I think the 18th is ok as  finishing hole.

It is probably easier to par a difficult hole than birdie an easy one.

Trebor if you were two clear playing 17 then it is relatively easy to play it to get a five. Smash it down two knock it to the front of the green chip up and take your chances. Obviously you risk the other player getting a 3 but personally id rather play 17 with a two shot lead than 18.

Actually I would be really sadistic and stop the fairway about 330yards from the tee and put in 100 yards of ruff, so you would have a really difficult 2nd if you had played too safe from the tee

course is still set up for good drives to set up birdie chances, but only if you then hit a decent second

for a course that faldo reckoned was par 67 to him back in prime, and they hit it 50-60 yards past him now
then 64 best score last week even in benign conditions with all them easy holes shows that some have treated
it lightly and paid the price

i love the place because a decent drive sets up a birdie, but catch wrong half of fairway and hit bunker
then you cant hit green for 2 and need to think how best to save par

multiply by 6/7 easy holes and the chance is there to be spectacular, but you then need to get it home,
and dont forget 18 is a doddle if your head isnt fried

so many holes where 2 shots can ebb and flow


interesting about the rough, but i dont remember really bad rough up there, but that may be unfair anyway
given you can go wide of it and hit next fairway as faldo showed

i'm pleased there is a rota and would love to see some irish courses on the rota but if st andrews
crops up every 5 or 6 years im still more than happy,