The Castle Course celebrated a busy season by becoming the biggest riser in the latest Top 100 Courses ranking in Golf World magazine in the UK.
The seventh course at the Home of Golf moved up 11 places in the ranking to 56th spot after being the highest new entry in the previous rankings in 2008.
It caps an excellent second full season for The Castle Course which has been busy throughout the summer and during the Open Championship in particular when it remained open for play throughout.
The judges praised the course architect David Kidd for turning featureless farmland into a "thrilling course."
Alan McGregor, chief executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said, "This is welcome recognition for The Castle Course and shows that is has made a significant impact on the world of golf. It is a dramatic, challenging course with some of the most memorable holes to be found anywhere. We will continue to work on developing the course and helping it to mature in the years ahead."
The Castle Course received several awards as the best new course of the year from publications such as Travel and Leisure Golf and Golf Inc magazines in the US in 2008. It was included in the Golf Digest Top 100 rankings almost immediately after opening and was named the 2008 Turf Professional Project of the year by the Institute of Groundsmanship, the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) and some leading turfcare journalists.
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Image: the 7th green on The Castle Course.