What changes were made to the 14th hole at Royal Birkdale?
Golf Channel's Smylie Kaufman gives an update from Royal Birkdale ahead of the 154th Open Championship and previews how the 14th hole has changed since the the tournament was last held in Southport in 2017.
Video Transcript
To, to the new 14th hole, and, we welcome Smiley Kaufman.
Smiley, it, it is like Atlanta in August minus the thunderstorms out there.
What's it feel like down there on the ground?
It's hot.
It's baking, Rich.
This, this golf course is definitely, thirsty, and it's amazing just talking to all the players out here, and all the adjustments and strategy, and what decisions of clubs they're gonna pull off some of these holes.
But like you said, we're here on the 14th hole.
It was the 15th.
The changes they made, they moved the fairway to get a little bit closer to the dunes off the tee, so players have that in the back of their brain.
But then also, this, this hole is 603 yards, and this green was pushed back into the right about 70 yards with a steeper fall-off on this right side.
And the back side, really, there's, there's three holes that come to mind.
You have the 11th hole, you have this 14th hole, and then you have the 16th hole all playing straight downwind over the last couple of days with this east northeast wind.
And what we've seen is that players have had to really First off, the ball doesn't stop.
Like, I just watched, Dougherty here hit a 400-yard drive hit nine iron into a 600-yard par five.
But also, there's drivable options on 11, and also at 16.
So you have to make a decision on some of these holes is, you know, where does the golf ball need to land?
And as we walk up, we're about 40 yards short of this green here.
If you look back in this direction, it almost looks like it's snowing, it's so white.
Hardly any grass to speak of.
And so when you have, for instance, players h- may have 210 yards to the front of this green, well, most weeks guys are gonna be trying to land a front number.
This week, that is not gonna be the case, especially if you have any type of helping wind like we're experiencing right now.
And I'm just gonna show you, you know, what it looks like if you're coming in with something like a six or a five iron here on how quickly this ball can roll and bound over the green, which I've been seeing all day.
I mean, it just feels like it lands on a cart path.
I know I gave that a little extra, but we're talking about five irons and four irons.
That's what it's gonna look like if guys happen to be a little further back than, let's say, Dougherty was.
But let's say, I just watched one come in just like this with a nine iron, and then you can find it on the green.
You could have an eagle putt.
So there's plenty of ways to get it on this green.
You're gonna see balls bound through the green.
But most likely, especially when we get some type of north wind this week, which is expected, it's gonna be a little bit more right to left and down.
And so as you can see, we're walking down the hill here to the left, and so you're gonna see balls end up getting behind this big bunker that's pitched just left of this green.
Most players are gonna wanna miss on this side, as I mentioned.
One of the big parts of this renovation is that the right side has a pretty steep fall-off.
So this left side, you're gonna see much more of the green, and I watched player after player hit chips from left and from short just to try to feel how that first bounce is gonna be, especially downwind.
But another interesting feature about this golf course, guys, is that around the greens, even when you're in a good situation like this, and let's say, you would like to putt it with how firm it is, or wanna play a bump shot, you'll have these, these mounds that just stick up all around the golf course that sometimes you might think you have an easy up and down, but all of a sudden you got a downhill to an uphill to a right to a left.
And if you misjudge it at all, you could either be playing the same shot again, or you can end up 10 to 15 feet away.
So that's the feature around the green that's gonna really challenge the guys, which is why you've seen players on this Tuesday and, and yesterday, work their shots around the green.
But guys, it's, it's been fun listening, to these players and trying to figure out how far the golf ba-
