Get A Look at the New Road Hole - Now, With More Road

As we first told you last October, the R&A had been plotting a forty yard extension of the hole by creating a new teeing ground across the hole's actual road namesake.  At a press briefing today at St. Andrews, Royal & Ancient chief Peter Dawson officially unveiled the new Road Hole at the Old Course. 

And here she is.

To put the two tee boxes into context, here's a satellite view from Google Maps.

The new tee, across the road, has been created in an effort to (a) force more players to hit driver off of the tee and (b) require a longer iron shot into the green, thus trying to make the deep pot bunker guarding the green and the actual road behind it more likely to come into play.

Dawson described the diminishing challenge by saying, "We don't see many players on the road these days, and that's because of the distance control they can achieve and the accuracy with these shorter iron clubs. What we're trying to do here is restore the hole to its previous challenge where the players are having to hit into the green with a much longer iron club than they have been in recent times."

The R&A head man said that they consulted several players' opinions when batting around the idea of the change, and that they were supportive.

"[W]e did consult with some players at the Dunhill last year about it and received support. I'm not going to name them because I don't think that's fair, but we weren't quite daft enough just to go and do it without asking some opinions."

To say it wouldn't be fair to share names that supported the lengthening of one of the greatest holes in the five century history of the sport is like revealing names from the Witness Protection Program.  One name that did come out in support of the change, though, is five-time champion Tom Watson.

In an interview days after the announcement to lengthen the hole, Watson told Waggle Room exclusively, "The R&A is doing the right thing by lengthening their golf courses." 

More specifically, Watson added, "The Road Hole isn't going to make much of a difference to me because I always make bogey on that son of a gun anyway."