XVIII: St Andrew's (Old)
People have been knocking their golf balls around The Old Course since before they even knew the Earth was round, and the fact that it finds itself atop the bucket lists of golfers all over the world hundreds of years down the line tells you everything you need to know.
Golfers owe everything St Andrews and making the pilgrimage again to the home of the game is something I think about more often than I would like to admit.
There are places in the world that you can feel in your soul, and St Andrews is one of them – the town eats, sleeps and breaths golf. People scurrying across the road with trundlers, golf bags lined up outside pubs, blokes squeezing their carry bags through supermarket aisles, every second conversation overheard revolving around golf, and you just can’t shake the sense that the woman serving you at the local café is probably knocking it round off scratch.
Iconic
Whilst St Andrews is widely recognised as the heartbeat of golf, the heartbeat of St Andrews is golf - It always feels like home and exactly where I am supposed to be. A sense of place flooded my body, and I knew there was nowhere I would rather be.
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The first tee of The Old Course is without question my favourite place in the world. It’s the combination of the history gone by, the anticipation of what lies ahead, and the magic of that very moment – all eyes on you as you try to split the hundred-plus yard wide fairway. The Old Lady never fails to flush me with thoughts of Old Tom, Shivas Irons, Jack and Tiger - the ghosts of The Old, lurking over my shoulder. To my mind, the St Andrews experience is made up of 90% things that didn’t even happen to me at all, it’s the tales and legends of the links which I feel deep inside which make that walk up the 1st just that bit more magical.
Looking back down the first
The Old Course was built without the constraints of rules or architecture stiffs to point out why a hole wouldn’t work. It was the original, and set markers for many of the ‘rules’ that we see around the world today. Architecturally, The Old Course is a marvel, not only for its beautifully flowing routing, but for its ability to be the greatest second shot golf course on the planet with landforms which rarely peak above your belt buckle. Its distinctly random and choppy bumps, hollows and slopes combine seamlessly with the most coherently wild and interesting greens on the planet to produce a puzzle with no set answers.
No matter how many loops you’ve made, The Old will constantly have you off kilter and off balance with a change in pin position or a flip of the wind- proper golf.
The ripples and hollows short of the second green
The Old Course knows exactly what it is – it won’t overload your senses with dramatic vistas or man-made features, rather massaging them with the tumbling land that has been there forever. The subtle simplicities of rolling turf and sand-based minimalism. On some tees I found myself staring down a seemingly straightforward hole, how wrong I was. The Old Course is a mastery in the art of simplicity, nuance and disguise, creating challenge through the use of discrete angles and one-of-a-kind landforms. So often I found myself at the mercy of the land, as my ball tumbled over the knolls, across the valleys, and through the footprints of golfing pioneers – golf the way it was always intended to be.
16 green with the 17th tee and The Old Course Hotel lurking
People’s criticisms of The Old Course as flat and boring, and its reputation being a product of historical inflation will continue to dumbfound me until my last days. I now view people’s opinions of The Old as a true litmus test for their understanding and love for links golf, if you don’t love The Old Course then there’s a pretty good chance that you like seaside golf, not links golf…. It’s the most interesting golf course on the planet and I will die on that hill.
Truly magnificent!
If I could select a stretch of eight holes which I had to play for the rest of my life, I’m not sure there is a world in which I could overlook 11-18 of The Old - for pure variety, optionality and flat-out interest it stands undefeated. This eight holes has everything:
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The 11th – The original Eden template, an all-world execution par 3 straight out towards the Estuary with death on all sides.
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The 12th – A wonderful driveable par 4, its disguised minefield of bunkers making a layup as tough of a test as having a crack and a small ridge in the green dictates the approach.
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The 13th – Perhaps the most underrated hole, a tough layup to split the coffin bunkers leaves an uphill approach to a green perched atop the site’s largest dune ridge
The spectacular drop-off at the back of the 11th green
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The 14th – Probably by favourite par five in the world. Boasting thousands of options, the greatest test is avoiding the aptly named ‘Hell Bunker’, however the undulating green may be the best of a collection which bests every course in the world.
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The 16th – With out of bounds all up the right of this short 4 it immediately pushers golfers left, leaving them an approach which is challenged by the Principal’s Nose bunker and a sea of undulations around the green.
'Hell Bunker' with the wonderful 16th green beyond
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The 17th – Perhaps the most famous hole in golf, The Road Hole is the perfect example of strategic golf and its tee shot over the hotel is bested only by the subsequent approach left in to the angled green hugging the famous wall.
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The 18th – One of golf’s great finishers, playing back towards the R&A clubhouse and navigating the Valley of Sin short of the green is unlike any other.
The 17th green - perhaps the most famous in golf!
The legends remain true; the fairway on the 1st is four times wider than any other which makes it four times scarier, you do indeed aim over the word ‘course’ of the hotel from the 17th tee, and the stroll up 18 over the Swilken Bridge may well be the most sentimental walk in golf. However, when the opportunity to play St Andrews Old Course presents itself, don’t lose sight of the magic in every step through the haze of these iconic moments, nor the brilliance of how the holes utilise the rippling land.
I’ve travelled the world and found days slip by which I haven’t properly appreciated in the moment, but whenever I walk The Old, I never cease to slow down and soak it in.
My favourite finisher in the world!
No matter how many times I do it, chasing the sun back towards the R&A is a memory that will stay with me forever, and stands as a constant reminder of what makes golf and St Andrews so special. The opportunity to explore the heritage of its land and feel its history in my bones is truly one of golf’s great offerings.
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Endlessly studied and often copied, 600 years on The Old Course stands alone, singular and unique as the most interesting golf course on the planet and my favourite place in the world.