The Old Course at St Andrews
Golfers have played here since the 1400s, yet the most famous course in the world is public land, and on Sundays the locals take it back to walk their dogs.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- St Andrews, Fife, on the links beside the town and the West Sands
- Golf played since
- Early 15th century, with townspeople's rights to play confirmed in 1552
- Standard 18 holes
- Settled in 1764, which is why 18 holes became the norm worldwide
- Layout
- Par 72, roughly 7,300 yards from the back tees, with seven huge shared greens
- Open Championships hosted
- 30 up to 2022, with the 150th Open held here that year
- Famous features
- Swilcan Bridge, Hell Bunker, the Road Hole and the Valley of Sin
- Ownership
- Public links managed by the St Andrews Links Trust
- Club history
- The Royal and Ancient Golf Club was founded in 1754 as the Society of St Andrews Golfers; The R&A, the separate governing body, was established in 2004
The course nobody designed
There was no architect, no grand opening and no ribbon to cut. The Old Course grew out of the sandy ground between the town and the sea, shaped by wind, sheep, rabbits and generations of players who knocked a ball from one hole to the next. Golf was being played on these links by the early 1400s. In 1552 Archbishop John Hamilton confirmed in writing that the townspeople could play golf here, alongside other uses such as grazing animals and drying washing. That gave the course a public character it has never entirely lost.
Why a round of golf has 18 holes
This is the quiz answer everybody remembers. In 1764 the Old Course was reduced from 22 holes to 18 when the first four holes were merged into two. As the St Andrews golfers were the sport's trendsetters, other clubs followed, and 18 became the standard. The course is also played out and back, mostly on a single wide stretch of land. Seven of the greens are shared by two holes, which means a putt can be well over 100 feet long, and golfers heading in opposite directions pass each other on the same green.
Bunkers with names that sound like punishments
Hell Bunker on the 14th is deep enough that players sometimes have to come out sideways or even backwards. The 17th, the Road Hole, asks you to drive over the corner of a hotel's sheds, then approach a green guarded by a bunker so tight it is called the Road Hole Bunker, with a road just behind the green. Over the years it has wrecked countless major title bids. In front of the 18th green lies the Valley of Sin, a dip that can send a good approach shot rolling back off the putting surface. In the 1995 Open, Costantino Rocca holed a putt of around 65 feet through it to force a play-off with John Daly, who then won.
The Morrises and the birth of the Open
Old Tom Morris became keeper of the green in 1865 and shaped much of what players see today, including widening the course and building new greens. His son, Young Tom Morris, was a prodigy who won four Opens in a row from 1868 to 1872. The first Open was played at Prestwick in 1860, and St Andrews staged its first in 1873. The championship has returned regularly ever since. Bobby Jones won here in 1927, Jack Nicklaus said farewell to the Open here in 2005, and in 2000 Tiger Woods won without visiting a single bunker in 72 holes.
Myths, Sundays and the famous bridge
The R&A is the sport's rule-maker, but it does not own the Old Course. The land is public, managed by the St Andrews Links Trust, and tee times are famously allocated by a daily ballot for those who can't book ahead. The course traditionally closes to golf on Sundays, when walkers cross it freely. If you visit, make for the Swilcan Bridge, the little stone bridge over the Swilcan Burn on the 18th fairway, where golfing legends have posed for farewell photographs. Look too for the clubhouse of the R&A, the grand building behind the first tee, and the long beach of the West Sands next door, where the runners in Chariots of Fire were filmed.
Notable people
- Old Tom Morris
- Young Tom Morris
- Bobby Jones
- Jack Nicklaus
- Tiger Woods
- John Daly
- Costantino Rocca
- Archbishop John Hamilton