The Old Course, St Andrews |
Visitor information
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| Golf has been played on the Old Course at St
Andrews for almost six hundred years and many people think the Open should
never be played anywhere else. But it was not until 1873, and the thirteenth
Championship, that the Open came to St Andrews, now its spiritual home.
Contrary to popular belief the links at St Andrews are not owned by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, but are on public ground, administered by the St Andrews Links Trust. Until 1912 playing on the course was free of charge to all and St Andrews residents only started paying in 1946.
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Contrary to popular belief the links at St Andrews are not
owned by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, but are on public ground,
administered by the St Andrews Links Trust. Until 1912 playing on the course
was free of charge to all and St Andrews residents only started paying in
1946.
Historically the Old Course had twelve holes and a round consisted of twenty two. Play started within two club lengths of the last hole and golfers played eleven holes out and eleven back. In 1764 the first four holes were turned into two, reducing a round to eighteen and setting the standard that is now followed worldwide. |
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| It was not until 1832 that the greens were increased in size and given two holes each, allowing returning golfers to use different holes than on the way out. The course was then played clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate weeks. Nowadays the left hand or clockwise course is hardly ever used but some of the bunkers are still obviously intended as obstacles for players going in this direction. | |||
There are over one hundred bunkers on the course, and names like Hell, Grave and Coffin can strike fear into the heart. Many of them are small and deep, famously described as being just big enough for "an angry man and his niblick". There is a myth that much of the Old Course was formed by nature rather than by the hand of man, that Hell Bunker was formed by sheep huddling against the wind and that the meandering of the Swilken burn is entirely natural. This is far from the truth. Old Tom Morris was the first greenkeeper and soon after he was appointed in 1865 he started work replacing heather on the fairways with turf.
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St Andrews Visitor Information |
