It's true - every golfer should play there at least once (St. Andrews)

Member Name: dmandrew

Product:	St. Andrews
Date:	26/05/08 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic sense of history and great fun to play

Disadvantages: Now hard to get a tee time, and pretty expensive

There isn't a place like this in golf. Even the Americans admit it. You stand on the first tee, and you get an incomparable thrill. Part of this is history; part is the fantastic anticipation of what is come, part of it is indefinable atmosphere. If you can get your first tee shot away, you have done well.

But it's also an extraordinary mixture of hallowedness and common place. The good townsfolk of St. Andrews walk their dogs across the course on the way to the beach, and appear to reackon that it's perfectly normal to have such a revered patch of ground in their midst.

For detail on this course I would refer Dooyoo readers first to Kenjohn's excellent crowned review. But let me give you a few sentences on why I think every golfer should play there at least once.

* After your round, you will remember every hole in vivid detail.
* You can hire a caddy, or you can go round with an excellent guide book, called How to Play the Old Course. This gives you a line at every hole, and is crammed with the good advice that is born of years of experience.
* The double greens, the Swilcan burn, the whins (gorse), the wind, the wickedly hidden pot bunkers, the huge bunkers like Hell and Cockle, the treacherous Road Hole, the thrill of playing the 18th right alongside a street, the knowledge that a par or birdie on a hole would have beaten this pro or that (you get to choose when they played it).
* It is perfectly possible to get a good score around the Old Course, if you are playing half decently, but it can bite back without warning.

It's quite a lot harder to get a game on the Old Course than when I first managed it almost forty years ago at the age of 14, and for the price of £4, having been successul in the famous ballot.

Now, if you play in the high season, which is for about six months of the year, you will pay £130 (2008), and only about 50% of the times are available in the ballot. It's £91 on October, and £64 in the winter, but then you have to play off fairway mats, which I wouldn't fancy. Chances of success vary according to the time of year, how busy the course is and the weather. A minimum of two golfers can enter by telephone, 01334 466666, or in person before 2pm on the day before play. The results are shown by 4pm on the web, and at various locations on the Links.

On a few days each year, (three days in early April in 2009) the course is played in reverse, ie. from the 1st tee to the 17th green, then the second tee to the 16th green and so on. This is how the course was played in the mid 19th century, and I would guess makes an interesting diversion if you know the regular layout well.

Because the Old Course is so popular, with over 40,000 rounds a year, special conditions apply to bookings. There is a handicap requirement of 24 for men and 36 for ladies. You have to bring a valid certificate or card.

By the way, the Old Course is closed on Sundays, except for the pros when it's the last round of the Open ar another big tournament.

If you are on your own and want to play the Old Course, the best chance you have is going to the starter as early as possible in the morning. The starter will then try to join the golfer with the first available 2 or 3 ball. I was once joined by an American who had come across - he simply made up a four with the three of us, and we had a good time.

I last played the Old Course about fifteen years ago, and I wouldn't pay £130 now, although if I had never played it, then I would. It's sad that green fees have risen by so much, but I can understand that the course has to make money, and that market forces apply. The best way to get a good deal is to live in St. Andrews or be a member of the University. It's so cheap then that it's almost free! As it's a public course, then that's fair enough.

If I could travel back in time, though, I would love to go back to about 1920, before greens were watered, to have a go at playing the course when it was bone hard and the greens were like glass. Sadly, those days are unlikely to be seen again.

Summary: You have to do it