1st - (407 yards, Par 4) - On his way to a course record 64 in the 1995 Scottish Open, Colin Montgomerie hit 2-iron, 8-iron to four feet for birdie. The next year, with a different wind direction, American Scott McCarron hit driver, 3-wood, wedge to reach the green. A new fairway bunker 280 yards from the back tee is a further deterrent.

2nd - (462 yards, Par 4) - In the old days, "Braid's Bunker" acted like a spider's web in the middle of the fairway. New equipment means it is obsolete but two new bunkers have been built, 264 yards off the tee.

3rd - Jockie's Burn - (342 yards, Par 4) - A classic links hole which proves that length isn't everything. The shortest par 4 on the course will see players hit a long-iron from the elevated tee (to avoid dunes to the right and bunkers and a burn to the left) and then use a wedge approach to a reconstructed green which slopes towards the burn.

4th - Hillocks - (412 yards, Par 4) - Tom Watson birdied this hole the first three days of his British Open triumph in 1975. Things have changed. A new championship tee has been constructed and a bunker created to the left side of the fairway.

5th - (411 yards, Par 4) - Ben Hogan, tagged "The Wee Ice Mon" by the locals, famously chipped in for birdie in the final round of his 1953 British Open triumph. "He didn't react at all, not even a smile," recalled a local observer. There is a new tee, and two new bunkers on the left side of the fairway, at 251 yards and 277 yards.

6th - (578 yards, Par 5) - Told he couldn't be considered a "great" unless he won the British Open, Hogan's only appearance in the championship in 1953 saw him fade his drive over the out-of-bounds rifle range on the left to a strip of land 22 yards wide between the fence and fairway bunkers in all four rounds. The strip was named "Hogan's Alley" for his audacious action.

7th - Plantation - (412 yards, Par 4) - A relatively wide fairway compensates for the out-of-bounds left, and Watson, in winning in 1975, had five pars (including the play-off) at this hole. New mounding has been formed behind the green.

8th - (183 yards, Par 3) - In practice for the 1975 British Open, Jack Nicklaus put his tee-shot two inches from the hole, but playing partner Tom Weiskopf went one better by holing out. This year's competitors will be hitting from a new tee-box to a reconstructed green.

9th - Railway - (474 yards, Par 4) - Major bunker surgery has been carried out here with a new sand trap built at the front right greenside and two fairway bunkers merged into one and deepened.

Out: 3,681 yards, Par 36

10th - South America - (466 yards, Par 4) - The only modern change on this hole is the construction of a new championship tee - but Carnoustie's second water hazard, the Barry Burn, puts in its first appearance well left of the fairway, but then cuts across the line of play some 30 yards from the green and continues up the right side of the green.

11th - (383 yards, Par 4) - Another hole to disprove the theory that length is everything. One of only two Par 4s measuring less than 400 yards, there is a great demand for accuracy. Three linear bunkers to the right of the fairway have been remodelled into two, and a bunker added on the left.

12th - Southward Ho - (479 yards, Par 4) - From one extreme to another, this hole measures almost 100 yards longer than its predecessor. Bunkers and a ditch on the right will force players to hit their tee-shots up the left, but they then face a long approach that must find the gap between bunkered mounds to a hallow green.

13th - (169 yards, Par 3) - The large horse-shoe bunker which shuts off the front of the green disguises the fact that the putting surface is more than 40 yards deep and tends to make judgment of distance difficult.

14th - Spectacles - (515 yards, Par 5) - "I reminded Gary of his shot here in 1968," remarked Tony Jacklin yesterday. The shot - a 3-wood blind shot approach over the twin bunkers known as the Spectacle finished two feet from the hole to set up an eagle - in the final round effectively won the championship for the South African.

15th - Lucky Slap - (472 yards, Par 4) - The first of a fourhole finishing stretch known collectively as "Murder Mile". The ideal shot from the reshaped championship tee is into the high left hand side of the fairway to give a clear shot in to a sunken green.

16th - Barry Burn - (250 yards, Par 3) - During his championship win in 1975, Tom Watson went bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey on this hole. Jack Nicklaus has needed a driver to find the green. A protective ring of bunkers adds to the difficulty.

17th - (459 yards, Par 4) - Back in 1931, Jose Jurado looked like he would become the first Argentinian to win the Open until he topped his drive into the Barry Burn that loops in front of the tee, runs up the left side and cuts diagonally back across the fairway. He took a six, and didn't win.

18th - (487 yards, Par 4) - "Don't blame yourself, Jack, you had a terrible lie for those two shots," quipped Gary Player to the Golden Bear when he hit two successive tee-shots out-of-bounds left on the monstrous finishing hole.

In: 3,680 yards, Par 35.

Total: 7,361 yards, Par 71.