Ask any golfer: “if you could play any course in the world, what would it be?”
It is almost guaranteed that their answer will be the Old Course at St Andrews. It is the oldest and most famous course in the world and is the course that golfers worldwide dream of making the pilgrimage to play a round at. Every golfer knows the importance of this course, but do they know the history behind the course that is widely accepted to be the “Home of Golf”?
Golf had been originally played on the St Andrews links from the early 15th century but was abolished in 1457 by King James II of Scotland as it was believed young men were prioritising playing golf over activities that were deemed more useful in warfare such as archery. However, the ban was removed in 1502 when King James IV took up the sport himself.
Permission to play golf on the St Andrews links was not officially granted until 1552 when Archbishop John Hamilton gave this right to the townspeople of St Andrews; thus, this is now observed as the year the Old Course was established. This makes the Old Course the world’s oldest golf course.
The Old Course is responsible for developing many of the features we see in modern day golf today. It was the first course in which 18 holes was played as traditionally, golf was played with 22 holes. However, it was authorised in 1764 that the first 4 and last 4 holes on the Old Course were to be played combined in 4 total holes, creating the standard 18 holes we play today.
The Old Course is also known as home of The Open Championship which is the oldest major golf championship in the world. It has been held at the Old Course 30 times since 1873 and was most recently held here last year in 2022 with Australian golfer Cameron Smith being the current champion. The Old Course hosts The Open every five years and has hosted this championship more than any other course in the world; hence why it is known as the “home” of The Open.
Through the years, the Old Course has been a continuous favourite of golfing legends from all over the world including Bobby Jones who once stated he “fell in love” with the course and has won The Open at the Old Course multiple times and infamously disqualified himself from the competition in 1921 after losing his temper when he could not hit his ball out of the bunker on the 11th hole after four attempts. Tiger Woods has also claimed the Old Course as his personal favourite. He first won The Open in 2000 with 269 strokes and will now only reside in room 269 whenever he returns to the location to compete.
If you, like many golfers across the globe, are following your dreams of playing a round at the Old Course and are tired of being at the mercy of a ballot, have a look at our limited 2024 guaranteed tee times at the Old Course St Andrews here: 2024 – Guaranteed Tee-Times at the Old Course, St. Andrews – Best of Scotland (best-of-scotland.com)
For the chance to experience playing at a course like no other, you will need to act fast as these WILL sell out very quickly!
