Playing the Old Course at St Andrews 1.4

Publish date: 10/08/2024

Post 1.4 - My Round on the Old Course

As promised in my previous post, I will now share my experience on some of the holes just to give you a feel for a round on the Old Course. Folks, walking onto the first tee without hitting a single ball is the text book definition of tee box jitters!!  At any given time, you will have anywhere from 10 to 100 people standing around the first tee watching the golfers.  🕵️‍♂️👷‍♀️👩‍⚖️👩‍⚖️👩‍🍳👩‍✈️👨‍✈️👨‍🚒🦹‍♀️🧙‍♀️🧝‍♂️

Your group will be called to the tee box by the Starter and when it’s your turn to hit, all eyes are on you.  You have traveled 4000 miles to get here, barely had any sleep anticipating this round, using rental clubs you have never hit before, have not hit a single golf shot and playing the most famous golf course in the world in front of dozens of strangers who are only watching and waiting for you to top the ball 20 yards off the tee box.

Me on 1st tee box

Fortunately, I hit my tee shot about 200 yards down the middle of the fairway.  While it wasn’t long, I was thrilled that I didn’t chunk the ball and I could stroll confidently down the fairway, as if I had hit a 300-yard drive.

The first hole is not long, about 355 yards from where we played at the member tees which totaled 6352 yards.  With my range finder I measured the distance to the flag at 160 yards.  There is a berm (big ditch in American) crossing the fairway in front of the green and I definitely did not want to be in there, so I selected a 5 iron, which is my normal 175-yard club. 

Pumped up as I was, I hit the club exactly 175 yards and over the green about 5 yards into the rough.  I chipped up to about 4 feet, made the putt and parred my first hole on the Old Course.  Easy game, easy course, I thought.

For the next 7 holes, nothing eventful happened.  I played my normal game and made 3 bogies, 3 double bogies and 1 triple.  On the 9th hole miracles started to happen. I hit my approach shot to about 4 feet, made the putt for birdie and carded a 47 on the front nine.

🦅

There is a snack shack and bathroom at the 10th tee and some of our group headed over there. Please take note that the Old Course is a 9 hole walk out in one direction and a 9 hole walk back in the opposite direction, with nothing in between except golf holes. (see graphic below) The snack shack is the only opportunity to eat, drink or pee.  There is no beer cart on this course.  So be aware this is your only opportunity for refreshments and relief.🍔🌭🥨🍺🍷🍸🚾

Graphic for Old Course walking

Still in a daze from the last hole, I was honored with the 10th tee box for my birdie.  My partner Andy gave me the target line and I stepped to the tee and hit my shot.  It was another good one.  After walking to my ball, I lasered my approach shot at 130 yards, grabbed my 9 iron and hit the shot. 

Walking to the green, I found my ball resting about 20 feet from the cup.  When it was my turn, I stroked the putter and watched my ball take the slight one-foot left break into the cup.  OMG😱, I have birdied two holes in a row on the Old Course.  I told my playing partners; okay, I can go home now…nothing else could be any better than this.  Hello World, I just birdied two holes in a row on the Old Course! 🦅🦅                                 

My statement to my playing partners turned out to be true.  The rest of my round was un- eventful for scoring but did produce some good stories.  On the 16th hole, Yehia told me there are two landing areas for your tee shot, one left and one right.  I was advised the right landing area has several hidden bunkers, so play your tee shot into the left landing area, which I did successfully.

Arriving at my ball, I looked toward the green and saw a beautiful white flag waving and saying…..come to me.  🏳️   I shot my range finder at 150 yards, pulled my 7 iron and hit what looked to be a good shot.  I walked a straight line to the green and as I approached,  I could see one ball about 10 feet from the flag.  Sensing that was my ball, I walked up to it and then happened to notice that all of my playing partners were on the other side of the green, about 50 yards away.

My partners soon yelled to me, “you hit the wrong flag.”  It was only then that I remembered my partners telling me on the first tee box, some of the greens are double greens and you hit to the white flag on the out bound nine and the red flag on the inbound nine.  I had hit a perfect shot to the white flag for the 2nd hole, but I was playing the 16th hole. 🚩

Me>🏌️‍♂️_____________^^^___________Them>🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♂️⛳

If you have never tried hitting a 50-yard putt across humps and bumps it’s not a fun thing to do.  I ended up about 30 feet from the hole and made a six with a 4-putt.  After I putted out, Yehia shared with me that he had noticed I was a good chipper and advised that chipping off the green at St Andrews was perfectly acceptable.  Wait a minute I thought, isn’t that one of the sins against Nature? 🚷 Oh well, maybe next time.

Moving on, we approached the 17th hole, widely known as The Road Hole because an OB road runs down the right side of the fairway. The other dominate feature of this hole is the fact that a correct tee shot must be hit directly over the Old Course Hotel into the 17th fairway. 

No, when God created the Old Course, the hotel was not there. Originally this spot was the site of the railroad station house. When the railroad stopped coming to St Andrews, the property was purchased by the British Transport Group who built the hotel in 1968. The hotel was sold to Herb Kohler who owns it now in 2004.

Many of you have seen the hotel on TV and it’s an imposing structure standing several floors tall, and no you don’t have to hit over the tall building.  There is a shorter attached green building (see photo) and that is the obstacle you must hit over.

When we arrived at the 17th tee box, my trusty guide Andy, instructed me to aim at the O in the word Old (see photo below & arrow) and hit the ball over the building.  Apprehensive, I took aim and swung the driver.  As if guided by the golf gods, my ball lasered directly over the O and I was rewarded with big shout outs from my playing partners…..”great shot, you are exactly in the fairway.”

Feeling like I had just hit the tee shot to set up my 3rd birdie on the Old Course, I strutted down the Road and even posed for the picture below.  As I turned the front corner of the green building I could see my ball about 50 yards up in the fairway. 

Approaching the ball, I pulled out my range finder for a distance, mentally noting….hmmmm that flag sure looks a long way off?  I was exactly 249 yards from the flag and unaware the hole plays 427 yards from our tee box. My hopes for birdie # 3 quickly faded.  I fortunately managed to save bogey and was thankful for it.

I would be remiss not to mention some folks who helped make this dream of a lifetime come true.  My three previously mentioned playing partners were Yehia, Andy and Rich, (see our photo at start) all of who were wonderful hosts and without them my round would never have happened.  

Many thanks again to Rich who invited my wife and I to join them all for lunch at

their club, being The St Andrews Golf Club.  They also insisted that Katherine join us for our round and walk the course with us.  For that, we will both be eternally grateful for my wife (who also enjoys golf) to be able to share in my once in a lifetime experience.

Katherine, Andy, Larry & Yehia

(note local resident Andy in pink golf shirt while we all had jackets)

I also want to give a shout out to my good friend and golfing buddy Dr. Tony Parker, widely known golf historian and frequent guest on the Golf Channel.  Dr. T owns a home in St Andrews and hooked me up with my golf partners.  He is a member of the St Andrews Golf Club and has played over 1,000 rounds on the Old Course.

This is probably a good place to remind you that if you have somehow managed to clear all the hurdles to play the Old Course…DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY THIS COURSE WITHOUT A GUIDE!!!  I cannot emphasis this point more clearly.  My guides were the three members I played with and without them I would never have even found the 2nd tee box. 

Most of the tee shots on the Old Course are blind shots.  You will need a partner, guide, caddy or whoever to give you the target line.  Otherwise, you will hit your drive into a nasty bunker, a berm (big ditch) or the gorse (the big ugly bushes).

In the photo below, note the peaceful looking 15th fairway.  Nothing scary looking about this right? WRONG!!!  Hidden somewhere out there are 11 bunkers between you and the green.

If you don’t know the proper target aiming point, you will likely hit into one of those bunkers, which can prove to be deadly to your golf score.

Note in below photo, I’m aiming sideways as there was no escape to hit over the lip toward the green.

There are 112 bunkers on the Old Course.  I managed to escape the round by only hitting two bunkers, with one lost ball, thanks to the guidance from my partners on where to hit my golf shots. 

If you are not playing with someone who knows the course, pay the extra $85 caddy fee (+ tip) and HIRE a CADDY.  There is simply no way to navigate this course without local knowledge.

We finished our round on hole 18 exactly as predicted.  The photo below was taken from the 18th tee box.  By the time we had putted out on 18, it was dark.  Hence the designation…Dark Time!

The photo below is one of our favorites. As daylight quickly passes, St Andrews comes alive with it's lights.

And now for the Big Question…..what did you shoot?? 

My Round – Old Course Scorecard  

As the scorecard above will attest, I shot 92 on the most famous course in the world.  And as a certified 15 handicap, I’m dammed proud of that score.  I parred 1 & 18 and birdied 9 & 10, with some bogeys for the rest.  A better day of golf I’ve never had.  Many thanks again to my playing partners for making this possible.

I also want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read all of my blog posts about our travels to St Andrews and the adventure of a lifetime playing the Old Course.  This will be my final post about our trip to St Andrews and in case you missed any of the previous posts, please click on each of the installments as follows and read them all:

1. Travel Tips for Getting to St Andrews

2. Trip Tips About Lodging and Restaurants in St Andrews

3. How You Can Actually Play the Old Course

4. My Round on the Old Course

My original goal for this blog was to be informative and entertaining.  I hope I have succeeded by sharing our trip to St Andrews with you. And please, please....if you have enjoyed reading my blog, be sure to send the link to everyone you know who may enjoy and benefit from my stories. I would also greatly appreciate if you would click into the Comments Box at the very bottom of the blog site and leave me your thoughts about my blog.

As you have learned my Blog is free and I hope that all of you will continue to view my future posts and find them useful.  If you and/or your group are considering planning a golf trip and need some help, I would welcome the opportunity to assist you with your planning.  Please contact me at bgtriptips@gmail.com  if I can be of assistance.

I would also like to thank my daughter Elizabeth for building my web site and encouraging me to write this blog.  Elizabeth owns a Marketing & Events planning agency (www.thehouseofelizabeth.com) and if you ever need help planning a really big show/event, call her.  Just tell her you want the Dad Discount!!!

My final thanks go to my travel companion for 45 years:  to Katherine (K) who has followed me all over the world, walked every step with me and we both loved every minute of it.

As Chapter One has taken a lot for me to produce, with creating a web site and writing the content, I may take a little break before sharing another one of my golf trip adventures. But I promise not to wait too long to share more ideas, trip tips and stories with you.

Stay tuned for more to come. I’ll let you know when my next post will be published.

And don’t forget…. every golf shot makes somebody happy!