( CNN ) -- Muirfield has gone the extra mile as it prepares to host the British Open Championship -- golf 's third major of 2013 -- this week . The grandstands are proudly in place , the pale greens are shorn and clipped and rakes nestle in the hollows of the bunkers waiting to smooth over sand disheveled by mishit balls . But despite all this meticulous preening it is the extra 158 yards that matters most . The seaside links course now unravels for 7,192 yards -- when the course was first opened on the Scottish east coast in 1891 it rolled over a mere 6,200 yards . The total yardage for the Masters at Augusta ran to 7,435 , June 's U.S. Open at the Merion Golf Club was 6,996 while the next major , the USPGA , is to be played on the Oak Hill course runs a total of 7,134 yards . This year new tees have been added on seven of the holes at Muirfield to match the prowess of the game 's big-hitters and extend the overall playing distance for the 142nd British Open . `` The changes were made really just to strengthen the course , '' Colin Irvine , the Muirfield course manager , told CNN . `` Golfers have got better and equipment has got better . `` A lot of this work was done over a two-to-three year period and we 're now doing the final tweaking to make it look like everything has been here for years . '' The biggest change , made to spice up golf 's oldest major , lies in wait at the ninth hole . Previously thought of as short by modern par-five standards , the tee has been moved back almost 50 yards thanks to a land swap with the neighboring Renaissance Golf Club . A new bunker has been added to the right of the ninth fairway and the existing sand trap has also been moved closer to the green . The sandy , new hazard was carved out with a `` big digger '' before the soil was put back , contoured and new turf laid down . `` It gives it a nice finish and you ca n't really see that anything has been there , '' said Irvine , casting a backwards glance at the grassy bumps hiding the scooped out earth . `` It was quite a wide , open area up here for hitting the second or third approach shot so the changes put a lot more thought to landing on the small green now . `` A lot of people [ who have tested the new layout ] have found these bunkers very difficult . `` One of the key areas we 've changed across the course since 2002 is the greenside bunkering . We 've brought them in a little bit tighter and made them more gathering for a ball to roll in easier . '' It is the 16th time that Muirfield has hosted the Open and the first since South African Ernie Els triumphed 11 years ago following a dramatic four-man play-off that went to sudden death on the fifth extra hole . Els returns to Muirfield as the defending Open champion after another emotional win at Royal Lytham last year . The East Lothian course has attempted to move with the times away from the greens and fairways too by introducing Wi-Fi zones for spectators around the course as well as LED scoreboards . A ban on mobile phones was also lifted last year and , as there have been no complaints from the players , spectators will once again be allowed to use them , so long as they `` respect the game . '' But it 's traditions that the Scottish course prides itself on as well as its knotty rough and brisk coastal breezes . When the world 's leading male players return to joust for the honor of winning the Claret Jug , the hope is they will find very little has changed on the surface . `` It 's our duty to keep our famous links course providing the test we need to identify a champion , '' said Dawson . `` Muirfield has always been a very , very strong venue . The players love it and they think it 's fair . Many of the changes you ca n't see and wo n't even know they 've been done . `` When the players come here they 'll recognize the Muirfield they know and love . ''
Muirfield increases total distance for golf 's big - shots at the 2013 British Open . Big changes at the ninth hole include raising the green and adding a bunker . There have also been changes to the greenside bunker to trap balls easier . The Scottish course has lifted its mobile ball barrier for the tournament .