St Andrew's Links - The Old Course (Fife)

Located in Fife, St Andrew's Old Course is considered to be the oldest golf course in the world, with reports of the sport being played here as far back as the late 14th century. In April of this year, I was kindly invited by a good friend of mine to play at the home of golf for the first time. For a member at the club like him, it was just another round of golf, but to me, it was the moment I had been waiting for since I began playing this sport, a chance to step foot where the greatest to ever play the sport had also stepped. The green fee for the round was £220 which is by far the most I have paid for a round of golf to date, however, during the peak of the golf season this fee can be more than double what I paid, so keep that in mind.

I received a text message on the Saturday night that I would be teeing off at 8am on Monday morning, which is probably the only time I have ever been excited to wake up early. When the day arrived we had a quick warm up at the driving range and set off to the first tee. 

At the first tee, we were given a complimentary St Andrews Old Course valuables pouch containing everything that we would need for the round, including a shot saver, score cards, pencils, tees and a pitch mark repairer, which was a nice touch. 

I was filled with a range of emotions on the first tee, to be standing where all the greatest golfers have once stood was quite surreal, however added tremendously to my nerves, because If I was to remember any shots from today, the first would arguably be the most important. Luckily, I managed to hit it straight down the middle of the “widest fairway in golf”, which does not seem as wide when you are ready to play it.

 

The most memorable holes of the day were without a doubt the last 4, including the 17th hole which requires you to hit a shot over the roof of the Old Course Hotel, and my favourite being the 18^th hole, with the iconic “Swilican Bridge” making for a great photograph. 

The true highlight of the day however was the steak pie from the halfway house, which I managed to take one bite out of before it was stolen out of my hands by a seagull the size of an Alsatian, which looking back was hilarious but at the time I was devastated. aside from that, it was a great day out.