Old Course at St Andrews

The Old Course at St Andrews is a public golf course on common land in the coastal town of St Andrews in Fife. It is the oldest golf course in the world, first played in the early 15th century. The course is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust and is open to the public as well as golf clubs with playing privileges. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews has its clubhouse next to the first tee, though many other clubs also use the course. Originally called the ‘golfing grounds’, it only became known as the Old Course after the New Course opened in 1895. The course shaped modern golf and remains the home of The Open Championship, the oldest major in the sport. It has hosted The Open 30 times since 1873, more than any other course. The standard 18-hole layout was established in 1764 when William St Clair of Roslin combined short holes. Old Tom Morris redesigned the first and eighteenth holes and separated the first green from the seventeenth in the 1860s. The course’s 112 bunkers and rolling dunes have challenged players for centuries, with Hull Bunker on the fifteenth fairway filled in only in 1949. Visitors find a windswept links course where the game’s history is still played out. The Old Course has landmarks like the Road Hole and the Swilcan Bridge, both carrying their own names and legends. Bobby Jones first played here in 1921, famously disqualifying himself after losing his temper in a bunker. Six years later he won The Open here wire-to-wire, then returned in 1930 to win the British Amateur. The course remains a place where golfers walk the same fairways used by champions for over 600 years.