It's official: even the oldest course in the world has decided to hit the gym. The Old Course at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, is preparing for a small but significant revolution ahead of the 2027 Open Championship. We're not talking about a rebranding or a nostalgia stunt. This is precision cosmetic surgery: a facelift to survive 2025 drivers, supersonic balls, and players who smash 330 yards like peanuts. The problem, ultimately, is simple: the Old Course can no longer afford to be merely "ancient."
St Andrews, news
The R&A and the St. Andrews Links Trust have announced a plan of "enhancements and restorations" to adapt the course to modern golf. The goal? To maintain the course's charm while making it a true challenge for modern pros once again. This isn't the first time it's happened: between 2000 and 2005, for example, approximately 350 yards were added. But this time the work is more subtle, more surgical, more strategic.
And it comes in direct response to what happened during the 2022 Open, when St. Andrews was virtually demolished by drives and wedges. A birdie festival where the wind seemed an unnecessary guest. The challenge today is to make every hole a choice again, not a formality.
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The Old Course is getting longer: hole by hole
The course will go from 7,313 to 7,445 yards: +132 total yards. Small on paper, but decisive in substance. Here are the main changes:
5th hole (par 5) New tee added: +35 yards. The fairway remains wide, but the new distance will force players to choose between a risky drive to the right of the bunkers or a cautious layup.
6th Hole (Par 4) Increased by +17 yards, with the tee moved back: a longer second iron and drives that now graze new bunkers moved into play on the tee shot.
7th Hole (Par 4) Added +22 yards: one of the most photographed holes, now more technical. The crosswind becomes a factor again, and the second shot will become more angular.
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10th Hole (Par 4) Increased by +29 yards. The "easy" line in the center of the fairway will be less accessible: those wanting to gain yardage will have to flirt with the rough.
11th Hole (Par 4) Raised and widened tee: +21 yards. It is one of the most wind-exposed areas of the course, and with this change, it will return to being the brutal hole everyone remembers.
16th Hole (Par 4) A touch of romance: the tee is extended by 10 yards, but more importantly, the historic fairway line to the left of the "Principal's Nose" bunker is reopened. Two new bunkers on the left side will act as guardians. In essence, the St. Andrews of old returns, where daring meant taking a real risk.
12th Hole (Par 4) The only exception: slightly shortened and with the tee realigned to improve spectator flow and visibility.
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Bunker Revolt
It's not just a matter of yards. It's the geography of risk that's changing.
Hole 2: The bunkers along the right fairway will be moved lower and to the left, so as to be in play for drives beyond 300 yards.
Hole 9: The approach bunkers, including the famous "Boase's," will be enlarged to fit squarely into the path of those who aim too hard.
Hole 17 (the legendary Road Hole): The bunker will be carefully "restored," reducing the accumulation of sand that in recent years had made it more gentle than it should be.
Hole 16: Two completely new bunkers will enter the landing zone for modern drives.
In short, the Old Course no longer wants to be the target of bombers: it wants to make them think.
The reason: to survive the new golf
It's not an aesthetic quirk. It's a necessity. Today, a tour professional hits a driver 320 yards, with a stable, spin-free flight and an 8-iron that lands like a laser. The par-4 holes at St. Andrews, designed to force you to think, have become drive-pitches. The Scottish wind is no longer enough to defend one's honor.
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The R&A, with good sense, has chosen the more subtle path: not to transform the Old Course into a modern monster, but to restore it to what it was: a mental, not just a physical, training ground. Extend where needed, shorten where appropriate, and restore a sense of risk.
The +132 yards may seem like a detail, but it speaks to a philosophy. It's not so much the distance itself, but where and how it's added. Every tee moved back is an invitation to reflect. Every bunker moved is a question. And in modern golf, where everyone hits hard, the one who reflects best wins. As The Fried Egg wrote, "It's not a course that changes: it's a course that remembers how it was."
