Muirfield

The AIG Women’s Open Muirfield 4-7 August 2022

Words: Mike Aitken

Home to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, whose history dates back to the 1740s, Muirfield was first created by Old Tom Morris and then re-configured in 1925 by Harry Colt. Venue of The Open Championship on 16 occasions, the course will this year host The AIG Women’s Open for the very first time. Renowned as a challenging, but balanced links course, with a distinctive circular layout, Muirfield is also a venue where the true greats often win.

Bunkers guard the green like sentries on the second hole

Hole 1

Yardage: 412 Par: 4

This is one of the most intimidating opening holes in Championship golf according to Tony Jacklin. Playing into the prevailing wind from the west, the tee shot to a narrow fairway that follows a dogleg to the right requires length and accuracy.

The addition of a deep bunker on the left at 306 yards, to accompany one at 246, has further squeezed the landing area.

Tiger Woods hooked his opening fairway wood from the tee so far left here at The Open in 2013 he had to play a provisional. When he did find his original ball, he took an unplayable lie and recovered to make bogey from a greenside bunker.

Hole 2

Yardage: 354 Par: 4

Although the shortest par four on the links – a new back tee was added nine years ago – this underrated, north-facing hole is compacted by an out of bounds wall on the left which runs as close as 15 feet to the green. With the prevailing breeze blowing from the left, it is easy to lose the ball to the right and mentally daunting to aim at a hazard to stay on the short grass. Four bunkers guard the right side of the green like sentries.

Regarded by Jack Nicklaus as an ideal complement to the first, the hole yields fewer birdies than its length might suggest.

Hole 3

Yardage: 370 Par: 4

This tempting par four begins a three-hole stretch, the only sequence on the course, where the holes all run in the same direction thereby minimising any change in playing angle from the breeze. The broad fairway only runs to the 290-yard mark where towering mounds and deep bunkers flank the slim runway to the green. With the prevailing wind at your back, the smart play is to find the left side of the fairway and take enough club for the approach to carry the front greenside bunkers.

Hole 4

Yardage: 180 Par: 3

Muirfield presents a selection of stunning par threes, of which the fourth is formidable. With the wind probably at your back, or off the left, the trick is not so much in locating the 40-yard-long raised plateau as keeping your ball on the narrow putting surface. Ideally, the tee shot should bounce or run on to the green. Long is better than short and it is best to avoid the vengeful bunker on the front right. Brian Barnes was so taken aback by making an ace here at The Open in 1972 that the shocked Scot promptly ran up seven at the next.

Hole 5

Yardage: 512 Par: 5

The tee shot here, hit from one of the highest parts of the course, can be crucial – especially when a following wind is blowing. Get it right and the hole can provide an excellent chance of a birdie or maybe even better.

Even so, the player still has to carry the bank of five bunkers at the front right of the fairway without racing to the bunker on the left at 296 yards. Although the green is surrounded by a cluster of seven bunkers, the approach shot struck from right to left is accessible. Pin position can be a factor on the sloping green, especially for anyone facing a downhill putt.

The fifth: the top players will be targeting a birdie or better

Hole 6

Yardage: 435 Par: 4

Jack Nicklaus always regarded this tee shot as the trickiest drive on the links.

The hole, with Archerfield’s wood in the background, follows a steep dogleg to the left and features a blind landing area invariably complicated by a crosswind. There is a hollow short of the green, flanked by bunkers left and right, which creates the illusion of the flag being closer than it really is and leaves many players a club short for the second. Sir Nick Faldo, who twice won The Open at Muirfield, says the sixth is the most demanding hole on the course.

The ninth: where rewards can outweigh the risks

Hole 7

Yardage: 149 Par: 3

The view here from tee to green stretches beautifully out to the Firth of Forth. Into the wind, even from relatively close range, this can be an inhospitable par three. Short is no good, with run-off areas and revetted bunkers lying in wait for the cautious. Simply getting the ball on the green is an achievement, according to 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples. The back of the green, 36 yards from the front, runs from back to front and delivers some of the quickest putts on the links.

Hole 8

Yardage: 442 Par: 4

A veritable shoal of bunkers on the right of the fairway tempt most to aim driver or fairway wood towards the left of the short grass. The trade-off for going left is a longer, semi-blind shot for the second, over cross bunkers, to a green where the traps, and the trouble, are at the back.

When Walter Hagen won The Open at Muirfield in 1929 he went via the practice ground, an option long ago eliminated by out-of-bounds, on his way to a six-shot victory.

Hole 9

Yardage: 556 Par: 5

A land swap with the adjacent Renaissance club added a back tee 50 yards further away for The Open in 2013. Without breeze, however, this par five remains more reward than risk as Tony Jacklin and Lee Trevino, who were playing together in the final round of The Championship in 1972, discovered when they both made eagle here. There is an out-of-bounds wall positioned relatively close to the green on the left, Simpson’s bunker in the middle of the fairway and a flurry of bunkers shielding the right side of the putting surface .

Hole 10

Yardage: 430 Par: 4

Another hole that is revered by Jack Nicklaus, it features a trio of bunkers on the right so players need to steer their drive left. Twin bunkers also cross the fairway around 90 yards or so from the green and effectively mask the entrance to the flat putting surface. There are bunkers on either side of the green and it takes two terrific shots to locate the target.

The rough was so deep on this hole at The Open in 1966 that Doug Sanders famously quipped he would readily forego any prize money if compensated by the lost ball and hay concession. What is more often forgotten, though, is that Sanders actually finished tied for second that year, behind Nicklaus himself.

Hole 11

Yardage: 354 Par: 4

Muirfield’s reputation as one of the fairest links in the UK is built on players being able to see the golf course in front of them. As an exception to prove the rule, however, the tee shot over a hill on this hole is completely blind.

There are also bunkers on both sides of the fairway to punish inaccuracy. When Tom Watson won The Open here in 1980 it was a five iron drilled to four feet on the 11th in the fourth round that put him back on track towards the Claret Jug after he had taken five at the 10th.

A plethora of bunkers flank the 12th green

Hole 12

Yardage: 360 Par: 4

The ideal line on this possible birdie chance, other than for the longest hitters, is best directed shy of the fairway bunker on the left around the 260-yard mark.

The undulating ground on the sweeping fairway adds to the difficulty of a second shot where the narrow green is heavily bunkered (particularly to the right) and falls away both to the rear and to the left.

As much as any hole on the back nine, pin position here can make all the difference.

Ernie Els had to pull out something special to escape the sand on the 13th in 2002

Hole 13

Yardage: 160 Par: 3

Tom Watson says he loves the severity of this gem of a par three set in a crown of dunes. After pulling a six iron into a bunker of pernicious depth, Ernie Els knew The Open was about to slip from his grasp here in 2002 had he not executed a sand wedge as perfect as any in his career.

The rhythmic blow that cleared the towering face and then faded gently towards the cup even drew applause from the big South African’s playing partner, Søren Hansen.

The moral for the players here is simple: stay out of the five bunkers that surround the green.

Hole 14

Yardage: 423 Par: 4

The tee on this testing hole stands on the highest part of the course and looks west towards a broad fairway which narrows alarmingly towards the 270 mark, where three bunkers on the left create a bottleneck. The green falls away on all sides and Martin Hawtree’s subtle revision of the links before The Open in 2013 added furrows on the left. The greenside bunker on the right is modest in size, but malignant in consequence, while taking an extra club and running through the back is also problematic.

Hole 15

Yardage: 413 Par: 4

The back tee on this dogleg par four has been lengthened considerably over the years – adding to the difficulty of a hole that already swarmed with bunkers.

The view of Gullane may be enchanting, but it makes the challenge no less daunting. It was here in 1992 that Sir Nick Faldo reversed his fortunes against America’s John Cook in the final round of The Open. Taking a five iron for his second shot he finished three feet from the pin on the sizeable green that is known by the members of the Honourable Company as the Camel’s Back.

Find the wrong spot here and three putts threaten the card.

Hole 16

Yardage: 178 Par: 3

This is still remembered as the hole where Lee Trevino holed a bunker shot in the third round of The Open in 1972 – the ball in full flight thudding into the flagstick.

It pays to respect the seven sand traps that guard Muirfield’s closing par three. Club selection is dictated by the breeze and can vary wildly, while a compact green slopes away to the left towards bunkers and rough. Any player whose tee shot finds the middle of the putting surface here will probably allow themselves a sigh of relief.

Hole 17

Yardage: 544 Par: 5

With the prevailing wind at your back, this par five offers the prospect of getting close in two blows. However, if a strong breeze is coming from the east then the two cross bunkers, situated around 100 yards short of the green, can provide a real threat. Five bunkers crowd the corner of a dogleg that kinks from right to left while the heavily contoured green, guarded by two bunkers at its entrance, waits amid the dunes.

The AIG Women’s Open competitors will need a combination of strength and subtlety to get ahead at this hole.

The 16th – where Lee Trevino holed from a bunker in 1972

Hole 18

Yardage: 428 Par: 4

The 18th represents a finishing test so sublime that Jack Nicklaus once described it as the best hole on the best Open Championship layout.

Bunkers on the left trim the fairway at the narrowest point and can be a threat when the prevailing wind blows. The steep green, in front of the clubhouse, is also protected by sand seemingly everywhere you look.

It is a measure of Dame Laura Davies’ longevity that she was part of the Great Britain and Ireland side which contested the Curtis Cup against the USA in 1984. Her drive on the home hole in a singles victory over Anne Sander was so prodigious that Davies was left with just an eight iron into the green while her opponent reached for a fairway wood.