Old Course at St Andrews Information & Old Course at St Andrews Links at HealthHaven.com

The 18th green and clubhouse of the R&A.

Looking up the 18th fairway towards the clubhouse with the famous bridge over the Swilcan Burn in the middle distance.

Almost the same view in 1891.

The "road hole bunker" at the 17th hole.

R&A Clubhouse on the Old Course

The Old Course at St Andrews is one of the oldest golf courses in the world^[1]^[2]. The Old Course is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) club house sits adjacent to the first tee and although it might be imagined that they own the course, they are but one of many clubs that have playing privileges on the course, along with the general public.

[edit] History

There is no real understanding of when golf was first played over the grounds that now constitute the Old Course. The earliest written evidence is a license issued in 1552, which permitted the community to rear rabbits on the links and "play at golf, futball, schuteing ... with all other manner of pastimes." The first written record of golf being played at the Old Course dates to 1574, which would make the Old Course the fifth-oldest links golf site in Scotland.^[3] However, documents from the reign of King James IV show that he bought golf clubs at St Andrews in 1506, only four years after his first purchase at Perth, which may indicate that the Old Course is significantly older than the written evidence shows.^[4] The course evolved without the help of any true architect for many years. Originally, it was played over the same set of fairways out and back to the same holes. As interest in the game increased, the whins were cut back to allow for two fairways. All the greens were also increased in size and two holes were cut.

The Old Course had 12 holes, 10 of which were played both out and in, making a total of 22 holes. As play increased, the first four holes (all of which were played twice) were combined in 1764 to make two holes, leaving a total of 18 holes. Over time, this became the standard number of holes for courses all over the world. Around 1863, Old Tom Morris had the 1st green separated from the 17th green, producing the current 18-hole layout with seven double greens.

[edit] Features

One of the unique features of the Old Course are the huge double greens. Seven greens are shared by two holes each. Only the 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th holes have their own greens. Another unique feature is that the course can be played in either direction, clockwise or anti-clockwise. The general method of play today is anti-clockwise, although clockwise play has been permitted on one day each year in recent years, and since 2008 has been allowed on the Friday, Saturday and Monday of the first weekend in April. Originally, the course was reversed every week in order to let the grass recover better. One other unusual thing about the Old Course is that it is closed on Sundays to let the course rest. On some Sundays, the course turns into a park for all the townspeople who come out to stroll, picnic and otherwise enjoy the grounds. As a general rule, Sunday play is allowed on the course on only four occasions:

The final day of the Dunhill Links Championship, an annual event on the European Tour.
The final day of The Open Championship and Ricoh Women's British Open when it is held at the Old Course; this happens roughly once every five years for the men; the women's championship began its turn on the rotation in 2007.
The final day of two top amateur events, the St Andrews Links Trophy and the St Rule Trophy.

Sunday play may also occur when the Old Course hosts other major events; for example, when it hosted the Curtis Cup in 2008.

While winning the Open Championship is a crowning achievement for any golfer, a win at St Andrews is considered particularly important due to the course's long tradition. Past winners at St Andrews include Tiger Woods (twice), John Daly, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus (twice), Tony Lema, Kel Nagle, Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, Sam Snead, Richard Burton, Denny Shute, Bobby Jones, Jock Hutchison, James Braid (twice), John Henry Taylor (twice), Hugh Kirkaldy, Jack Burns, Bob Martin (twice), Jamie Anderson, Tom Kidd and Lorena Ochoa.

In 2005 the Old Course was ranked as the greatest golf course in the rest of the world, i.e., outside the United States, by Golf Digest.

[edit] The Open Championship

The Open Championship has been staged at the Old Course at St Andrews 27 times. The following is a list of the champions:

Year	Winner	Score
Year	Winner	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1873	Tom Kidd ^1st	91	88	--	--	179
1876	Bob Martin ^1st	86	90	--	--	176
1879	Jamie Anderson ^3rd	84	85	--	--	169
1882	Bob Ferguson ^3rd	83	88	--	--	171
1885	Bob Martin ^2nd	84	87	--	--	171
1888	Jack Burns ^1st	86	85	--	--	171
1891	Hugh Kirkaldy ^1st	83	83	--	--	166
1895	J.H. Taylor ^2nd	86	78	80	78	322
1900	J.H. Taylor ^3rd	79	77	78	75	309
1905	James Braid ^2nd	81	78	78	81	318
1910	James Braid ^5th	76	73	74	76	299
1921	Jock Hutchison ^1st	72	75	79	70	296 ^PO
1927	Bobby Jones(Am) ^2nd	68	72	73	72	285
1933	Denny Shute ^1st	73	73	73	73	292 ^PO
1939	Richard Burton ^1st	70	72	77	71	290
1946	Sam Snead ^1st	71	70	74	75	290 (-2)
1955	Peter Thomson ^2nd	71	68	70	72	281 (-7)
1957	Bobby Locke ^4th	69	72	68	70	279 (-9)
1960	Kel Nagle ^1st	69	67	71	71	278 (-10)
1964	Tony Lema ^1st	73	68	68	70	279 (-9)
1970	Jack Nicklaus ^2nd	68	69	73	73	283 (-5)^PO
1978	Jack Nicklaus ^3rd	71	72	69	69	281 (-7)
1984	Seve Ballesteros ^2nd	69	68	70	69	276 (-12)
1990	Nick Faldo ^2nd	67	65	67	71	270 (-18)
1995	John Daly ^1st	67	71	73	71	282 (-6)^PO
2000	Tiger Woods ^1st	67	66	67	69	269 (-19)
2005	Tiger Woods ^2nd	66	67	71	70	274 (-14)
2010	TBD	--	--	--	--	(-/+##)