Royal Liverpool’s New 17th Hole: What to Know About Hoylake’s Treacherous Short Par-3
There is a new par-3 in play at Royal Liverpool this year for the 2023 British Open and despite standing at a mere 136 yards, it is already anticipated to be one of the most daunting tests on the course.
Royal Liverpool—also known as “Hoylake,” after the course’s location—has hosted 12 previous Opens, but several changes to the iconic links will make their debut this week, including a brand new 17th hole.
Replacing the original 15th, No. 17 now orients toward the shoreline rather than the clubhouse. The new layout—forged by revered links golf architect Martin Ebert—provides sweeping greenside views of Dee Estuary, but it also brings the unpredictable coastal wind into play.
“The club and the R&A said, ‘We’re thinking of this hole, and we want to flip one of the par-3s. We want to create some drama at the end of the Open,’” Ebert said in a preview tour of the hole. “This is the penultimate hole of the Open. Even with a four-shot lead, I think someone in that great position will be nervous when they’re standing on this tee.”
The hole is called “Little Eye” after one of the Hilbre Islands in the distance, but the name also fits the hole’s minuscule putting surface.
The landing area on No. 17 is just 3,800 square feet, a little more than half of Royal Liverpool's average green size of 6,460 square feet.
Hitting up toward that elevated, tabletop green will be the first challenge on 17, but the hole’s most intimidating features come into play if you miss your target, a result that might be more common than players would expect on such a short hole. Standing on the tee box of the short par-3, it’s impossible to see the shoreline, let alone the danger that lurks on all sides of the green.
The shot not only demands precision, but blind commitment.
A view of the new 17th hole at Hoylake, with Dee Estuary in the background.
Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images
“The key was to create some uncertainty in the mind of the player,” Ebert said.
The landing area on 17 is constructed like a turtle's back. Even shots that come within inches of the flat portion of the putting surface will roll into one of three treacherous pot bunkers or down into a steep run-off. Carry the green on the fly and an unpredictable waste area suddenly comes into play.
There is nowhere to miss.
According to players who experimented on the new hole during this week’s practice rounds, the right bunker is particularly penal.
“I was talking to a few of the guys earlier today,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. “There is not really a high-percentage play. You just have to hit a really good shot and if you don't, I would say missing it left of the green is a little bit better than right. That bunker is pretty treacherous on the right.”
Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, had a similar impression of the tricky layout.
“They made a really difficult turtle-shell par-3. If you hit a good shot, put it on the green, you have a clear look at birdie. If you miss the green, you have a clear look at bogey,” Rahm said.
England’s Oliver Wilson hits out of the deep greenside bunker on the right side of No. 17 at Hoylake.
GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
Matt Fitzpatrick’s caddie, on the other hand, had a more extreme opinion on Royal Liverpool’s new addition. Billy Foster told Golf Monthly that the new 17th is a “monstrosity” and predicted that the best players in the world would make “6s, 7s, and 8s” on the 136-yard hole.
“There was nothing wrong with the little par-3 they had before,” Foster said.
Fitzpatrick himself refrained from providing a full commentary on the design.
“It’s interesting,” he said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Short par-3s have become somewhat of a staple feature of major championship tests, and they’ve been particularly noteworthy throughout the history of the Open. Royal Liverpool hopes that its new 17th will mirror the drama of holes like Troon’s Postage Stamp. In 1997, Tiger Woods couldn’t escape the 123-yard hole’s wrath and took himself out of the tournament with a triple bogey.
“I'm a big believer in the short par-3s, make it difficult, exactly like that,” Koepka said of the new hole at Hoylake. “Twelfth at Augusta, Sawgrass. I mean, Postage Stamp. There's a bunch of them, and you can walk away with 5 just as easily as you could 2. I like it.”
The five-time major champion may like the look of the treacherous par-3 now, but come Thursday, if his ball storms down the hole’s devious ridges and comes to rest up against the lip of a pot bunker, his associations with the new design might not be so favorable.