Is the Old Course at St Andrews too easy – even for amateurs?
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Shot Scope delved into the statistics to see how amateur golfers perform on the famous Old Course at St Andrews.
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In the lead up to the 150th Open at St. Andrews, there has already been lots of discussion about whether the Old Course is no longer capable of testing the world’s best golfers, with suggestions they will be driving greens and shooting record-breaking scores.
But what about mere mortals? Have the enhancements in golf equipment made the Old Course obsolete even for amateur golfers? Would handicap golfers show the Old Course who’s boss?
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To find out, Shot Scope looked into their extensive database, analysing 6,780 rounds recorded by their users at the Old Course, totaling over 564,000 shots. Here’s what they learnt…
1. The Old Course is the third easiest course on The Open rota
Troon and Royal St. Georges rank easier amongst Shot Scope users.
2. The average score is 83.2
3. The fairways aren’t too hard to hit
Across all 6,780 rounds, the average percentage of fairways hit is 59%.
4. Fewer than half of greens are hit in regulation
The average GIR across all rounds is 49%.
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5. It’s not easy getting up and down
The average scrambling percentage is 38%, probably due to the Old Course’s notoriously tricky run-offs and greenside bunkers.
6. Putting on the Old Course isn’t easy
Given the gargantuan size of the greens on the Old Course, where putts of 60′ are common and 100-footers aren’t unusual, this should be no surprise. The average putts per green in regulation for amateur golfers is 2.07.
The 13th green, which is shared with the 5th, produces the most three putts of any hole on the Old Course. One reason for this is that it is the largest green on the course – in fact, you could fit the first 12 greens at Pebble Beach on this green.
7. The 9th is the easiest hole
The 9th hole is the easiest on the course amongst Shot Scope users, with a scoring average of 4.15 (it’s a par 4).
8. The Road Hole is tough!
It’s no shock that the 17th on the Old Course, aka The Road Hole, is the hardest hole on the course. The scoring average of 5.31 is 1.31 shots over par, with only 20% of golfers making a par.
It actually has a higher scoring average than the par-5 5th, which has an average of 5.28.
9. The Valley of Sin isn’t as bad as you think
43% of golfers manage to get up and down from the famous dip short of the 18th green at the Old Course.
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