The Postage Stamp

Voice from the Course

Account relating to Royal Troon, June 1923

They call it the shortest hole in championship golf, aye, but when ye're up there peerin' doon fae that elevated tee, it feels like the longest drop in the whole wide world. The green's naught but a wee sliver of sanctuary carved intae the side of a dune, wi' the most ferocious bunkers ye've ever clapped eyes on guardin' every last inch of it — great plunging, sheer-faced things that'll swallow yer ball whole and no give it back in a hurry.

A howlin' gale off the Firth of Clyde was blowing hard left-tae-right, near tearing the very breath fae yer lungs. I played a low iron, hopin' the heavy coastal air would take the sting oot of it and set it doon soft on the putting surface. It's a hole that'll put the fear of God intae ye, so it will — pure terror and precision, nothing more, nothing less.