But when used by elite tour professionals, golf's distance conversation takes a more serious turn, according to Gil Hanse, the leading golf course architect.

WSJ: Rory McIlroy, Nike Hoping for Long-Term Benefit

Mr Irvine will return this month with golf course architect Martin Ebert and agronomist Alistair Beggs, to trace the original greens and produce a plan for the restoration.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Golf course turns back the clock

After the Cadillac Championship, the Blue Monster will be shut down for six-to-eight months for a renovation led by golf course architect, Gil Hanse, the man chosen to design the 2016 Olympic course in Rio de Janeiro.

FORBES: How Ivanka Trump Got The Doral Resort (And The Blue Monster) For A Bargain Basement Price And Had A Baby At The Same Time

An 18-hole course was designed by Canadian golf architect Stanley Thompson in 1928.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The committee said the primary responsibility for the downfall of HBOS lay with Sir James, who was the "architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster" and Andy Hornby, who succeeded him in the top job and "proved unable or unwilling to change course".

BBC: Sir James Crosby

The design company of Martin Hawtree, the architect for Trump's much-vaunted championship course at Menie in northern Scotland, was also among the disappointed bidders.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Police looking for missing Bristol landscape architect Joanna Yeates have sealed off an area near a golf course after the body of a woman was found.

BBC: Body of woman found in hunt for Joanna Yeates