Lost Balls, Double Digit Scores And Unreachable Fairway Add Up To Declaration Of Success By Dawson

The R&A frontman and in house architect, Peter Dawson, declares his redo work at Turnberry a success. And boy doesn't it sound like great work based on this reporting. First, Douglas Lowe writes:

The 17th hole particularly, where Nick Price had an eagle 3 on his way to Open triumph in 1994, was considered too soft for a modern championship, but having lengthened the hole and added three new bunkers there were lost balls galore in the qualifying rounds.

Scores in excess of 10 were recorded as players, into winds in excess of 30mph, failed to make the 230-yard carry to the fairway and so tough was the course altogether that the competition scratch score on day two was up at a mind-boggling nine-over-par 79.

Asked about the severity of the 17th, Dawson, who has been under fire in recent years for allowing distances the ball is hit to increase, quipped: "The players will just have to learn to hit the ball further."

Brilliant answer!

Mike Aitken can't wait for the Open Championship next year after witnessing the same success as Lowe:

Although the Ailsa has been something of a soft touch at past Opens – both Tom Watson and Nick Price won at Turnberry with 72 hole totals of 268, the lowest winning scores for an Open in Scotland – the revised links, albeit in severe weather, produced a standard scratch of 79 during the first round of qualifying for the Amateur last week. Moreover, a number of players from the new tee at the stretched par-5 17th couldn't reach the fairway when the hole played into a strong headwind.

One of the most heartening aspects of the changes was the success of the 16th, where the re-modelled par 4 has become a 458-yard dogleg which brings the burn in front of the green into play and approaches the green from a far trickier angle. "I never thought I'd see the day when people couldn't get up in two at the 16th," admitted Dawson.

Yes that sounds heartening!

Although offering a spectacular view, the new tenth tee, built beyond the halfway house to create a dramatic drive over a rocky promontory, received more mixed reviews. "If we had our time again we might have raised (the tee] a little," said the chief executive. "It's not too late to change, and we'll think about it."

 Print up that change order Peter!