courteneyfish:
St Andrews No 9 is strange too. Dead straight but if you hit the exact distance given you end up past the pin.
Courtney,
Those 'exact yardages' you refer to are generally predicated on a few assumptions:
a. playing an 'average' ball, as opposed to extra distance or extra spin balls;
b. neglecting wind effects;
c. for the case of wood wood shots, the ball landing and rolling on fairway - as opposed to SA #9 where, from all but the Legend/champ tees, you have every chance of being on the green on the first hop, if not flying all the way to the green.
The rolling resistance on the green is much less than on the fairway, especially on a flat green like SA #9, so you need to factor that in also.
Have fun out there!