the evolution of the old course scott mcpherson

#The evolution of the old course scott mcpherson license#

Andrews Ghost Stories, said that in the 1860s “all the grassy-hollows were overgrown with long, rank benty grass or rushes.” Linskill, who later wrote the well-known book St. Andrews when he wrote that the Links in 1855 had been “much rougher than I found them on subsequent visits,” and that “The greens were in the ‘rough.’” W. In 1905, obscure Scottish author David Salmond did mention it in his book Reminiscences of Arbroath and St. “They all mention wind, bunkers, undulations, straths, etc., but never rough.” “One thing that every piece I’ve read by Alister MacKenzie, Bernard Darwin, and other Old Course experts has in common is the complete absence of the word,” he adds. English golf historian Lee Patterson says that in all the books and passages he’s read about the course he can’t remember a single mention of rough. If you go more than a few decades into the past, you’d have a job finding many references to rough on the Old Course. Andrews has grown steadily over the past 100 years, and there’s probably too much for purists now, but most of it is fairly thin and wispy, not the dense, impenetrable stuff the USGA prefers. True, the amount of maintained rough at St. Rough, as we know it, isn’t really a thing on the Old Course-never has been. Open, a good many PGA Championships, and the occasional Open Championship, especially after a wet spring in Britain or Northern Ireland. Sunday matches can also be played when the Old Course hosts another tournament, for example in August 2007 when it hosted the Women's British Open for the first time in its history (won by Lorena Ochoa).Dropping a ball into long, lush rough and watching it more or less disappear before turning to their camera phone and commenting on how brutal (always “brutal”) the grass is, then posting the video to social media, has become something of a ritual for players at major championships. Some of the best golfers in history have won at St.Īndrews: Tiger Woods (twice), John Daly, Nick Faldo, Severiano Ballesteros or Jack Nicklaus (twice) have been some of them. Andrews takes that success to the next level, not least because of the course's long tradition. If winning the British Open is a huge success for any golfer, winning it at St. The final day of the British Open (provided it is staged on the Old Course, i.e.Įvery five years or so).

Another differentiating element of the Old Course is that it is closed on Sundays to allow the course to 'rest' In fact, the route is transformed on Sundays into a huge park for the enjoyment of the inhabitants of the town, where they can walk, go for a picnic or simply contemplate the landscape.Īs a general rule, it is only allowed to play golf two Sundays a year: The final day of the Dunhill Links Championship, an annual event organized by the European Tour. Originally, the direction of play was changed every week to allow the grass to recover better. Another unique feature is that the tour can be done clockwise or counterclockwise.Ĭurrently, the usual method of play is counterclockwise, although one day a year counterclockwise play is allowed. One of the main characteristics of the Old Course is its immense double greens, where seven of them are shared by two different holes in fact, only holes 1, 9, 17 and 18 have a single green. As interest in the sport increased, the course was extended by a second course, as well as increasing the size of the greens and shortening two holes. Originally, it was played on the same ground that had a small number of holes. However, documents dating to the reign of James IV of Scotland show that he purchased land at St.Īndrews in 1506, just four years after he had purchased other land in Perth, which would indicate the Old Course is significantly older than written evidence shows Archived at the Wayback Machine.

#The evolution of the old course scott mcpherson license#

The first written document that we have is a license granted in 1552 that allowed the community to raise rabbits in the links and 'play golf, soccer, schuteing.Īnd other types of pastimes' The first record of the game of golf at the Old Course dates back to 1574, which would make this course the fifth oldest links in Scotland.

There is no record of when golf began to be played on the land that today forms the Old Course.

The clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) is located next to the start of hole 1, and although it seems that the course belongs to the club, the truth is that there are several clubs that enjoy the privilege of playing in that field. The course is run by an entity called 'The St Andrews Links Trust' under the supervision of the Scottish Parliament.