“Postage Stamp” hole one of the toughest
Troon’s Wee Beastie is one of the toughest short holes in golf
TROON, SCOTLAND — Short holes have done some major damage this golf season. Consider, with sympathy, Jordan Spieth’s Masters disaster of a quadruple bogey on Augusta National’s par-3 12th, which measures 155 yards.
As the British Open returns Thursday to Royal Troon, it is best, then, to worry about the par-3 eighth, the shortest hole on the Open rotation at 123 yards and one of the most famous. It’s named the Postage Stamp because of its small green, even if the rectangular green is shaped more like a mailing label.
It also has been called the wee beastie; this is Scotland, after all.
There have been holes-in-one here during Opens past. Gene Sarazen pulled his off in 1973 at age 71 with a 5-iron.
Ernie Els had one in 2004 using a pitching wedge and the slightest of headwinds, and then he exchanged high-fives with caddies and playing partners.
But there also has been plenty of pathos. One of the many to come to grief at the Postage Stamp is Tiger Woods, absent this year but very much present in 1997 when he put his tee shot into one of its many bunkers in the final round and recorded a triple-bogey 6. It could have been worse, much worse. A German amateur named Hermann Tissies shot a 15 on the hole in 1950.
Royal Troon’s members have their moments, too.
“I’ve picked the ball up here and just walked around the corner,” Gerry Gavin said as he played the Postage Stamp during a round last month. “Today was an exception.” It was an exception because on this fine, warm June day, the sky was blue and the breeze virtually nonexistent. Gavin ended up with a par 3, as did his playing partner, Stuart Lundie.
“Even for the members, it’s the easiest hole on the course, and it can also be the hardest,” Gavin said. “We never play in these conditions, with no wind. Sometimes I play a 3-iron here. Today it’s a wedge. So that gives you an idea of the difference.”
Royal Troon has a number of unusual features.
There are the blind tee shots at the 10th and 11th holes. There is Blackrock House, a private home that is inside the boundaries of the course next to the second hole.
The 11th is known as the Railway Hole for good reason: It runs close enough to the tracks that the trains need reinforced glass to protect against errant golf balls.
The railroad, bringing commuters south from Glasgow, played a major role in the development of classic courses on the west coast of Scotland such as Troon and nearby Prestwick, the original site of the British Open.
Troon also has a bear of a back nine, usually played into the wind, but it is the tiny Postage Stamp that has become the club’s signature hole and primary clubhouse talking point.
“I think the only conversation piece sometimes is how many did you score at the Postage Stamp?” said Douglas McCreath, a golf historian at Royal Troon.
That status will be underscored at the Open as it returns to Troon for the first time since 2004.
With Sky Sports taking over as the Open broadcaster after the BBC’s long run, there is a search for a new look and new camera angles.
“There is now a wire cam going over the top of the Postage Stamp, which is the first time it’s ever been done at an Open venue,” said Kieron Stevenson, the head professional at Royal Troon. “It’s offset about 20 yards to the left of the hole, which should really give the viewers the chance to appreciate the shape of the shots guys will hit in there. It depends so much on the wind.”
Open organizers have also added additional grandstand seating around the hole compared with 2004. This busy, scenic section of the course — where the seventh, eighth and ninth holes converge — is the closest thing Troon has to Augusta National’s Amen Corner. It once had a similar nickname of its own.
“The name was Tattenham Corner,” McCreath said.
“It came from horse racing and from the Epsom Derby, where Tattenham was one of the great parts of the course. The term was fashionable here in the 1920s, but in my time, I’ve never heard it used.”
Though Troon Golf Club was founded in 1878, the Postage Stamp and Railway Holes did not exist in their current form until they were constructed in 1909.
“It’s quite amazing that these two holes from 1909 still feature as iconic holes in the year 2016,” McCreath said.
In 1909, however, the eighth was not known as the Postage Stamp. It was called Ailsa after the rocky island Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde which is visible — when the rain is not sheeting down — from the elevated tee.
According to McCreath, the name change was not made official until the 1950s but was already common usage because of an article in Golf Illustrated in 1922 by William Park in which he described the green as being the “size of a postage stamp.”
“This William Park is sometimes confused with being Willie Park, but it’s not the same thing,” McCreath said, referring to Willie Park Jr., a two-time winner of the Open.
The hole got another of its signature features in 1922: a deep rectangular bunker tucked into the base of the sandhill that abuts the green. It is now known as the Coffin bunker.
“It was done for the 1923 Open to stop people deliberately landing it on the hill and rolling it onto the green,” McCreath said.
Mission accomplished, and the Coffin bunker has since buried many a golf ball and hope of a great round.
“I think the worst place to be is up against the back lip of that bunker,” Stevenson said. “Sometimes you just have to pick up and move on.”
The week before the Open, Henrik Stenson of Sweden tried another method during a practice round.
“He was in the Coffin bunker, and it took him 3 or 4 to get out, and so he kicked it out,” Stevenson said. “It was really nice footage on Facebook.”
Clearly, the Postage Stamp has made the transition quite smoothly to the social-media age, but it may be in for another transition. As part of the preparations for this year’s Open, the green was cut farther forward than before, creating a new pin position at the front of the green. There is also a new tee position at the front of the tee box.
“On one of the four days, if the weather conditions are correct, they will get the hole under 100 yards,” Stevenson said.
Stevenson sounded excited, but then he has happier memories than most on the Postage Stamp. In his first year as club professional in 2008, he was playing with a foursome that included Billy Payne, the chair of Augusta National. He used a 52-degree gap wedge off the tee.
“It bounced once, checked and then dribbled into the hole,” Stevenson said. “So we put a nice bottle of whisky behind the bar, and we had a wee celebratory drink afterward, so that was nice. I haven’t had a holein-one since.”
Sometimes you just have to pick up and move on. KIERON STEVENSON THE HEAD PROFESSIONAL AT ROYAL TROON