"In the Open, competitors hole out and increasingly must take a brisk, 100-yard-plus walk back to the next tee."

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John Barton makes this shrewd point in previewing this year's Open at St. Andrews and its many tees-played-from-other-courses.

At St. Andrews, you used to tee off within a club-length of the hole into which you'd just putted out; nowadays, in the Open, competitors hole out and increasingly must take a brisk, 100-yard-plus walk back to the next tee. If driving distances were ever allowed to become so great that the Old Course were rendered obsolete, a museum piece unfit for tournament play, then golf will be a lesser game and its governing bodies will have failed.

"Just how tough does the R&A want the Road Hole to play? It seems to have held its own for decades."

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Ron Whitten takes on the Road hole's new tee controversy and doesn't think it's that big of a deal. I would agree if the fairway width corresponded, but it doesn't and therefore threatens to be more goofy than great. Ron also won't be getting an invite to the R&A anytime soon. After spelling out the many architects criticizing the ball issue in light of the changes to the hole, he writes:
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"It will not look as much out of place off the golf course during the Open as it does now."

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The R&A must have had some kind of fine goody bag at the Open Championship media day, or perhaps it was just the thrill of playing the Old Course for free, but the scribblers turned a dismal performance when it came to evaluating the Road hole's new tee.
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