THE OLD COURSE

"I fell in love with it the first day I played it. There's just no other golf course that is even remotely close."
Jack Nicklaus

"Without a doubt I like it the best of all the Open venues. It's my favourite course in the world."
Tiger Woods

The oldest golf course in the world has many remarkable features which help make it so special to golfers around the world.

It is the Home of Golf where golf was first played 600 years ago and yet it remains a real test of golf for today's champions. Despite its reputation and status, it is a public course and is one of six public courses on St Andrews Links.

The Old Course has evolved over time and was not designed by any one architect. The people who played a major role in shaping it are Daw Anderson (1850s), Old Tom Morris (1860s- 1900) and Dr Alister Mackenzie (1930s).

The course is known for its particular physical features including 112 bunkers, some of which are especially famous e.g. 'Hell' on the long 14th, 'Strath' on the short 11th and the Road Bunker at what is probably the most famous golf hole in the world, the 17th or Road Hole (so called because a road - which is in play - runs hard against the back edge of the green).

Another peculiar feature of the Old Course is the double greens where the outward and inward holes are cut on the same putting surface. These greens are large, not surprisingly, and golfers can be faced with putts of almost 100 yards.

The Old Course is also unusual in that it starts and finishes in the town, but its truly remarkable feature is that in today's modern golfing world, a course which has evolved over six centuries, remains a true test of championship golf.