Royal Birkdale’s new 15th hole is already drawing plenty of attention, and not much of it sounds comforting for the players who will have to face it during the British Open.
On paper, it’s only a par-3. In reality, it’s a 241-yard test that looks built to punish anything less than a perfect swing.
Wind is expected to be a major factor, and the green leaves very little room for error. Miss it in the wrong spot, and the recovery gets ugly fast.
The hole sits where the old 14th used to be, and it has been rebuilt since the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale. There’s even a chance it could be altered again after this tournament ends. For now, though, it’s the kind of hole that could grab the spotlight when play begins early Thursday morning.
The trouble starts before the ball even lands. The green is long but narrow, and it slopes from front to back.
That means even a shot that finds the putting surface may still leave a brutal putt or a tricky second task if the pin is cut up front. The real danger, though, is around the edges.
Short is the only miss that seems remotely manageable. Right of the green brings mounds, dried out grass, and rough into play, while the left side is guarded by a pair of pot bunkers.
Golf Channel’s Smylie Kaufman showed just how awkward things can get if a player misses to the right, where the recovery options can range from a putter to a 9-iron to a lob wedge depending on the lie. The reaction from players and observers has been mixed, and one Monday look at Angel Hidalgo’s bump-and-run attempt showed how quickly a simple recovery can turn into a mess.
Scottie Scheffler, last year’s British Open winner, said the redesigned holes stood out immediately.
"The one thing I found interesting is it's so obvious as to which holes had been redone," Scheffler said. “They look like they're not even on the same golf course.
You look at 14, 15, 16, those green complexes and the amount of slope that they have off of them are pretty severe and quite challenging. The 5th hole is kind of like that; 7th hole as well.
It was pretty obvious the holes that got redone because they look like they're on a different golf course. Those are the things that stood out to me the most."
Other players told the DP World Tour that the tee shot on No. 15 is the hardest shot on the course.
That’s a pretty strong statement for a venue hosting a major, but the hole has the look of something that could tilt the championship. The closing stretch already puts pressure on anyone chasing the Claret Jug, and this par-3 could make that pressure feel even heavier. A one-shot lead on Sunday would not feel safe standing on that tee with the breeze in your face.
It’s the kind of hole people will be talking about all week. The players, meanwhile, would probably prefer to keep it out of the conversation.
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