Shotgun Starts Become Necessary at the Old Course

When people think of famous golf courses, one of the first to spring to their minds is the Old Course at St. Andrews. Unbelievably rich in history, the Old Course is considered the oldest course in the world, with written records of play dating all the way back to the 1500s. 

Legends have walked the fairways for centuries: Old Tom Morris in the 1860s paved the way for later golf greats such as Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, and Tiger Woods.  The course even set the standard for the number of holes on a golf course when they increased it from 12 to 18 holes.

With it’s sprawling fairways, wide-mouthed bunkers, and monstrous greens the Old Course has presented a stiff challenge for golfers in the British Open ever since it was held there for the first time way back in 1873 when Tom Kidd won the two day tournament with scores of 91 and 88.

If the St. Andrews layout was employed at a course almost anywhere else, golfers would absolutely tear it apart. Just looking at it with your television on mute, you wouldn’t think the course posed much of a threat. 

But then when the sound is turned on you begin to hear the howling gusts of wind that are omnipresent at the course. It is this wind, as well as the firmness of the course, that makes it so difficult.

 This year though, the winds in the first two rounds have been quiet, giving way to an unprecedented rash of low scores. Rory McIlroy, the twenty one year old from North Ireland set the course record with a 63 in the first round, tying the lowest round in Major Championship history.

The unheralded Louis Oosthuizen has enjoyed the luxury of two rounds with good conditions and has scorched the course for a 36 hole mark of -12, five strokes better than the second best score to this point, Mark Calcavecchia’s -7. Interestingly, Calcavecchia also played in good conditions.

Phil Mickelson, who has scrambled his way to even par through two rounds and was hovering at the cut line at the completion of his second round, spoke about these conditions after being asked about them by ESPN’s Wendi Nix.

Following a short chuckle, Mickelson said “Well, this is very difficult now. It’s the way St. Andrews was meant to play and you’ll see a lot of shots along the ground. But par on every hole is a good score. There are no more birdie holes.”

Mickelson went on to say that he needed to score well the next day as he would be playing early before the wind picked up. He also wished that the conditions would be especially brutal after he finished his round so that competitors would drop shots and he would be thrust into the mix.

Is this really the way that golf tournaments are supposed to be held? Golf is all about playing the course and ending up with a lower score than all other competitors. But while weather is a part of the game, those fortunate enough to play in the mornings shouldn’t get to play an easier course and gain an advantage over those playing in the afternoons.

Throughout the course’s lengthy history, golfers have always teed off in the same manner. One at a time they walk up to that famous first tee box and gaze down the fairway to the first green with the narrow creek meandering dangerously right in front. Their names are announced and they proceed to smack the ball down the first fairway into the gusts of wind before giving way to the next competitor. It’s just the way it has always been done.

St. Andrews is all about tradition, but maybe it is time to change one.  Instead of having every golfer tee off on the first hole throughout the first two rounds, a shotgun start should be employed, putting all golfers on the course at the same time.

This way, golfers like Oosthuizen and Mickelson would be playing the exact same course instead of giving the former a distinct advantage over the latter.

In the third and fourth rounds the starting method should switch back to it’s current method because the golfers would now be sorted by score from worst to best.

Changes are hard to come by at St. Andrews, but this tournament is showing that one needs to be made.