The Old Course at St Andrews Will Provide Special Test at AIG Women's Open

There is much to be excited about as the AIG Women's Open returns to St Andrews. It's a perfect curtain call to what has been a memorable major championship season, the storylines are plentiful, it's one last chance for players to qualify for the Solheim Cup, and it's inspiring to see the best golfers on the planet back at the grandest stage in the sport.

But it's the legendary Old Course itself that is set to be the star of the show - as it will look and play at its very best.

These days, the extreme distance that is now routinely displayed in the men's game has compromised the competitiveness and playability of this most venerable of layouts.

Rough has been grown in unusual places, pins are tucked away in the deepest corners of the cavernous greens, and the farthest back tees on some holes are now quite literally out-of-bounds. That may sound absurd to read, but it's a tragic reality when an Open Championship or Dunhill Links comes to town.

Back in 2022, when a parched Scottish summer (yes, they do happen) left the Old in an arid, barren state, the firmness of the fairways and greens made it a potentially intriguing examination. Alas, golf aficionados were left to mourn their luck when the wind that had been a feature during the practice rounds disappeared on the Thursday morning and remained absent throughout four championship days at The 150th Open.

The flags fell limp and stayed that way, leaving the Old Course defenceless against Cam Smith's back-nine onslaught. But that will not be the case this week in North East Fife, and we should all rejoice at that fact.

Although a once darkly ominous weather forecast has improved from the apocalyptic conditions that we may have feared just a few days ago, Mother Nature is going to be a factor. There will be some rain, there will be a fair bit of sunshine, there could be unseasonably autumnal temperatures, but most crucially of all there will be the constant presence of a substantial breeze for each of the rounds.

Just like the recent men's Open at Royal Troon, which was made so captivating by the variety of questions presented to the field, there will be just about a bit of everything this week in St Andrews.

It will be a stout challenge - and it's a fortune of circumstance that frees the organisers to be creative and thoughtful with their setup, which should allow for the Old Course to be presented as the strategic questionnaire that it most fabulously can be.

More bunkers will be in play depending on the strength of the gusts, while the ideal lines off the tee will be determined by the pin positions of the day, which on these most uniquely expansive of surfaces can be altered radically.

Unfortunately, the one-dimensional nature of the elite men's game has rendered some of these principles obsolete, but at its finest, the Old Course can be the most adaptable and dynamic layout on the planet. It's a creative feast for those in charge of the daily setup, a thoughtful exercise for the players, and something for us viewers to relish.

And it's all made possible by the distances that the players this week hit the ball.

Speaking to John Huggan in Golf Digest, the great Karrie Webb, a seven-time major champion, said: "The standard of women’s golf today is, at least in terms of distance, pretty much what the men were doing in the 1960s and 1970s. We’re now as long as they were then. And playing pretty much the same length course too. Which is nothing but good."

The official yardage this week is 6,784, which is roughly what the course measures from the back medal tees, meaning that there are short walks between one hole to the next, and that will far closer reflect the layout that everyone from Bobby Jones and Sam Snead to Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros faced in their Claret Jug victories generations ago.

Webb, a three-time winner of the Women's Open, also commented: "I've not figured the golf course out. I could play it a hundred times and still not think I have the keys to how to get around here really well."

There are puzzles to be solved at the Old Course - and the correct answer can change by the hour. Where exactly do you aim off the 12th tee? Do you take on the Coffins on the 13th for an easier line into the green, and should you choose to play the incredible par five 14th by going left up the fifth fairway to stay clear of Hell Bunker?

Typically, the safest lines to take off the tee are towards the left, but for many of the holes, in search of a better angle into the green, aggressive play to the right - bringing more trouble into view - is where gold is to be found. That is especially true on the 16th and 17th. It's why the Old can legitimately be described as the definitive risk-reward golf course. Your champion this week will be the player who knows when best to take things on and how to execute that tactic.

As Webb's fellow Australian, Peter Thomson, a five-time Champion Golfer of the Year, once said: "All golf courses really are imitations of this one, and there’s hardly any that measure up anywhere near it."

This championship will be a reminder of the pleasures of links golf, a showcase to underline why the women's game can be a far more intriguing spectacle to watch and a true exhibition of what has made the Old Course the greatest and most captivating of golfing treasures.

As Seve himself reflected during a return visit later in life; "St Andrews is a work of art."

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