St Andrews Old Course – The Spiritual Home of Golf

The ambition of every keen golfer is to play at the St Andrews Old Course in Scotland - in homage to the oldest golf course in the world. Golf has been played here since the fifteenth century. It has consistently remained the best in Scotland and among the top ten in the world. Playing here is not just for a great game but a complete thrilling experience of being in the birthplace of golf and the spine-tingling, even awe-inspiring thrill of just standing on these hallowed historic grounds. Despite its reputation, it is a public course and you have to either try your luck with a ballot or take one of the guaranteed packages offered, at a price, by the Club.

Typically, the first time you play here may not be a memorable game; but play again and it becomes one of the things you look back to in life as unforgettable. This is a natural links course as Mother Nature created it, with modifications by man only in the later years. The course begins and ends in the town and is known for its 112 bunkers, including the infamous and enormous Hell on the long 14th hole and Strath on the short 11th hole

Of course Road Bunker on the 17th which is perhaps the most famous golf hole in the world has its own mean reputation, with a road, that is in the play, running just along the rear edge of the green. Another world famous feature of the Old course is the Swilken Bridge that crosses the Swilken Burn – time has stood still here, perhaps even from the times of the Romans.

The greens are perhaps the most interesting putting surfaces anywhere. There is little to differentiate where the fairways start or end and the greens begin. The fairways are probably more undulating than the average greens at other golf clubs. Some of them are an acre and one may be faced with putts of up to 100 yards. Another unique feature here is the double greens where the outward and inward holes are cut on the same putting surface. Wherever else modern golf may be played, St Andrews, in the lovely region of Fife, has stood like a giant in the test of time.

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