When Jack Nicklaus was tasked with compiling his best eighteen Open Championship holes he selected Muirfield’s second on his composite course. He reasoned that it offers you a sporting chance. In the right conditions it can be driven by the big-hitters, but an out of bounds wall runs down the left side, coming within 15 feet of the green. The second penalises anything errant.

It this regard its a clever ‘thinkers’ hole. For such a seemingly innocuous hole it has the capacity to reward and punish in equal measure, and above all else, its fair

This is probably the most demanding hole on the course. It’s a lengthy dog-leg left, that protects the inside with four penalising bunkers and a blind landing area. The hole almost always plays in a cross wind from right or left, and involves a tee shot over the crest of the fairway, leaving only sky to aim at. The sighting line is a point at the right edge of the furthest right bunker which will set up your best approach angle. The hole then sweeps down and away to the left to a climbing green set against the backdrop of Archerfield Wood. This is an unusual background on a links, and the hidden hollow short of the green, make the pin look a lot closer than it is in reality. The second shot is a tough one to judge. With the rough usually grown out missing the fairway or green altogether will likely result in a lost ball.

Still a bit short by modern par five standards, the hole compensates by playing straight into the prevailing wind, and was tightened up in 2010. The tee shot landing area is squeezed between a deep bunker to the left and thick rough on the right, leading many players to lay up. A careful tee shot however means a more demanding layup for the second.

An aggressive tee shot successfully placed taunts the player to thread the eye of the needle for the green in two. And so the ‘shall I, shan’t I’ debate goes on. Even with a really solid drive it is still very difficult to chase a long running shot past the bunkers on the right to the green. The ninth makes use of the OOB boundary wall, and orientation of the green emphasises a well placed second.

Despite its name, the ‘Barry Burn’ isn’t really in play on the hole.

The sixteenth is the toughest par 3 on the Open Championship rotation by average score. It’s a 245 yard ‘short’ hole, often played into the wind.

Tom Watson had five attempts to get a par here during the 1975 Open Championship and failed to do so every time. In 1968 Jack Nicklaus was the only player to even get past the pin during the final round. Most of the trouble lies at the front which is riddled with bunkers. This hole is really a 3.5 and a par is an outstanding achievement.

One of the great finishing holes in golf and requires two immaculate shots with very little margin for error in either. Two bunkers cut into the fairway on the left side as the fairway reaches its narrowest point, but any tee shot hit too safely to the right is threatened by more sand on that side. The prevailing cross wind from the right enhances the difficulty of the drive and the second shot to a long rising green. The green itself is guarded by deep bunkers on either side and is long and rising. The bunker on the right is the iconic ‘Island Bunker’