ST ANDREWS — The Old Course at St Andrews will play 132 yards longer for the 2027 Open, edging nearer the 7,500-yard mark as golf's most historic links is stretched to cope with modern driving distance. Architects Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert are overseeing the changes, which place the Old Course alongside Royal Birkdale, Royal Portrush, Royal Troon and Royal Liverpool at Hoylake as recent Open venues pushed to their limits.
The most significant alterations come on three holes. The par-5 5th will play over 600 yards, with its new tee box proposed some way back down the 4th hole, while the 10th will stretch to 415 yards from 386 yards with a tee shifted nearer the New Course. The par-3 11th will play at 195 yards, over 20 yards longer than at the 2022 Open. The R&A said the work aims to 'refine the strategic challenge for elite players in a small number of areas for future championships while restoring traditional features that have evolved over time to improve the everyday playing experience for local and visiting golfers'.
The scale of the lengthening has reignited the distance debate at the Home of Golf. "I've had a few arguments about this at The Open at St Andrews Old. You could get someone like Bryson DeChambeau drive nine greens. It can make it look stupid," 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam once told Top 100 Golf Courses. Woosnam added: "Why don't you keep St Andrews Old as a souvenir, as history, and build another golf course on the side of it – on the old and the new – and make a golf course specifically for The Open and play it there every year like The Masters?"
Beyond yardage, Mackenzie and Ebert will add a new left-hand fairway bunker on the 6th, widen the bunkers on the 9th and add a new left-hand fairway bunker on the 10th. The project lands amid uncertainty over the golf ball roll back, with a proposal for a blanket roll back put on ice and bifurcation back on the table as the R&A and USGA continue to seek alignment with players, tours and manufacturers on a ceiling for distance.
The changes also reflect broader pressures on the Open rota. New R&A chief executive Mark Darbon said Muirfield needed to tackle practice ground and infrastructural issues before hosting its first Open since 2013, while Royal Lytham has undergone work ahead of being awarded the 2028 Open. Turnberry has not hosted since 2009, with infrastructural and logistical issues cited alongside the presence of President Trump in the highest US office. At Royal Birkdale, last year's Open host, Mackenzie and Ebert redesigned the 5th and 7th holes, removed the pre-existing 14th, altered the par-5 15th to become the new 14th and added a new par-3 15th.