Old Course at St Andrews

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

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

The same view in 1891.

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

The Old Course at St Andrews is one of the oldest golf courses in the world and possibly the oldest surviving course in Scotland [1]. 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.

There is no real knowledge 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.

One of the unique features of the Old Course is 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 for the past few years. 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 two occasions:

The final day of the Dunhill Links Championship, an annual event on the European Tour.
The final day of The Open Championship when it is held at the Old Course; this happens roughly once every five years. While winning the Open 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 and Tom Kidd.

Sunday play may also occur when the Old Course hosts other major events; for example, it will host the Women's British Open in 2007.

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.

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.