OK! Finally! It is all about the golf.
I think I was a little uncertain as to what it would be like visiting St Andrews. I think, like most golfers, I knew everything I thought there was to know about the course. Including what the surrounding area looked like and what many of the holes, even the ones I didn’t get to see, looked like.
That said, it was still very exciting to walk from our guesthouse just down and around the corner to the easternmost portion of the St Andrews golfing complex and see the 18th hole and 1st Tee of the Old Course side-by-side.
It was not lost on me that like tens of thousands of others before me, I was making a modern-day “pilgrimage” to St Andrews one of the holiest shrines in golf. Some things never change.
A Wee Bit of St Andrews Golf History
Before we look at the modern-day golf situation in St Andrews a bit of historical reflection is required.
From Wikipedia…
“The Old Course at St Andrews, is considered the oldest golf course in the world. The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the “home of golf” because the sport was first played on the links at St Andrews in the early 15th century.”
“The course evolved without the help of any one architect for many years, though notable contributions to its design were made by Daw Anderson in the 1850s and Old Tom Morris (1865–1908), who designed the 1st and 18th holes. Originally, it was played over the same set of fairways out and back to the same holes. As interest in the game increased, groups of golfers would often be playing the same hole, but going in different directions.”
Things You May Not Know About Golfing in St Andrews
I think I was vaguely aware that there were a couple of other courses in close proximity to the Old Course. The ones familiar to me were the New Course and the Jubilee Course. What I did not fully appreciate was that there are in fact six courses all clustered together – with the Old Course at the centre of it all. This image shows the general layout of the courses.
All these courses and one other are owned and operated by the local authorities under the direction of the St Andrews Links Trust, a charitable organization. The 7 golf courses in St Andrews Links are the Old Course, New Course, Jubilee Course, Castle Course, Eden Course, Strathtyrum Course, and the Balgove. The recently built Castle Course is in the east end of town. So yes, all seven of these courses are in fact “Munis”… public municipal courses,
The St Andrews Links website is a great place to find out information about the Old Course and all the others and to investigate the ins and outs of playing there. I will cover some aspects here using screenshots from the website itself.
A couple of important and interesting facts to recall if you get there to play, or just to visit are, first, the Old Course is closed for golf on Sunday and anyone is allowed to walk the grounds and enjoy it as a park. The only caveat is that you are not allowed to walk on the greens.
The second very important fact is that you need to have a registered handicap to play on the Old Course, so make sure you print it out before you come to play. You may not fully understand what is required until you check in with the starter.
From the Links website…
“The only course which requires a handicap certificate is the Old Course. The maximum handicap is 36 for men and ladies. A valid handicap certificate (paper or digital) must be presented to the Old Course Starter on the day of play. A letter of recommendation will not be accepted.”
The Nitty-Gritty Involved in Getting to Play the Old Course
I have always wanted to play the Old Course, and there is virtually an endless number of golfers around the world who have playing there on their bucket-lists. And St Andrews itself is awash in golfing fanatics.
So, the question becomes how does one go about achieving that? Do you just show up with your clubs on your own or with your foursome and ask to play? Well, you could try that, but it is probably not the best approach.
In this section, I will attempt to provide you with enough information to get you out on the course. And I will do that by posing a series of questions all related to thoughts golfers may have about making the golf pilgrimage to St Andrews.
How Do You Book a Tee-time?
The most obvious of questions of course is how would I or a group book a tee-time on the Old Course? Well, it’s simple enough, but not particularly easy. The locals have an easier path apparently. In lieu of becoming a student at the University of St Andrews or marrying a local this how you go about doing it.
There are basically four different ways to do it for visiting golfers. They are:
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- Book a tee-time through the links trust.
- Book a guaranteed tee-time through a provider.
- Enter the daily ballot.
- Enter the singles queue.
All four are offered up on a single page on the Links website
Let me elaborate by providing a simple overview of the basics involved in each of these. That said, I would encourage you to go and read the article “How to score a tee time at the Old Course at St. Andrews“ from USA Today. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and this piece does a good job of detailing the minutia involved in each booking process. The article is from 2022 but I’m fairly certain it is still relevant.
Let’s begin…
Book a tee-time through the St. Andrews Links – Basically, this involves you going online well in advance of when you would like to play the Old Course… i.e. a year in advance… and taking the first step in booking an advanced tee-time for yourself or a group directly. In reality, you are just applying for the opportunity to book a tee-time.
For the purposes of demonstrating of why you should go and read the USA Today article I will quote their description of the process, so you get to understand some of the finer details that they offer in the article firsthand.
“Each fall, golfers can apply to the St. Andrews Links for a tee time the following year, with applications due by early September and the lucky winners of the draw announced in October.
• These applications cover up to eight golfers.
• Applicants agree to play another course managed by the St. Andrews Links as part of the deal.
• This method requires the green fee for each player, plus a 20-percent tax surcharge.
• The odds of success are not in your favor of scoring one of these advance registrations. Be prepared to try one of the other methods, as well less than half of applicants are successful.”
As you can see in the following image it is already too late to apply to book a teatime for 2024. So, the best you can do is think about applying next fall for 2025.
Book a guaranteed tee-time through a provider – The only truly guaranteed way to play the Old Course is to book a golf package through an affiliated provider. I’m sure most would be hugely expensive though.
Essentially you would be booking a travel package that would include a round at the Old Course and additional rounds at other local courses. The package would probably include things like accommodation, transportation to and from the airport in Edinburgh, and maybe even some meals. Packages would probably be for anywhere between seven and 10 days.
When looking up the place we stayed, Montague House I noticed that they are an official provider. So that is probably the way that I would go if I attempted to book in the future – arrange my package through a small local provider rather than one of the large international tour groups.
Enter the daily ballot – This is the first of two ways that will get you on the Old Course if you just show up in town with your clubs. Every day of the week, except Fridays, you can put your twosome’s or your foursome’s names into a daily ballot/raffle and if you are selected, you get to play two days later.
Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? I don’t know this for a fact but it feels like locals are selected first and then we visitors are chosen after that.
When I get to showing you the photos from when the Love-goddess and I trundled around the Old Course you will see a picture of me with two guys on the Swilcan Bridge. I chatted with them briefly after our photo opportunity and they reported that they had put their names in the ballot five days in a row and had not yet been selected. So, a bit of a crapshoot for sure.
A typical daily ballot winners posting.
Enter the singles queue – This is one you may have heard of. Each morning single golfers can line up and submit their names to be matched up with openings available with threesomes or twosomes for that day. The scorer arrives at 6 AM to begin the selection process.
Yes, this means you start lining up at three or four in the morning if you want to be first in line. The hardiest of golfers simply get there the night before and either stay awake all night or try and catch some shut-eye on a bench. But, you know right away if you are playing, and what time. So you can go home and get some sleep if you need it. 🙂
Winter package – as you see in the previous photo, and as you will see on their website if you go to it, there is actually now a fifth way to book. If you are prepared to go to St Andrews in the dead of winter, you can apply for a “winter package”. Given that you have to play off a fairway mat, rather than off the fairway, there is probably less competition for these spots.
How much does it cost to play?
A friend of mine played the old course in the early 70s when, allegedly it was incredibly inexpensive to play. That is no longer the case. The three images below show the most current fees to play the Old Course in the various seasons, how much to you would pay to play one of the alternative courses, and finally how much you would pay to play the little nine-hole course.
It is much less expensive to play any of the other six courses. For the record, the £320 pounds to play the old course in high season is approximately $540 CAD… not for the faint of heart. Again, I am assuming that locals do not pay this much to play the Old Course.
Can anybody play there?
Yes, anyone can play the Old Course as long as they can demonstrate that they have a handicap of 36 or lower. That would include most golfers. But, to reiterate, you must show up with some sort of official documentation about your handicap.
I’m not sure about what handicap ratings are required to play the other courses. But it does appear that anyone who has ever played, or would like to try playing golf, is allowed out on the nine-hole Balgove Course. It does not require an advance booking, and the website indicates that it “primarily caters for families, children and beginners.”
Can I ride a cart?
I did not see any carts out on the course when I was there, but yes, you can hire a cart… Referred to as a buggy. They will cost £40 pounds per round in 2024.
Where do you buy official merchandise?
I mention this because knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to play on this trip I did want to bring home some official St Andrews paraphernalia for myself and my golf buddies.
I asked a woman who was a tour guide where the “pro shop” was on our first morning in town and she indicated that the two golf shops adjoining the 18th hole were the official retailers for Saint Andrews and Open Championship equipment and souvenirs. No need to walk around to the Links Clubhouse to the shop there.
If you are giving serious thought to trying to get over and playing the Old Course, you probably have lots of questions other than what I have listed here. I think you will find that most of the information you are looking for can be found on the St Andrews Links website.
Let’s wrap up this section with a quick look at a trailer for a fabulous documentary produced by the Golf Channel about the town and the great course. You really should try and watch it at some point.
Our Tour of the Old Course
On our second day in St Andrews we headed out after breakfast on the official “golf walking tour” that we had booked the day before. It was very informative. We learned about the history of the Old Course and the town itself and got to set foot on the course and pose for photos on the Swilcan Bridge.
One very interesting golf-related bit of information we garnered on the walk is that the shop where all the official Open Championship paraphernalia is sold is Tom Morris’ old workshop – and that Sheila Walker, the great-granddaughter of Old Tom Morris, still owns the property and lives above the shop.
The 19th Hole
The walking tour ends at the Jigger Inn, the most famous “19th hole” in golf.
While out and about on our golf walk I grabbed this clip of someone’s tee-shot on the first tee. Hope yours is a little better. 🙂
Next Up: This really is a great town to visit even if you’re not into golf. Waiting patiently for the train to take us up to Aberdeen and then on to Inverness, our final stop in Scotland.
