Scotland Trip, Part Four: Day in St. Andrews

Introduction

Weeks before my trip, I mentioned my golfing fascination to my hosts. I told them I was looking to play two courses and then spend the rest of time exploring Edinburgh. They told me it sounded like a great plan, but if I was really keen on golf, I had to get up to St. Andrews. I already knew plenty about St. Andrews and the Old Course--the birthplace of golf--but I had failed to realize it was such an easy trip from Edinburgh.

Looking upon the 18th green and the 1st hole running parellel to the right.
The Old Course Hotel sits just off the 17th hole in the background.

Fast-forward to the Saturday of my trip. I sat on a train heading around the Firth of Forth taking me to St. Andrews. Wishing I had clubs with me, I watched the morning brighten and the fog begin to lift. I had accomplished my goal of playing two rounds in Scotland, but I wanted more. And though getting a tee time at the Old Course is very difficult, there are six other courses in St. Andrews that are far less visited. Still, I had no clubs. Then I snapped out of my minor depression--I was going to the home of golf, and I had the chance to walk the Old Course. I started to get that warm feeling inside, growing every minute I drew closer to my destination.

The fescued landscape makes for true links golf and beautiful vistas

I played the Old Course on EA Sports' Tiger Woods golf video game dozens of times growing up. There are many parts of the St. Andrews experience that are impossible to get from a video game, and the first and most apparent is the location of the course. After passing by a handful of elegant golf shops and restaurants with golf words worked into their names, I approached the famous Royal & Ancient Clubhouse. It still felt like I was in the middle of the town, but in front of me I could see the first and eighteenth holes expanding outwards in front of me. It's fitting in a town where golf is so important that the Old Course starts and ends in the town. Cars line the narrow street to the left, and just behind the seventeenth--the famous "Road Hole"--looms the St. Andrews Hotel.

Walking Around the Old Course

There was nothing else to do but to start walking. I carried a brisk pace, heading right in front of the R&A Clubhouse, past the starter's and caddies' huts, and off on an eighteen hole sightseeing adventure. The sandy path runs along the entire outside of the course, but because the holes run mostly parellel in an out and back fashion, I could see nearly every tee box and green. I passed the famous Himalayas practice putting green, the Old Course's first green on my left, and then the New Course clubhouse on my right. Something else the video games don't show: the Old Course is smack in the middle of the peninsula, with the other St. Andrews courses running right next to it. A casual onlooker would be surprised that the Old Course doesn't take up the oceanfront space, but I guess when they began golfing centuries ago they weren't trying to attract visitors with ocean vistas.

The eighteenth green with its "Valley of Sin" and the R&A Clubhouse

The third thing video games don't show you: the ground is as wrinkled and wavy as I have ever seen on a golf course. Perhaps the land near the beach is a bit more scenic, but the ground the Old Course covers certainly has the most character. As I passed by groups and snapped photos of the fairways and greens, I was mesmerized time and time again by the undulations of the land. Blind shots, hidden bunkers, and unpredictable bounces characterize the course, but nothing was more fascinating by the greens. The reason why the British Open continues to return to St. Andrews has a lot to do with the greens. Running fast, they could be deadly. Swales, slopes and bowls cover the large putting surfaces, many of which are double greens shared by two holes.

A view of some of the incredible undulating ground that houses the Old Course.
It's difficult to capture the subtlety of the fairways and greens with a camera.
The holes really do have to been seen to be believed.  

A Few Holes in Detail

It's impossible to get a full understanding of a course without playing it. You remember shots and associate them with the holes. Walking along the side of holes and only stopping to take photos isn't the best way to memorize a golf course. Even as I flip through my photos now, it's difficult to tell some of the holes apart. Many golfers say it takes more than a couple rounds at the Old Course to truly understand it's greatness. Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky ones who does get to walk the links many, many times.

Fairway bunkers on the par five 14th are hidden from view behind a dune.

Still, the Old Course is one of the most famous in the world. Without absolutely fantastic holes, it wouldn't be so highly esteemed. I was excited to see the famous holes, and a few others stood out such as the phenomenal par five fourteenth--"Long." Even without playing it, the long three-shotter is the finest par five I've ever seen. The strategy is endless.

The heavily sloped Eden green. This is the closest the Old Course plays to the water.

"Eden," the most famous par three, features an extreme green even for the Old Course standards, and plays with the Eden Estuary as the backdrop. The small Strath Bunker guards the front of the green, second only to the Road Hole bunker on seventeen as the most notorious on the course.

16-18 are three world class par fours. Though sixteen, "Corner of the Dyke," and eighteen, "Tom Morris," don't get enough credit because of the famous seventeenth, they would be signature holes anywhere else. Sixteen features the "Principal's Nose" fairway bunker complex, copied all over the world. Eighteen--with Swilcan Bridge, the "Valley of Sin" just before the green, and the backdrop of the R&A Clubhouse--is the perfect closing hole. I do want to note that North Berwick features a very similar closing hole--short, undulating fairway, deep swale in front of the green, and a finish right back in the middle of the town.

The Road Hole green and notorious green-side bunker

The best hole, however, has to be the "Road Hole." There simply is not a more unique, more testing hole in golf. The drive over the edge of the Old Course Hotel and the approach to a smallish, unreceptive green with the pot bunker and the road creating danger on all sides are two of the most thrilling shots in golf. When I play the Old Course some day, I would like nothing more than to make a par at seventeen.

Final Thoughts

I stood on Swilcan Bridge to get a photo. I don't know if I would've like to be photographed anywhere else, with the eighteenth hole and clubhouse in the background at the home of golf. I made sure, though, not to cross the bridge. That is for another day, when I return to St. Andrews with my clubs to savor a round on the Old Course. When that day comes, I will cross the bridge to play my final shots, with memories to last a lifetime already stored away. I'll finish my round and enjoy the rest of the day in the town, which certainly highlights the best that Scotland has to offer. And I know on that day, I will think back countless times to my first trip to Scotland and the town of St. Andrews. I've given myself a pretty amazing start, and I know that when the opportunity arises, I won't hesitate to return.

Standing on Swilcan Bridge at the home of golf. Can't beat it!

Click here to see all of my photos from St. Andrews. Be sure to read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of my Scotland Trip series if you missed them.