British Open 2024: You'll spot players doing this on the postage stamp—here's why

TROON, Scotland—You can see it from halfway across the golf course.

Not the Postage Stamp—that's far too small—but the set of steps leading down to it. There are 45 of them in all, meandering down from a tee box that sits almost 30 feet above the green it's pointed towards.

It's perhaps the most overlooked part of one of golf's most famous holes. The shot into Royal Troon's Postage Stamp hole is also one of the most severely downhill approaches on the course.

And on a hole this short—it's expected to play less than 100 yards during at least one round at the 2024 Open Championship—that presents an awkward problem. And one lots of golfers can learn from.

3 different problems

Hitting to a green (or fairway for that matter) that is lower than where you start from means the ball comes down to earth at a steeper landing angle, which means the ball rolls less when it lands.

The same thing happens when you're hitting the ball into the wind.

When the wind is blowing against you, it pushes your ball higher into the air and drops like a lead balloon and again, rolls less when it falls back to earth.

Wedges already land at a steeper angle than the longer clubs in your bag, so if you're keeping track, on this hole, players have three different elements which send the ball up into the air—not exactly what you want when the wind can blow upwards of 20 mph.

Club up-and-swing soft

So how do pros navigate it? Effectively, they forget about the shot they want to hit—a standard wedge shot—and instead take upwards of pitching wedge, 9-iron or sometimes even more, and make a half swing. Effectively, a more-severe version of a traditional knockdown shot.

"For me, it's going to be about controlling that height through the length of backstroke," Bryson DeChambeau said ahead of the tournament. "If I take it back a certain distance and swing through, it will come out with a lower launch."

This club-up-and-swing-soft is a go-to for players during every Open Championship, but especially important on the 8th hole at Royal Troon. It sends the ball out much lower, and with a lot less spin. On a flat approach, the ball may land and roll *too* much.

But on this hole, the shot cuts through the wind but because of the elevated tee, still descends at an angle just steep enough to hold the green. It's a sign of a good golf hole—forcing golfers to hit a unique shot they ordinarily wouldn't—and makes for some interesting viewing for the rest of us.

2 takeaways to remember

• The ball will stop quicker when the green is below you
• The ball will stop quicker when hit into a headwind