Ready for Renaissance? Amateurs at Scottish Open Venue

4 July 2024

The Genesis Scottish Open takes place at The Renaissance Club this month and some of the biggest names in golf travel to ‘golf country’ in preparation for The Open Championship.

Ahead of the tournament taking place, we have looked at how amateurs play The Renaissance Club from our ever-growing database of performance data – how do they navigate the course, find out below.

The Renaissance Club

From the Shot Scope users that have played the course, the above are their cumulative averages, with an average score of 11.3 strokes over par. 

Renaissance consists of five par 3s, nine par 4s, and four par 5s. We can see immediately that the par 4s are the most challenging with an average score just shy of a full stroke over par. Par 3s typically play half a stroke over par and par 5s 0.3 strokes over par.

In terms of Fairways in Regulation, FIR, the course is pretty consistent with what we would expect, around the 50% mark. Greens in Regulation, GIR, is slightly above average for what we typically see when looking at course stats. 

We pulled similar statistics for this year’s The Open venue, Royal Troon, and it had a GIR% of 38%, find out more about how amateurs play Royal Troon here.

With the drama-filled finale to last year’s Scottish Open, it only seems fitting to take a closer look at the 17th and 18th holes which proved pivotal in Rory McIlroy’s victory at the Genesis Scottish Open over Scotland’s, Bob MacIntyre.

The 17th hole – Par 3 – 203yds

At last year’s tournament, the hole played 0.12 strokes over par making it the 6th hardest hole of the week. On the final day the conditions took a turn for the worse and saw the scoring average rise to 0.23 strokes over par.

Shot Scope users who have played the course typically play the hole almost half a stroke over the par, likely as a result of two things. The hole plays pretty long and the likelihood of finding the putting surface is close to 50/50, but favours the miss slightly.

When missing the green, it is the low up and down % that causes the amateur golfer to struggle on this hole. A lot of trouble can be found short of the green and the green’s contours can make certain misses better than others.

For the amateur golfer, the short miss is the most common on approach shots and so this could be costly on 17!

Amateur Golf Miss Short %

Incredibly, last year Rory McIlroy would birdie the 17th to bring himself level with clubhouse leader Bob MacIntyre, one of only five birdies at the hole on day four.

The stage was set for the 18th hole, a playoff seemed more than likely, with it playing the hardest hole on the course for day four, more on that shortly.

The 18th hole – Par 4 – 483yds

Shot Scope users also find the hole one of the hardest on the course with it playing almost a full stroke over par typically and that is primarily down to the very low GIR%.

Once they have navigated their way off the tee, finding the fairway more often than not, players are faced with an extremely challenging second shot. 

The Shot Scope handicap benchmark for a 10hcp golfer off the tee with driver in hand is 259yds which would leave them with a 203yds shot approximately under normal conditions (for the Scottish Open, it would be closer to 224yds).

So the amateur golfer is basically looking at a shot very similar to that of the previous hole off the tee and we know how well that tends to go!

Jokes aside, despite being a fairly large green depending on where the wind is coming from the second shot can play a lot longer and makes any mishits look very silly.

Upon missing the green, the runoff area and undulations that surround the green can make it a very tricky chip shot, hit the wrong shot and you may find yourself chipping again or running off the other side of the green.

Once safely onboard the green, players typically take 2.26 putts meaning that a single putt here is very rare, which is exactly what both Bob MacIntyre and Rory McIlroy did on day 4 against the odds.

Both players played miraculous shots and treated fans to one of the best finishes to a tournament in recent times, definitely worth a watch.

Bob MacIntyre played an incredible wood from the left rough onto the green and McIlroy an equally impressive iron onto the green.

Last year at the Scottish Open, on day four, the hole played the hardest on the course with a scoring average of 0.68 over par. Only 3 birdies were recorded on the hole for the final round which made the finish even more incredible.

What made it possible for the two to birdie the final hole? Incredible talent, guts, and distance control with the assistance of skilled caddies. We cannot provide you with talent, guts, or caddies but we can give you exact distances like a great caddie would. 

Shot Scope golf watches provide players with dynamic front, middle, and back GPS distances to every green on over 36,000 courses worldwide. Combine that with one of our laser rangefinders which give exact distances to the pin instantly and you can pick the perfect club with confidence.

If you want performance insights like the Pros, check out our shot tracking devices that collect over 100 tour level statistics on your game including Strokes Gained and Handicap Benchmarking for FREE with no subscription fees – wondering what Strokes Gained is? Find out here.

Note: the average handicap index for this dataset is 10.5 – PGA Tour stats taken from pgatour.com

_{Featured / cover image credit: Shot Scope}