself with hotels, pubs and stores just across the street. 

Yes, as finishing holes it isn't in the pantheon of the toughest in all of golf - but with the Valley of Sin it certainly is not a pushover birdie or even a certain par if the pin is tucked up close to the valley. 

As in perhaps the best traditions of links golf in the Isles, the hole just kind of happened because it is in the most logical place - in this case returning to the clubhouse.  That Old Tom Morris had the ingenuity to make the most perfect use of the one golfing hazard available to him on the hole is just another indication of the brilliance of the man as a designer in making the best hole with the least amount of earth to be moved.

[bubble]

the whole course sucks concerning modern golf appart the 17th wind against.

it's only saved by the greens and FW that are sloped in incredible ways. (the same reason that bay hill was so badly criticized). 

the shame is that on TV we dont see the slopes. it looks flat until the ball rolls out to enable us to guess there is golf out there. 

[PEZGolf]

3 hours ago, Coronagolfman said:

There is sometime quaint and charming about the 18th at St. Andrews where it practically is in the town itself with hotels, pubs and stores just across the street. 

Yes, as finishing holes it isn't in the pantheon of the toughest in all of golf - but with the Valley of Sin it certainly is not a pushover birdie or even a certain par if the pin is tucked up close to the valley. 

As in perhaps the best traditions of links golf in the Isles, the hole just kind of happened because it is in the most logical place - in this case returning to the clubhouse.  That Old Tom Morris had the ingenuity to make the most perfect use of the one golfing hazard available to him on the hole is just another indication of the brilliance of the man as a designer in making the best hole with the least amount of earth to be moved.

This is an excellent post. You are absolutely right about Old Tom!

[Pendragon]

16 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

I know it is a sacrilege to criticize the "Birthplace of Golf" but the 18th is one of the worst finishing holes of any Major venue. The fairway is wide open and the green is almost driveable. The only thing that saves it from being the "laughing stock" of the Golf World is the Valley of Sin!

I do agree with you. The 18th at St. Andrews is pretty weak as finishing holes go but, as a few others (and you) have pointed out, the Valley of Sin adds to its character. It's had its share of victims through the years. A couple that come to mind are Constanino Rocca and Doug Sanders...and Spieth failing to birdie it last year. 

[DaveP043]

16 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

I know it is a sacrilege to criticize the "Birthplace of Golf" but the 18th is one of the worst finishing holes of any Major venue. The fairway is wide open and the green is almost driveable. The only thing that saves it from being the "laughing stock" of the Golf World is the Valley of Sin!

If the Old Course were built today, the entire course would be "the laughingstock".  How can anyone hold up the 17th as one of the best, when you have to drive blind over a building, when the green is 5 feet away from a paved road that's in play?  How can you make a player bounce the ball into a rock hard green, and then put random mounds in front of the green so its impossible to predict the bounce?  How can you sprinkle bunkers in the middle of the fairway, and then shape the lips so that you can't even see them from the tee?   But when you see its setting, when you play it, somehow its perfect.  There are lots and lots of holes in the world with relatively little trouble off the tee, where the challenge really begins on the second shot.  The Valley of Sin is plenty of challenge for even the best players in the game, especially if they need to make a birdie.

[MSchott]

The 18th is a great finishing hole. It's not a birdie hole. So what if the fairway is wide open? So were many at Augusta National before the relatively recent tree plantings. The key is where to drive the ball based on the pin position. And the Valley of Sin is one of the great features in all of golf. Hit your approach too short when the pin is behind the valley and you are looking at bogey. Hit long to avoid it and par is your score. As a bonus, the Royal and Ancient Club is in the background. 

[PEZGolf]

30 minutes ago, MSchott said:

The 18th is a great finishing hole. It's not a birdie hole. So what if the fairway is wide open? So were many at Augusta National before the relatively recent tree plantings. The key is where to drive the ball based on the pin position. And the Valley of Sin is one of the great features in all of golf. Hit your approach too short when the pin is behind the valley and you are looking at bogey. Hit long to avoid it and par is your score. As a bonus, the Royal and Ancient Club is in the background. 

The background is tremendous!

[Coronagolfman]

5 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

If the Old Course were built today, the entire course would be "the laughingstock".  How can anyone hold up the 17th as one of the best, when you have to drive blind over a building, when the green is 5 feet away from a paved road that's in play?  How can you make a player bounce the ball into a rock hard green, and then put random mounds in front of the green so its impossible to predict the bounce?  How can you sprinkle bunkers in the middle of the fairway, and then shape the lips so that you can't even see them from the tee?   But when you see its setting, when you play it, somehow its perfect.  There are lots and lots of holes in the world with relatively little trouble off the tee, where the challenge really begins on the second shot.  The Valley of Sin is plenty of challenge for even the best players in the game, especially if they need to make a birdie.

Hard to understand how the folks at St. Andrews allowed the building of the Old Course Hotel practically in the right side of the fairway of the Road Hole - prior to the hotel being built there were some old wooden sheds that supposedly were where a local clubmaker would put the wood to cure for his wooden clubs (I think the chaps name was Laurie Achterlonie?)  But are the Brits the ones that have the clubhouse at Royal Lytham in play tight behind the green there? 

As far as the road on the Road Hole, isn't there a leaded road right in the middle of the first and eighteenth fairway that is in play (Granny Clark's Wynd?) Isn't there an OB road just to the right of number 18 or a stone wall OB right next to the 14th?  Seems like that is just the charm of St. Andrews.

[PEZGolf]

1 hour ago, Coronagolfman said:

Hard to understand how the folks at St. Andrews allowed the building of the Old Course Hotel practically in the right side of the fairway of the Road Hole - prior to the hotel being built there were some old wooden sheds that supposedly were where a local clubmaker would put the wood to cure for his wooden clubs (I think the chaps name was Laurie Achterlonie?)  But are the Brits the ones that have the clubhouse at Royal Lytham in play tight behind the green there? 

As far as the road on the Road Hole, isn't there a leaded road right in the middle of the first and eighteenth fairway that is in play (Granny Clark's Wynd?) Isn't there an OB road just to the right of number 18 or a stone wall OB right next to the 14th?  Seems like that is just the charm of St. Andrews.

I believe you have your details right, viz. Laurie Achterlonie and Granny Clark' s Wynd. The Ole Course, ah 'this quite THE ONE, 'this true, Mon. And donna ye forget fairway boonkers-----they be like ole friends, like the Principal's nose, Hell (Jock Nickloos called it SOMETHING ELSE), the Coffins (been the DEATH of many a good round), and PEZ SEZ (in honor of THE POLISH PRINCE from thesandtrap.com!)!

[DaveP043]

9 hours ago, Coronagolfman said:

Hard to understand how the folks at St. Andrews allowed the building of the Old Course Hotel practically in the right side of the fairway of the Road Hole - prior to the hotel being built there were some old wooden sheds that supposedly were where a local clubmaker would put the wood to cure for his wooden clubs (I think the chaps name was Laurie Achterlonie?)  But are the Brits the ones that have the clubhouse at Royal Lytham in play tight behind the green there? 

As far as the road on the Road Hole, isn't there a leaded road right in the middle of the first and eighteenth fairway that is in play (Granny Clark's Wynd?) Isn't there an OB road just to the right of number 18 or a stone wall OB right next to the 14th?  Seems like that is just the charm of St. Andrews.

I had read that the original buildings on 17 were railroad storage sheds, and I know I've seen photos of a railroad running immediately adjacent to the 16th.  I do know for sure that there's a golf shop named after Laurie Auchterlonie in the town, just about a block from the 18th green.  As for the OB, that runs from the 13th tee all the way to the 18th.  And like I said before, somehow it all seems just perfect when you're there.

[bubble]

iv'e read this two.

there were railroad buildings that were taken away. then these buildings were replaced a few years afterwards to give back the hole initial interest/design.

[Wally Fairway]

The 18th has an awesome bridge, it certainly is challenging but in a different way than most courses.

There is plenty of drama & challenge in playing the hole; and it oozes tradition

I think it deserves it's place amongst the best courses (I certainly favor it over some of the contrivances that have been built more recently)