The Road Hole is one of the most celebrated holes in golf.
The hole plays as a dogleg right. The drive plays completely blind, over the bend in Old Station Road, and over the rebuilt train sheds of the former rail-line, now a hotel. The entire area right of the road is out-of-bounds, so the more the player cuts the corner, the more risk. Cheape’s bunker sits short and far left, but should be well out of play for most.
On the approach there are more than a few challenges. First, the green is at an awkward angle, and the road behind it is play. Making this much mare difficult are a series of threatening bunkers along the left: the large Scholar’s bunker, the Progressing bunker, and finally the Road Hole bunker.
The Road Hole bunker is a very deep bunker against the front left of the green. when playing to the upper tier of the green, it is incredibly steep, and shots that just clear the lip can roll back in, while shots played high out can end up in the road. It is often referred to as the Sands of Nakajima, after Tsuneyuki (Tommy) Nakajima, who in 1978 missed a challenging birdie putt which fell in the bunker, and then played four sand shots out three of which exit the bunker and fall back in. Nakajima apparently endeared himself to many fans in the way he handled it the situation with grace.
The road here is in play. Shots must be played from the road, and some have even played off the wall behind the road.
“The seventeenth hole at St. Andrews is almost too well-known to need description; it is probably the most noted hole in the world. Although so difficult, it is by no means impossible for the long handicap player, for he can go pottering along, steering wide of all hazards, and losing strokes because he refuses to take any risks.”
“Many people believe that in the name of equity, the size of the green should be in direct proportion to the length of the expected approach shot, but this would only be true if we had to make every hole of equal difficulty. Often, great holes go directly against this simplistic definition of shot values…
…the Road hole at St. Andrews has an extremely long approach shot to an extremely narrow target. It is intended to be a severe hole for the good player, and the green is just the right size to present an interesting third shot to the majority of players not home in two. Were the green big enough to be ‘fair’ for the professional’s approach, the short hitter would have a boring 2nd shot and a boring pitch to play.”
The hole is a popular template hole, and has been copied many times. Other versions include: St. Louis Country Club 4th, Cape Kidnappers 14th, National Golf Links of America 7th, Piping Rock 8th, and Shoreacres 10th (source).