Old Course
| St Andrews Old Course | |
|---|---|
 18th hole with Swilcan Bridge, on the left the clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club |
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| Place data | |
| Coordinates: | 56 ° 21 ′ 5.3 " N , 2 ° 48 ′ 58.1" W. |
| Playable since: | 15th century |
| Architect: | - |
| Extensions: | |
| Par: | 72 |
| Length: | 6609 yards |
| Character: | Left |
The Old Course in St Andrews , Scotland , is the oldest existing golf course in the world according to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews .
history
It is not known when golf was first played on the St Andrews Links . The oldest written record is a license from 1552, which allowed the community to "raise rabbits, play golf and soccer, shoot and pursue other kinds of leisure activities in the dunes."
However, there is some evidence that golf was played in St Andrews before 1552. On the one hand, there was the golf ban of 1457, which extended to all of Scotland. On the other hand, the first university in Scotland, the University of St Andrews , was founded as early as 1413 ; Golf has always been very popular in universities. However, it is not clear where exactly they played at that time and whether there was a permanent golf course at all. The course of Musselburgh, also named Old Course (first mentioned in 1672), is therefore the oldest continuously played golf course in the world .
The presumably first measure of greenkeeping in St. Andrews is handed down from 1726, it consisted of a provision that imposed on rabbit breeders in the dunes that the golf course was not allowed to be damaged. "Rabbit Wars", conflicts between the (occasionally trigger-happy) golfers and the rabbit breeders, however, continued for almost a hundred years.
In 1754 the St Andrews Society of Golfers was founded, now called the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews . The construction of the now famous clubhouse did not begin until the centenary, i.e. 1854.
The stroke play was first documented in 1759 in St Andrews, before that was any golf world match play . Eight years later, James Durham set the course record for the next 86 years with a 94. Allan Robertson recorded the first score below 80 with a 79 in 1858.
The Old Course originally consisted of 12 holes, 10 of which were played twice, making a round of golf a total of 22 holes. The direction of play was “out” along the coast and “in” inland back to the clubhouse. In 1764 the first four holes (which were also the last four) were merged into two because they seemed too short. So the standard of 18 holes per round, which is still valid today, came about by chance.
Since 8 holes were still played in both directions, the flow of the game was impaired again and again, as attention had to be paid to the oncoming flights , which alluded to the same flag. From 1857, two holes were therefore laid out on each green so that “out” and “in” could be played at the same time. These huge double greens still exist today and are one of the hallmarks of the Old Course. Another thing is the bunkers , all of natural origin and almost all with their own names. The first planned bunker work in the history of golf was carried out by Allan Robertson, who designed the Road Hole bunker around 1842.
Another measure to equalize the game, which began around 1850, was the removal of the gorse, mainly on the right side of the course, so that the fairways became wider. Some bunkers, which previously only had a punishing character on the edge of the fairways, moved more into the center of the action and forced a more strategic game. Other obstacles that previously had to be played over could now be bypassed. This rather coincidental development towards several possible play lines with different risk influenced the later advocates of the strategic course design significantly.
In 1865 Old Tom Morris got the post of "Custodian of the Links" and made many changes until his retirement in 1903. Among other things, he switched from a clockwise routing to the still valid counterclockwise direction of play. In addition, the green complexes famous today can be traced back to his years of persistent development work.
Due to the considerable increase in the popularity of golf, the occupancy rate of the Old Course had multiplied by the end of the 19th century. The gorse, which had long been the main difficulty of the place, had been largely trampled down. For this reason, a large number of new bunkers were built in the winter of 1904/1905, which gave the Old Course the current character of an open, but specifically bunkered course.
Alister MacKenzie made further changes from 1924.
British Open
In 1873 the Open Championship was held for the first time in St Andrews, with Tom Kidd winning. This started a long series of guest appearances at this golf tournament on the Old Course. Nowhere has the Open been played more often, including in 2015 there were 29 matches in St Andrews.
| year | winner | nationality | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |||
| 1873 | Tom Kidd |
 Scotland
|
91 | 88 | - | - | 179 (-5) |
| 1876 | Bob Martin |
Scotland
|
86 | 90 | - | - | 176 |
| 1879 | Jamie Anderson |
Scotland
|
84 | 85 | - | - | 169 |
| 1882 | Bob Ferguson |
Scotland
|
83 | 88 | - | - | 171 |
| 1885 | Bob Martin |
Scotland
|
84 | 87 | - | - | 171 |
| 1888 | Jack Burns |
Scotland
|
86 | 85 | - | - | 171 |
| 1891 | Hugh Kirkaldy |
Scotland
|
83 | 83 | - | - | 166 |
| 1895 | John Henry Taylor |
 England
|
86 | 78 | 80 | 78 | 322 |
| 1900 | John Henry Taylor |
England
|
79 | 77 | 78 | 75 | 309 |
| 1905 | James Braid |
Scotland
|
81 | 78 | 78 | 81 | 318 |
| 1910 | James Braid |
Scotland
|
76 | 73 | 74 | 76 | 299 |
| 1921 | Jock Hutchison |
 United States
|
72 | 75 | 79 | 70 | 296 PO |
| 1927 | Bobby Jones (a) |
United States
|
68 | 72 | 73 | 72 | 285 |
| 1933 | Denny Shute |
United States
|
73 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 292 PO |
| 1939 | Richard Burton |
England
|
70 | 72 | 77 | 71 | 290 |
| 1946 | Sam Snead |
United States
|
71 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 290 (+2) |
| 1955 | Peter Thomson |
 Australia
|
71 | 68 | 70 | 72 | 281 (−7) |
| 1957 | Bobby Locke |
 South Africa
|
69 | 72 | 68 | 70 | 279 (−9) |
| 1960 | Kel Nagle |
Australia
|
69 | 67 | 71 | 71 | 278 (−10) |
| 1964 | Tony Lema |
United States
|
73 | 68 | 68 | 70 | 279 (−9) |
| 1970 | Jack Nicklaus |
United States
|
68 | 69 | 73 | 73 | 283 (−5) PO |
| 1978 | Jack Nicklaus |
United States
|
71 | 72 | 69 | 69 | 281 (−7) |
| 1984 | Seve Ballesteros |
 Spain
|
69 | 68 | 70 | 69 | 276 (−12) |
| 1990 | Nick Faldo |
England
|
67 | 65 | 67 | 71 | 270 (−18) |
| 1995 | John Daly |
United States
|
67 | 71 | 73 | 71 | 282 (−6) PO |
| 2000 | Tiger Woods |
United States
|
67 | 66 | 67 | 69 | 269 (−19) |
| 2005 | Tiger Woods |
United States
|
66 | 67 | 71 | 70 | 274 (−14) |
| 2010 | Louis Oosthuizen |
South Africa
|
65 | 67 | 69 | 71 | 272 (−16) |
| 2015 | Zach Johnson |
United States
|
66 | 71 | 70 | 66 | 273 (-15) PO |
The Women's Open Championship
The women had to wait a long time until the doors of the venerable golf club opened for the first time in 2007 to host The Women's Open Championship .
| year | winner | nationality | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |||
| 2007 | Lorena Ochoa |
 Mexico
|
67 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 287 |
| 2013 | Stacy Lewis |
United States
|
67 | 72 | 69 | 72 | 280 |
Current situation
Today the Old Course is part of the St Andrews Links . Due to its immense historical importance, it is almost always fully booked with over 40,000 rounds per year, although the green fee of 61–180 pounds is relatively high. Starting times must be requested in writing for the following year or booked through an exclusive tour operator as part of a whole vacation. But you can also take part in a daily lottery or queue very early in the morning at the starter house to fill in for a player who has dropped out. These practices are unique in the world and are due to the fact that St Andrews golf courses are open to the public, so the aim is to give as many golfers as possible a chance.
The Old Course is one of the few golf courses in the world that still has a real caddy program . It's almost good form to invest the £ 55 plus tip. In view of the many difficulties of the course (hidden pot bunkers, unpredictable wind, extremely hard fairways, tricky greens), the advice of a local expert should pay off in most cases.
For the Open Championship 2005 the Old Course was extended again to 7279 yards , so that the course record has to be set again. He is currently held by Rory McIlroy , who played a 63 on the first round of the 2010 Open Championship . In the previous expansion stage, Brian Davis held the course record with a 62. In the women's category, the course record is 66, played by Denise-Charlotte Becker in the final round of the 2007 St. Rule Trophy.
Golf aspects
character
The Old Course is a typical links course, or in other words: the type of links course goes back to the model of the Old Course. All the features that are commonly associated with links character can be found on the Old Course.
The fairways are mostly relatively wide, but they are often shared with oncoming flights, so that the overall space is rather narrow. It leads from the clubhouse to the lake and back again, two holes running in opposite directions next to each other. Broom bushes limit the space to the New Course on one side and the Old Course Hotel, the driving range and the Eden Course on the other.
The space conditions are no longer as extreme as they used to be, you can now attack the greens with a high stroke on many occasions and the fairways also carry thicker grass. However, it is still the wind that is the greatest difficulty. As the course is on a curve in St Andrews Bay, it is still very susceptible to winds from changing directions.
The layout of the Old Course calls for strategic decisions in many places, as there are almost always several paths to the goal. Most of the time, the greens are much easier to play from the right side of the fairway, but the tee shot to the right carries a higher risk, as the gorse bushes are there, whereas the oncoming fairway is available on the left. However, the approach shot from the left is often blind and due to the very large greens there is always the risk of needing three putts even with successful shots.
Scenic features
Swilcan Burn
This stream runs across the 1st and 18th fairway before it flows into the North Sea outside the golf course. It is the only water hazard on the course and has to be overcome twice. On the 18th fairway, the path leads over the Swilcan Bridge, a stone bridge from Roman times, which is probably the most popular photo motif in golf.
Spectacles
Glasses. The name of these two adjacent bunkers on the 5th hole comes from the fact that they look like glasses from a distance.
Coffins
Coffins. This group of bunkers on the 13th fairway got its name from the shape and the fact that it is considered very difficult to get back into play from there.
Elysian Fields and Hell Bunker
Fields of the Elysion and Hell Bunker. The 14th hole has the flattest and most pleasant piece of fairway on the course, which is why it was named Elysian Fields. The Hell Bunker, however, lurks behind it and must be overcome. It is a particularly large bunker that took four hits from Jack Nicklaus at the 1995 Open .
Principal's Nose Bunker
Rector's nose bunker. This bunker on the 16th fairway is reminiscent of a nose with two “eyes” behind it. It is not known to which "principal" the nose should belong.
Road Hole and Road Bunker
The 17th hole of the Old Course is one of the most difficult par 4 in the world. It is named after a road that lies behind the green but is often hit. Since it is considered an integral part of the court, there is no relief for a ball in the street or near the wall behind it. The tee has to be made via an annex of the Old Course Hotel located here and even the best professionals rarely dare to attack the green with the second shot. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, the road bunker in front of the green, which has already humiliated a number of world-class players, and, on the other hand, the road directly behind it, so that even a long shot is punished.
Valley of Sin
Valley of sin. This is a hollow in front of the 18th green, the name of which comes from the fact that it has held up many well-placed shots.
Web links
- St Andrews Links website (English)