No. 1
"Trench"
Par-4, 468 yards
While many championship courses ease players in with a relatively straightforward opening hole, the 1st on the Composite is anything but. Normally played as a par-5 by the Fanling members, the 1st demands accuracy from the tee – with the right half of the fairway giving the ideal line into the green. A fairway bunker down the left, some 275 yards out, has to be avoided at all costs: Simon Yates famously found it in the final round when leading the Open and wound up with a disastrous seven to fall out of contention. Indeed, any drives that aren't played down the right will leave a lengthy blind approach over trees. The pond 50 yards short of the putting surface shouldn't really be in play for the professionals but the back-to-front sloping green is always a test. Players who can manage four pars over the four rounds will be very satisfied indeed. At last year's championship, the hole played as the second hardest, averaging 4.29 strokes for the week.
