Royal St George's will play 100 yards longer and be cut to a par 70 for this summer's Open Championship from July 14-17.
The course in Sandwich, Kent measured 7,106 yards when American Ben Curtis produced a shock to win in 2003, but this year it has been stretched to 7,211 yards.
On the front nine, the third hole is now 30 yards longer at 240 yards, the long seventh is up from 532 to 564 yards and the ninth goes up from 388 to 412 yards. Meanwhile, on the back nine, the 15th has been lengthened from 475 yards to a 496 yard par four.
The famous fourth hole - with a huge bunker staring players in the face as they tee off - has been shortened slightly but will now play as a long and tough 495 yard par four rather than a 497 yard par five.
Meanwhile, with less than 30 per cent of all drives finishing on the first fairway in 2003, the landing area has been widened by about 12 yards. Tiger Woods started with a triple bogey seven - fellow American Jerry Kelly had an 11 - and ended the week two strokes behind Curtis.
"Tiger's lost ball was not an influence - it was the overall statistic of 27-28%," said Royal and Ancient Club chief executive Peter Dawson. The fairways on the 17th and 18th have also been made more user friendly.
Elsewhere, the R&A and Southeastern Trains also announced that a high-speed, direct train service will transport passengers to and from The Open Championship at Royal St George’s. Departing from St Pancras International, the service will run from 14 – 17 July and will reduce regular journey times by one hour.
With Sandwich station only a 15 minute walk from the venue, spectators can get from central London to the course in just 95 minutes. There will be two direct, high-speed services per hour going to Sandwich during the morning from St Pancras International and two services an hour back, from lunchtime onwards. This will help transport many of the expected 180,000 spectators to the event throughout the four Championship days.
“Whenever The Open comes to Royal St George’s, we welcome a large number of enthusiastic spectators from London and the surrounding area,” said Peter Dawson. “This new service brings The Open Championship closer to the capital than ever before, and we hope that it will encourage more people to enjoy a day at golf’s oldest Major.”
Vince Lucas, service delivery director for Southeastern Trains, said: “The Open is the biggest sporting event to take place in Kent, and is a great opportunity to show what the region has to offer. We are determined to help make this important event a success by offering this High Speed service, which is sure to be very popular for spectators travelling from London.”
There will also be a further hourly mainline service to Sandwich during the Championship, meaning that The Open will be served by four trains per hour. The high-speed services will travel via Canterbury or Dover.
Additional early-morning trains from St Pancras International will ensure that spectators can get to the course in time to watch the first groups tee-off. Supplementary trains on the mainline service, early in the morning, will run from Charing Cross and Victoria.
Tickets for these services and the full timetable will be available at southeasternrailway.co.uk from 21 April. A peak day return on high-speed services costs £38.20. An equivalent mainline service ticket will cost £32.90. For further information please visit Opengolf.com.
