Bunkered at Lytham

As I stepped onto the tee at the 206-yard 1st – the only par-three opener on the Open Championship rota – a breeze was blowing right-to-left and slightly against, and there was moisture in the air. I had got what I prayed for – typical local weather! With the grandstands still in place behind the green, it was a surreal experience to have my friend impersonate – rather badly, I might add – the legendary starter Ivor Robson and announce my name as I teed up my ball. I said the silent prayer that every golfer knows – "just let me get this first tee-shot away" – and somehow managed to connect – thank you, Lord – pretty sweetly with my 3-iron. For 80 per cent of its flight, the shot looked perfect, but then the wind took hold and pushed it left. The ball hit the green and scurried into the third of four bunkers guarding that side of the putting surface. So much for my game plan of avoiding the sand.

Lytham's bunkers are rightly infamous. As mentioned, there are over two hundred of them, and they're all fiendishly placed, each with near-vertical faces. The sand itself is pretty thick and cloying. You simply have to get the ball up quickly. In the event I blasted out to six feet and made a bogey after missing the putt.

This was to become a routine.

With one exception, finding a bunker resulted in at least one dropped shot, and often more. As the day progressed, I became more and more convinced that Tiger Woods' much-criticised strategy of laying up short of them with irons off the tee had been correct. Obviously he didn't win but in my mind, having now played the course and studied his performance, it wasn't his tee shots that let him down. A bit more luck (particularly at the 6th in the final round when he took two to get out from a vicious lie in a greenside bunker to make triple bogey) and a rather warmer putter and he would have been right there. Anyway ...
 

By the time I reached the 6th tee I was already four-over – three dropped shots a result of being in the sand.

The 6th is a 500-yard dogleg par-five (but which played as a par-four during the championship). It may also have the narrowest fairway. The group ahead of us had knocked several balls into the heavy stuff on the right and waved us on. Having the honour, I launched a solid drive perilously close to the bunker and mound on the left, and was delighted to find I had skirted both and was in good shape in the fairway within 5-wood distance of the green. To a round of applause from the ball-seekers, I then hit my shot of the day, a high draw over the intervening clutch of fairway bunkers and between a group of five more surrounding the green. My eagle putt ran six feet by and I was happy to sink the come-backer for my only birdie of the day. Whilst there I took the opportunity to drop a ball in "Tiger's bunker" and attempted to get out. I hit myself! I then tried to recreate the shot he played from his knees and nearly pulled my groin just getting into position. Needless to say I failed miserably.