The Old Course is the most famous golf course in the world and originally consisted of twenty-two holes, eleven out and eleven back in a sort of looping string shape. On completing a hole, the player teed up his ball within two club lengths of the previous hole, using a handful of sand scooped out from the hole to form a tee. In 1764, the Society of St Andrews Golfers, which later became the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, decided that some holes were too short and combined them. This reduced the course to eighteen holes and created what became the standard round of golf throughout the world - 9 holes going out, 9 holes coming in. The track through the whin bushes on which the Old Course evolved was so narrow that golfers played to the same holes going out and coming in, using two different pin placements on each green. This layout gave us the concept of 'going out' and 'coming in'.
As the game became increasingly popular in the nineteenth century, golfers in different matches would find themselves playing to the same hole, but from opposite directions. To relieve the congestion, two holes were cut on each green, those for the first nine were equipped with a white flag and those for the second nine with a red flag. The current medal tee card and course layout is:
When Old Tom Morris created a separate green for the first hole, it became possible to play the course in an anti-clockwise direction, rather than clockwise which had previously been the norm. For many years, the course was played clockwise an anti-clockwise on alternate weeks, but now the anti-clockwise, or right-hand circuit has become the accepted direction.
The Open Championship was first played on the Old Course in 1873. When Young Tom Morris won for the third time in succession in 1870 he was allowed to keep the original trophy - a wide belt of red leather with silver decoration. Prestwick had until this point been the favoured venue. The decision to ask the Royal and Ancient and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to both share the cost of a new trophy and to aid in the task of running the Championship. led to St Andrews getting its first chance to host the Open.
The first St Andrews Open was played 1873, when 26 players completed 36 holes in wet conditions. Local player Tom Kidd won with rounds of 91 and 88. His total of 179 was the highest score ever recorded until the Open was extended to 72 holes in 1892. Since 1900 there have been 17 Opens staged at St Andrews, 8 of which have been won by Americans. A win at St Andrews is very often the icing on the cake for the modern players seeking golfing immortality - amongst them Bobby Jones, Peter Thompson, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo.
2005 marks the 134th playing of the world's oldest golf championship and the 27th time the challenge has been decided over the Old Course at St Andrews. Click here for more info on Next years Open Championship.
The current medal tee card and course layout is:
|
The Old Course, St Andrews |
Hole |
Yards |
Par |
|
Hole |
Yards |
Par |
1 |
370 |
4 |
10 |
318 |
4 |
2 |
411 |
4 |
11 |
172 |
3 |
3 |
352 |
4 |
12 |
316 |
4 |
4 |
419 |
4 |
13 |
398 |
4 |
5 |
514 |
5 |
14 |
523 |
5 |
6 |
374 |
4 |
15 |
401 |
4 |
7 |
359 |
4 |
16 |
351 |
4 |
8 |
166 |
3 |
17 |
461 |
4 |
9 |
307 |
4 |
18 |
354 |
4 |
Out |
3272 |
36 |
In |
3294 |
36 |
| |
|
|
Out |
3272 |
36 |
SSS 72 |
|
|
Total |
6566 |
72 |
|
|
|
|
|
