The yardage book is the bible for both caddie and player at The Open. The moment the duo reach their ball, out come the yardage books. As a former caddie at Royal County Down and having looped in R&A events, I too know the importance of this little book. However, the book used by the players this week may prove substantially different to the one you’ve seen or used before.
The yardage book for Royal Portush and the 153rd Open Championship is one with a level of detail I’ve never seen before – but what makes it so different from the ones us mere mortals can buy in a regular pro shop?
Yardages on sprinklers
There are so many different yardages on each hole, particularly on the Par 4s and 5s, all of which seem very random. This is because they are based off the sprinklers that snake up each fairway, each of which has a number in yards to the front of the green for everyday play that remain year round.
Each fairway yardage is therefore based off the positioning of each sprinkler, leading to small circles with numbers on them dotted along each fairway, making the longer holes look extremely info-heavy – there are 25 of these yardages on the 500 yard Par 4 4th hole and a whopping 45 individual sprinkler yardages on the Par 5 7th. Other yardages are based off notable hole features like the front of bunkers, ridges and mounds.
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Seven different versions
You thought there’s only one version of The Open Championship yardage book? Think again.
SEVEN versions of the yardage book are available. Each hole has imagery at the bottom of the page of what the players will visually face off the tee but there is a different version for players who came to practice early and those who arrived at the time of the tournament.
Some players will have come to scout out Royal Portrush months in advance before the infrastructure of the stands, cranes and scoreboards were erected. Those who came before this construction will have imagery of the course as they saw it then – without nearly as much infrastructure. Two versions of this book are available, one in yards and one in meters.
Then, come tournament time, new imagery that features all…
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