Scotland · Scotland · Nature / Old Tom Morris
Old Course, St Andrews
James Kinloch
Golf Travel Specialist · played this course
The Old Course is not a golf course. It's a place. The distinction matters — because when you stand on the first tee and look out over the shared fairways, the shared bunkers, the town visible along the entire left side, you're not about to play golf in the conventional sense. You're about to walk through six hundred years of the game's history, and the course is doing its best to make you feel every one of them.
The golf itself is extraordinary once you understand it. Blind shots are intentional, not poor design — they existed before the rules did. The bunkers have names, earned through specific moments: Hell bunker on the 14th has swallowed legitimate attempts at major championship birdie for over a century. The Road Hole, 17th, par-4, 495 yards, remains the most discussed single hole in the game.
The ballot is genuinely random. We enter every group in the ballot and supplement with confirmed tee times on the Jubilee Course. Getting on is part of the experience. Not getting on is also part of the experience.
Signature hole
Par-4 17th, Road Hole, 495 yards
"The tee shot over the Old Course Hotel, the approach to a narrow green backed by the road and a stone wall, the Road Bunker waiting front-left. The most famous hole in golf. I've made par here once in eleven attempts."
Designer
Nature / Old Tom Morris
Par
72
Yardage
7,305
Green fee
from £290
Best for
Best time to go
April to October. June and July for the longest days. September for the quietest tee sheet.
Play Old
James can arrange tee times, transfers, and accommodation around this course. One call is all it takes.
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