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The St Andrews Golf Courses
Old | New |
Jubilee | Eden | Dukes
| Strathtryum | Balgove
 The
Old Course is the most famous golf course in the world
and is regularly
ranked in the top 5 golf courses on the planet.
The Old Course originally consisted of twenty-two
holes, eleven out and eleven back in a sort of looping string shape.
On completing a hole, the player teed up his ball
within two club lengths of the previous hole, using a handful of sand scooped
out from the hole to form a tee.
In 1764, the Society of St Andrews Golfers, which
later became the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, decided that some holes were too
short and combined them. This reduced the course to eighteen holes and created
what became the standard round of golf throughout the world - 9 holes going out,
9 holes coming in.
The track through the whin bushes on which the Old
Course evolved was so narrow that golfers played to the same holes going out and
coming in, using two different pin placements on each green. This layout gave
us the concept of 'going out' and 'coming in'. The aerial view below shows this
rather well, with the holes running mostly parallel. photo
by Robbie West
As the game became increasingly popular in the nineteenth
century, golfers in different matches would find themselves playing to the same
hole, but from opposite directions.
To relieve the congestion, two holes were cut on
each green, those for the first nine were equipped with a white flag and those
for the second nine with a red flag. For a guide on how to
play it, click here. The
current medal tee card is:
|
Hole
|
Yards
|
Par
|
|
Hole
|
Yards
|
Par
|
|
1
|
370
|
4
|
10
|
318
|
4
|
|
2
|
411
|
4
|
11
|
172
|
3
|
|
3
|
352
|
4
|
12
|
316
|
4
|
|
4
|
419
|
4
|
13
|
398
|
4
|
|
5
|
514
|
5
|
14
|
523
|
5
|
|
6
|
374
|
4
|
15
|
401
|
4
|
|
7
|
359
|
4
|
16
|
351
|
4
|
|
8
|
166
|
3
|
17
|
461
|
4
|
|
9
|
307
|
4
|
18
|
354
|
4
|
|
Out
|
3272
|
36
|
In
|
3294
|
36
|
| |
|
|
Out
|
3272
|
36
|
|
SSS
72
|
|
|
Total
|
6566
|
72
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When Old Tom Morris created a separate green for
the first hole, it became possible to play the course in an anti-clockwise direction,
rather than clockwise which had previously been the norm. For many years, the
course was played clockwise an anti-clockwise on alternate weeks, but now the
anti-clockwise, or right-hand circuit has become the accepted direction.
 The
Open Championship was first played on the Old Course in 1873.
When Young Tom Morris won for the third time in succession
in 1870 he was allowed to keep the original trophy - a wide belt of red leather
with silver decoration. Prestwick had until this point been the favoured venue.
The decision to ask the Royal and Ancient and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh
Golfers to both share the cost of a new trophy and to aid in the task of running
the Championship. led to St Andrews getting its first chance to host the Open.
The first St Andrews Open was played 1873, when 26
players completed 36 holes in wet conditions. Local player Tom Kidd won with rounds
of 91 and 88. His total of 179 was the highest score ever recorded until the Open
was extended to 72 holes in 1892.
Since 1900 there have been 17 Opens staged at St
Andrews, 8 of which have been won by Americans. A win at St Andrews is very often
the icing on the cake for the modern players seeking golfing immortality - amongst
them Bobby Jones, Peter Thompson, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo
and Tiger Woods, who along with Nicklaus has the unique distinction of winning
two opens at the Home of Golf, in 2000 and 2005.
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