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How the amateur golfer tackles Royal Troon – 152nd Open Championship – Shot Scope

How the amateur golfer tackles Royal Troon – 152nd Open Championship

Ahead of The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon (no connection) in Scotland, the birthplace of the game, Shot Scope have analyzed how amateur golfers perform on the course using on-course data from their 350 million shot database.

Several Team Troon players including Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, and Gary Woodland will be looking to raise the Claret Jug for the first time with TROON partner, Rory McIlroy aiming to add a second to his trophy cabinet.

Looking at the Shot Scope data we can uncover which holes could cause the pros some issues on the links – even though they play the game slightly differently from the amateur golfer!

Club golfers at Royal Troon Golf Club

Before delving deeper into certain holes, we first look at some top level overview statistics to get a feel for how the course plays:

Shot Scope users that have played Royal Troon have a fairly successful day with the average score around 80/81, +9.6 to par, on the par 71 course.

From the tee box, the chances of finding the short stuff off the tee are good with players hitting the fairway 52% of the time – as we saw at Renaissance last week, finding the short stuff at links courses makes a big difference for the second shot.

From the above data, we can see that the second shot at Royal Troon can make or break a score, with players hitting roughly 7 greens per round, 38%.

Upon missing the green, players are looking at a bogey typically with the likelihood of getting up and down at roughly 2 in 5 attempts. This coincides with a 1.95 putts per GIR value.

Once on the green, players typically take two putts per green (1.95), so they would have to play a very good short game shot to save their par – this is why finding the green is crucial to scoring.

Shot Scope Top Tip for Royal Troon: the middle of the green is never a bad shot. Ignore pins and hit greens – especially on par 3s.

Especially on par 3s you ask? Here is why:

Par 3s are commonly mistaken for being ‘easier holes’, after all, they are short holes, like the Postage Stamp, measuring 123yds, with the potential to play much shorter.

However, the Postage Stamp epitomizes the danger with scoring averages shooting up drastically when missing the green. With a 50/50 chance of hitting the green from the tee box, players that find the green are rewarded for their efforts, typically with a par. Whereas, those who find the rough or bunker are almost certainly making a bogey if not double with scoring averages from the sand 1.48 strokes over par.

Across all par 3s, the likelihood of getting up and down ranges from around 1 in 4 to 1 in 3, hence why hitting the green is crucial to prevent dropped shots.

The par 3s are positioned very well in the running order of the course to kill any momentum players may be looking to build, particularly those who are struggling with their irons.

Whoever finds themselves in contention come Sunday will have to navigate the hardest par 3 of the four, with the 17th typically playing 0.7 strokes over par. Under normal circumstances, the 17th plays just shy of 220yds hence it has the lowest GIR% and, again, a very low likelihood of getting up and down.

Precision is paramount on these holes and having a distance you can trust is crucial, Shot Scope laser rangefinders give you that every time. Combined with a GPS watch, and you have every yardage you need when on the course.

Front Nine vs Back Nine

The phrase ‘a game of two halves’ is fitting at Royal Troon, Shot Scope users find the back nine to be more of a challenge than the front with it playing a stroke more difficult in relation to par.

From the stats, we can see that in every area the back nine plays marginally harder, in particular when it comes to hitting the green. On the back nine players hit roughly 3 greens and on the front nine, typically 4 greens – this could be where the extra stroke comes from.

The Postage Stamp, the 8th hole, can cause players difficulty just before they head into the back nine and then once they make it to the turn they must navigate the hardest hole on the course according to Shot Scope data.

Sandhills, the 10th hole, typically play +0.78 strokes to par, the highest of any hole on the course from the data available. Once players have holed out on the tricky tenth, they must then face the stroke index one hole The Railway, the 11th hole – Shot Scope users play this hole +0.58 to par – back-to-back bad news for the scorecard!

What can we expect at Royal Troon?

Players will be put to the test with difficulty at every turn, those looking to be in contention on Sunday afternoon will require a variety of shots on the tough links track.

How would you play Royal Troon?

Find out how your game would cope at Royal Troon with the free-to-use MyStrategy feature. Shot Scope performance tracking users can overlay their on course data on every hole to see how they would navigate this year’s The Open Championship venue.