Hole #1 foreshadows what players will experience during their round at Gleneagles. All the themes of the course’s high slope and rating course show up here. The hole showcases a sharply sloping fairway, an approach shot that cannot be easily landed, and a green that will often send barely missed putts running off into the fringe. Potential disaster on every shot.

The first tee plays to a narrow, sharply uneven fairway. A draw should hold the sloping fairway regardless of distance, but a fade must carry around 165 yards to stay in play. Anything that misses right is disaster. The slope only gets steeper as it goes out of play. The left side has it’s own trouble, a sloping hill covered in sticks and stumps. Seeing locals take an iron here, purely out of caution, is not uncommon.

Assuming a well placed tee shot, the approach will be downhill to a green, which slopes hard to the right. Any miss right or long is is serious trouble, and there is also a bunker short left to snag any attempt to roll onto the green.

Ironically, a tee shot to the right side of the fairway will have an easier approach to the green, as it will play against the slope. Approach shots from the left side of the fairway will have a very good chance of running off the right side of the green.

Once on the green, if the pin is back-left, birdie putts are always at risk running out if they catch the downslope. A pin set on the right can still create a challenge though, as there are no straight putts on this green.

In depth hole analysis can be found via the Wigs on the Green blog.