In 2018, just a couple months after Francisco Molinari bested Xander Schauffle and Tiger Woods at Canoustie, I had the opportunity to tee it up in the same spot. The history at Carnoustie palpable and makes the experience even more special. Carnoustie has hosted 8 Open Championships from 1931 to 2018 and it is a true championship course.



Carnoustie is also rare in Scotland in that it is not a club. While almost all clubs in Scotland are accessible to public at certain times (a system so much better than the US) Carnoustie is a true public golf course and you can book a tee time on the internet. However, know that you must pre-pay for your round and a course with this amount of history won’t come cheap. I paid around 225 pounds, +/- $300.


One interesting thing about Carnoustie is the driving range is about a mile down the street and they really only use it for competitive golf. Instead they have indoor golf simulators and approximately 25 minutes before your tee time you can hit a small bucket of balls to warm up.




Carnoustie was the last stop on a week long golfing trip to Scotland. I arrived at Carnoustie feeling confident, maybe even cocky. The last two days I had just posted a 75 on the Old Course and a 76 at Cruden Bay and I had left strokes on the course, those rounds could have been better. I expected more of the same

Well, it all came crashing down at Carnoustie. They call it “Carnasty” for a reason, it is regarded as the toughest course on the Open rotation. To say I was humbled would be an understatement, the golf gods exacted their revenge as I hacked my way around the course. By the end of the round, I needed a 25 foot put on 18 to break 90…but more on that later. Carnoustie simply chewed me up and spit me out...but honestly, I LOVED IT.

Warm and sunny, calm, cold, 30 mph wind gusts, rain and dark scary clouds were all present during our 4 hours traversing the Championship course. There are plenty of hazards for sure, OB is in play on many holes and a tricky water filled burn snakes it’s way through the course.

The Burn


But what really gives Carnoustie it’s teeth (besides the wind) are the bunkers. There is not a golf course in the world with more penalizing and cleverly placed bunkers…and these are not small, ho-hum easy to get out of bunkers you’ll find at your local 18. These are deep circular pot bunkers that almost always require a lateral pitch out (essentially a 1 stroke penalty).

2nd green, good view of a typical deep green side pot bunker


For me, it was easy to see why Carnoutstie is a championship test, my small misses drifted just a touch to left or right seemed to find a bunker waiting for them at every turn.

You learn quickly in Scotland the importance of hitting the ball flush, better to club up and swing 3/4 to ensure good contact than to miss hit the ball into the wind. At Carnoustie, mishits into the wind make the hazards even more in play. I recall being 150 from the hole into the wind, I wanted to be smart, so I took out my 6 iron -my 195 club. I slightly missed it on the toe And watched my ball almost stall in mid air. It landed helplessly in a bunker only 85 yards away. I proceeded to double bogey the hole.


In truth, Carnoustie is a fair golf course. There is plenty of room for good shots and accurate approaches will almost always find the green. As treacherous as the bunkers are, they are right in front of you and in plain sight.


The various conditions we faced can be shown here on the first hole…as you can see, it was quite pleasant when we teed off. Sunny and about 52 degrees. That didn’t last long.

https://youtu.be/NmINHA-uWPg

The 6th hole is one of the toughest Par 5’s in the world. A 580 yard par 5 that is almost always against the wind, the out of bounds fence seems to be in play hugging the left edge of the fairway, only 20 yards from the fence to the two bunkers that sit right in the middle of the fairway. This hole is named “Hogan’s alley” and there is a nice monument to Ben Hogan on the tee. He won the only Open Championship he ever played in at Carnoustie and all four rounds he famously hit a cut driver over the fence out of bounds and shaped it back into the fairway in perfect position right in that 20 yard window. For your second shot not only do you deal with OB left, but a drainage ditch plays down the right side of the fairway. I channeled my inner Ben Hogan and notched a tap in birdie, my only one at Carnoustie.

Ben Hogan memorial on 6th tee



View from the 6th tee


6th hole approach


The only other par 5 on the course is the 513 yard 14th hole “Spectacles”, which is the more tame. However, if you are going for the green you must carry the famous Spectacles bunkers that stand almost 15 feet high and lie 60 yards in front of the green. These particularly come into play when the hole plays against the wind.




The easiest hole in the golf course is the par 3 8th called “short” 167 yards from the tips and 157 from the tourist tees. I hit a pretty good shot here that kicked the wrong way and rolled into the bunker. By this point the weather had really turned on us and I had to try to pull off a downhill bunker shot with a 30 mph wind at my back...I felt like I hit a good shot, but I had no chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXvDMYiQRPI


Another great hole is the par 4 10th named “South America”. The Burn, nasty bunkers in the fairway and around the green and even trees come into play on this 465 yard par 4. The hole gets its name from a local member who got wasted during a party at a local pub and told eveyone he was moving to South America. They found him the next morning passed out on the 10th green, the hole has been called South America ever since.





I can’t imagine a more difficult closing stretch than the last 3 holes at Carnoustie. The 16th hole is a brute. A par 3 that can play 273 yards from the tips. We played it just under 240 yards into the wind. I hit a great 3 wood and was still 20 yards short of the green.





The 18th hole gets the most recognition, but the 17th hole named “Island” is the hardest hole at Carnoustie. This hole literally has an island fairway surrounded by burn. This is a 460 yard hole and the farther you hit your drive, the more the fairway narrows. A cool story here is tiger woods played this hole downwind one year and played 4 iron- 4iron into the green. They next day was into the wind and he needed driver-driver to get home.




The 18th hole is one of the more famous finishing holes in golf thanks to its difficulty, the burn, Jean Van De Velde and the famous hotel behind the green.

Walking down 18


A caddy standing where JVDV went in the water



JVDV came back later and carved his name on that same spot on the Burn.



I pulled my own version of Van De Velde on this hole for a snowman. I’ve decided to up my game in these reviews and include some high tech graphics for your enjoyment. Below is how I played this hole, which honestly was one of the more embarrassing experiences of my life.

As you see, I topped my drive, hacked out of the rough into the bunker, pitched out to the fairway, hit a weak shot off the toe over the burn and into the greenside bunker and then blade/shanked my bunker shot dead into the hotel. At that point my caddy looked at me and dead serious said “in my 20 years here I’ve never seen anyone hit the hotel”. So that is an accomplishment of sorts.

After the penalty, I played my 7th shot out of the same bunker and in some small measure of redemption drilled my 25 foot put for an 8 and 89 for the round. The golf Gods had their revenge and I was at least spared a little dignity...it had been 25 years since I shot a round in the 90’s.




It was a brutal and terrible round of golf, but I loved every minute of it. If you ever have the chance to play the nastiest of all Open championship courses, you must do so. I guarantee it will be a round you never forget.