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The R&A Club House. Photo By Natlaff.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts About St Andrew’s Golf Club

The Old Golf Course at St Andrews is also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady. It is considered among the oldest  pubic golf course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews clubhouse sits adjacent to the first tee.

The Old Course was pivotal to the development of how the game is played today.

Below are some ten fascinating fact about St. Andrews Golf Course;

1.Unlike other Golf Courses its Open to the Public 

It is also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, as it is the oldest golf course in Scotland History.

The people who live in the town of St Andrews can play the courses for a very reasonable rate.

In the late 18th century, the land on which the old course sits had been overrun by rabbit farmers  occasionally there would be violent exchanges between golfers and rabbit farmers. Until the situation was solved in 1821 when James Cheape of Strathtyrum, a keen golfer and local landowner bought the land.

The rabbit farmers had lost.

2.The Original Name was Kilrymont

St Andrews was originally known as Kilrymont. Its name changed many hundreds of years ago, thanks to a monk who transported the relics of apostle Andrew to the town and its name was changed to honor the saint.

The story goes that in AD357, an angel told the Greek monk St Rule to take St Andrew’s remains to the ends of the earth.

 He took them to Scotland and where he came ashore was called St Andrews.

St Andrew was also patron saint of Greece, Russia and Italy.

3.It is Played in Anticlockwise Direction

The Old Course was laid out with holes that could be played in both an inward and outward direction. Until the late 1800s the Old Course was played in a clockwise direction. Thus golfers could play two courses in one, heading out and back in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction

Old Tom Morris separated the 1st and 17th greens in around 1870 and that begun to be played in an anti-clockwise direction on alternate weeks.

Many humps and hollows, bunkers and run-offs visible today are remnants of the old clockwise routing

4.The Course Applies Concept of Shared Greens

Greens at any golf course  host one hole and are numbered so, however this is not the case for St Andrews course where only the 1st, 18th, 17th and 9th holes have their own greens all the others share greens with the hole numbers of shared greens always adding up to 18.

 The 2nd shares with the 16th, the 3rd with the 15th and so on up to the 8th and 10th.

5. Home to the Spectacular Swilcan Bridge 

The Swilken Bridge. Photo by Gordon Hatton. .

The Swilcan or Swilken Bridge in Scottish ,  is a small stone bridge over 700 years old, found at the St Andrews course. It is  perfectly placed for golfers heading off down the 18th hole of the Old Course. With the Royal and Ancient clubhouse and the Hamilton Grand building providing a striking backdrop, it does make for quite a good picture.

However a perfect the scenery, it wasn’t actually built for golfers to have their photograph taken on. Originally it was constructed so shepherds could get their livestock across the burn.

In the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida, there’s a full-size stone replica of the Swilcan Bridge.

6. It has Been in Use for Competitive Golfing for Over 600 years

Golf has been played on the links in St Andrews since around 1400. It was banned in 1457 by James II who felt young men were playing too much golf and neglecting their archery practice.

 James IV wanted to play golf though, so he overturned the ban in 1502. Mary Queen of Scots was a member of the local golf club. She is regarded as being the world’s first female golfer.

 She started playing golf at St Andrews soon after her husband Darnley was murdered.

7. It is the World Golf Museum

R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews. Photo By Drkirstyross.

The R&A World Golf Museum, previously known as the British Golf Museum, is located opposite the clubhouse.
The St Andrew Golf Course owns and operates the museum, which opened its doors  in 1990, and documents the history of golf from medieval times to the present.

The old Course has been  pivotal to the development of how the game is played today. In 1764, the course had only  22 holes and members would play the same hole going out and in with the exception of the 11th and 22nd holes.

William St Clair of Roslin as the captain of The Captain and Gentlemen Golfers authorized changes to St Andrews on 1764.

He decided that the first four and last four holes on the course were too short and should be combined into four total holes.

In 1832, it became a proper eighteen-hole course, with nine holes out and nine holes in.

The whole ‘holes out, holes in’ thing actually originated in St Andrews due to the shape of the Old Course.

 In 1863, Old Tom Morris had the 1st green separated from the 17th green, producing the current 18-hole layout with 7 double greens and 4 single greens.

8. St. Andrews has Hosted the Highest Number of Tournaments

More than 230,000 rounds of golf are played on the seven courses in St Andrews each year. 45,000 of these are played on the Old Course alone.

The Old Course has also played host to the Open Championship more than any other venue, at twenty-eight times.

The Open championship is currently played there every five years.

9.Bobby Jones was First Amateur to win back-to-back Open Championships

Bobby Jones Playing at St Andrews in 1921. Photo by Heritage Auctions.

Bobby Jones, founder and designer of the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founder the Masters Tournament, first played at St Andrews in 1921 Open Championship. During the third round, he hit his ball into a bunker on the 11th hole.

 He tried to hit the ball and still it could not get out, he lost his temper and did not turn in his score card, disqualifying himself.

Six years later, when the Open Championship returned to St Andrews, Jones also returned. Not only did he win, he also became the first amateur to win back-to-back Open Championships.

 He won wire-to-wire, shooting a 285, 7-under-par, which was the lowest score at either a U.S. Open or Open Championship at the time. He ended up winning the tournament by a decisive six strokes.

10 It has the Most Difficult Bunkers and Endless Hills

Hell Bunker at The St Andrews Old Course. Photo by Scott Cormie.

St Andrews old course has famous landmarks such as bunkers, among the most difficult Hells Bunker, endless hills and hollows that occurred naturally.

It has 112 bunkers and, the last bunker to be filled in on the course was Hull bunker on the 15th fairway in 1949.

Having been a grazing field for sheep, they had  created holes to shield themselves from the wind. These holes ended up being many of the pot bunkers to date.