Playing links courses is a thrilling experience for several reasons, including scenery, the history of many of the courses, and, of course, difficulty. You’ve probably heard the term “Redan hole” tossed around when discussing the difficulty of a links course. But what exactly is a Redan hole?
The term Redan comes from a French word for “projection”, and describes part of a fortification that is shaped like an arrow and angled toward expected attack. In terms of golf, a Redan hole includes a downward-sloping green that points away from the green’s entrance and usually away from the golfer. Redan holes are renowned worldwide for their difficulty, and are just one of the many charms of playing a links course.
Historically speaking, the first Redan hole was the 15th hole at North Berwick Golf Club in East Lothian, Scotland. This 190-yard, par 3 was built in 1832, originally the sixth hole on the course, and includes a green that slopes hard from right to left. Often imitated, the layout of this hole provides the player with very little landing room for the ball. Furthermore, you may not be able to see the surface of the green from the tee, which can make it difficult difficult to aim. And just to add another level of discomfort to the mix, many Redan holes include bunkers on either side of the green. The best line of attack is to forget about aiming for the flag, and instead try to hit the highest part of the green and let gravity do the work for you, hopefully toward the hole rather than a bunker.
The Redan hole at North Berwick earned its name from a British soldier returning from the Crimean War in the 1850s. Frustrated by its difficulty, the soldier, John White-Melville, compared the hole to a fortress in Sebastopol that had proved particularly hard to defeat, and taking more than a year and the lives of over 100,000 British and French soldiers to conquer.
While the Redan hole at North Berwick is often replicated by designers trying to recreate its difficulty to a T, the best imitations are those that take the natural layout of the course into account and apply the Redan traits to it from there. Many new courses include Redan holes with different features, such as water hazards instead of sand bunkers, and varying yardage lengths, although Redan holes are always shorter than most other modern holes.
You can find Redan holes across the United States, but we think taking a crack at the original in North Berwick is the best way to experience the challenge. Interested in making the West Links Course at North Berwick part of your next trip? Contact us today!
