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How do you like your opener?
Anthony Gray:
The 1st at Royal Dornach was just described as a “hand shake”
Do you like the first hole to be easy?
A test right off the bat?
Do you have first hole jitters?
What’s your ideal first hole?
Ally Mcintosh:
We’re talking generalisations, right?
Then I like the beginning of the routing to give you some excitement straight off. Not overly fussed whether it’s a gentle handshake or not. I just think a routing benefits from periods of good-great holes and that the starting period is important to have some of the better holes.
I don’t prescribe to a weak start building the whole way round. People have already made a lot of their judgement on the course after the first hour.
Tom_Doak:
I don’t have many rules for my designs, but I consider the opening hole to be very important.
The one “must” for me is that you don’t want anybody out there looking for their ball and holding you up when it’s time to tee off. By that standard, the first at The Old Course is hard to beat.
I used to be fond of par-5 openers [see George Thomas’s book], but am not as big a fan anymore because it’s more likely you’ll have to wait on the tee while someone ahead waits for the green to clear before they hit their second shot.
My favorite opening hole of my own is the first at Old Macdonald. It’s a wide open tee shot but can be a difficult approach depending on the hole location.
Tim Martin:
Everyone hates making double bogey on the opening hole. Getting beaten over the head on number one doesn’t set a positive tone for the round so offering the player a solid chance for bogey with a less aggressive line of play is appealing for most players.
Bill Gayne:
Close to the locker room, range, putting green, parking lot, and grill room.
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