The expert’s hole-by-hole guide

● Gullane head pro Good knows every nook and cranny at East Lothian course

Alasdair Good, Gullane’s head PGA professional since 2003, gives his inside track to the composite championship course – a mix of 16 holes from the No 1 layout and two from the neighbouring No 2 course – being used for the event...

Normally the second on No 1, this was one of the toughest holes during the 2015 Scottish Open despite it being made a little easier for this event due to logistics, meaning they are teeing off from the forward tee. You can see exactly where you want to hit it, but I don’t think anyone will necessarily be going for length off the tee. The approach is to a long, narrow green and the key is knowing the pin position exactly as a putt coming back down the green will be mighty quick.

This is where the business starts and players will be looking to hit the gas pedal on this tee. The drive requires a carry of 280 yards to fly the bunkers on the right and that will be tempting for the bigger hitters as that would leave a mid-iron into one of the flattest greens on the course. Likely to be into the prevailing wind but many will want under par here.

This is a typical links challenge with a twist. The new tee is slightly more to the west, which presents the green more like a diamond than a square. It is also raised on all sides and if you don’t get there it can run off in all different directions. The grass all round has been cut short so the players can recover with a wide variety of short-game skills. There’s a subtle ridge that runs through the green, giving it a bit of a defence.

Still one of the strongest holes on the course, despite the generous fairway and being returned to the members’ tee for this year. There’s a temptation to hit a draw shot, but the fairway slopes to the right because you are coming in from a low

0 Gullane’s head PGA professional Alasdair Good says there’s a real ‘wow’ factor to parts of a course that will prove tricky for even the best golfers in the world. angle, the ball tends to skip away with the approach and the ball can run off the front of what is a sloping green.

There’s a new championship tee here that prevents a clear line into the green. If you’ve got a tail breeze and the fairways are firm, adding 20 yards on to it, someone could get close, but I think most players will hit it up the right. They’ll probably play into a left-to-right wind. A birdie opportunity.

I reckon you could be a spectator here all day and see probably every permutation imaginable. Some will hit mid-irons off the tee to leave a mid-tolong iron into the green but others will try to bomb it down there. The big danger is the fairway bunkers and you are going to feel silly if you’ve gone with the big stick and hit it into one of them. It’s a stunning hole with Edinburgh as the backdrop. We could see a monster 400yard-plus drive here. 0 Colin Montgomerie hit two woods on the 13th hole in 2013.

The tee has been knocked back here. It’s slightly unusual that you can’t see some of the bunkering on the right and that could catch people out if they take that line. The newly extended infinity green is unusual for Gullane but it is stunning. The skill will be to get the ball close as this green is normally quite firm.

If you don’t see your ball on this green, it is probably in a pot bunker. There’s quite a lot of slope on this green, which is tilted from front to back. It is quite exposed on the top of the cliffs and into a prevailing wind. It is going to be a great hole.

A redesigned hole for this year, which, if into the breeze, demands a long and accurate drive to avoid the three well-placed fairway bunkers. The new raised bunker on the left side approach further obscures the green, leaving a semiblind shot to a long green with a few subtle borrows.

Though a similar length to the previous one, this hole heads back to the north and is a good challenge. The fairway sweeps down to the left and anything on the left is a good line if you want to hold the ball up with your second shot. There’s a rise just before the green and anything that lands short tends to be gathered by a bunker.

One of the nicest holes on the course. It’s not a monster par 3 and from the elevated tee you can see the bottom of the pin. Players will be looking to birdie this hole but the slope on the green will make that difficult. You don’t want to be short here.

This played as one of the hardest holes in qualifying for the 2013 Open. Indeed, I think Colin Montgomerie had to hit two woods in here, albeit on a wet day and into a breeze. There’s a dip at the front of the green that makes it difficult to judge a shot landing in that area.

This is the first of the two holes from the No 2 Course and not out of keeping with the challenge that has gone before. An infinity drive is a nice feature and from the tee you’ll see the pin standing in isolation in the distance with a stunning backdrop that will be popular with TV producers. A bogey here for Rickie Fowler in his final round in 2015 lit the fire and sparked a stunning birdie blitz for Scottish Open glory.

The longest hole on the course; a new tee has been built here. We spent a bit of time deciding where it should go as the hole comes at a key stage in the round. It’s to the right of the normal tees and makes you come across the fairway bunkers at an angle and, unusually in the game now, I think a lot of this as a par 5. It’s all carry up to a raised green and you don’t want to miss it in any of the bunkers on the left.

We recently had a group of Americans here and they loved the fact the course starts and finishes in the village. From the elevated position of the new back tee the players will be able to see two-thirds of the roofs in it, giving it a real “wow” factor. Anyone bunkered off the tee will find it difficult to reach the green, which slopes from front left to back right.