Jordan Spieth's Infamous Royal Birkdale Driving Range Shot Won't Be Repeated At The 2026 Open. Here's Why...
Spieth's driving range shot has gone down in golfing history, but it won't be seen again after major changes to Royal Birkdale for the 2026 Open
The Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale in 2026 and it is impossible not to think back to Jordan Spieth's remarkable, and rollercoaster, victory nine years ago.
The Texan captured the third leg of the career grand slam over the Southport links in 2017 thanks to a three-stroke margin over Matt Kuchar.
Spieth was battling Kuchar early on the back nine before a moment golf fans will never forget. The World No.3, at the time, arrived to the par 4 13th tee and hit an uncharacteristic wide, pushing his drive some 50 yards right into the heavy dunes.
What followed was a controversial 20-minute period of consulting with tournament officials over where he could take an unplayable drop.
Thanks to some clever rules knowledge and after finding somewhat of a loophole, Spieth decided to drop his Pro V1x on the driving range, and right in front of the Titleist tour truck, before striping his Titleist utility iron up by the green.
He got up-and-down for an incredible bogey.
Kuchar, standing in the middle of the fairway for 20 minutes, would have likely thought his opponent would be on his way to a double or worse but the extraordinary scenes and a gritty bogey ultimately gave Spieth momentum to push on for an incredible birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par finish.
Why Spieth's driving range shot won't happen this year...
We will not be seeing a similar situation this time around, though, after multiple changes to Royal Birkdale for the 154th Open.
The key tweak relating to the 13th and why there won't be a repeat of those scenes in 2017 is due to the driving range being relocated.
The official tournament practice area has been moved to the east to make use of the neighboring Hillside Golf Club's driving range.
That has allowed for the old practice ground, where Spieth took his infamous drop, to become the main spectator village this year.
The spectator village is not part of the course like the practice ground was last time around and is classed as out of bounds so players will not be able to take the same drop as Spieth.
If a player hits their drive up into the thick rough lining those same dunes and deems their ball to be unplayable, they will have to find an alternative dropping area or go back to the tee.
It is a moment that won't be repeated, but it will remain in golf's history books forever.
