What’s With The Road Hole?

I’ve been watching the Open Championship for the last two days, and the announcers have been falling all over themselves talking about the charms of the Road Hole.

I’m going to get branded as a golf philistine for this, but I just don’t get it. As far as I’m concerned, it has to be the worst hole in a major venue ever. Think about this: you take a shot over an old shed to a footpath of a fairway, then try to land it on a green severed by a road. The only thing it’s missing is a windmill.

I know, I know. History and all that.

But if you were a course designer and tried to put this hole on a new layout, you would get fired.