Old Course at St Andrews
Golf played here since the early 1400s, par 72 over 6,670 yards. Fourteen of the holes share seven double greens.
On the first tee of the Old Course, the R&A clubhouse is at your back and the whole of the links is laid out ahead.
Golf has been played here on the edge of St Andrews for some 600 years, and it's still a public course, open to anyone who can get a tee time. The holes run out towards the Eden estuary and back, sharing huge double greens, and the round ends over the little Swilcan Bridge to the 18th green, right in the town. Getting on takes planning, through the daily ballot, the singles draw or a package booked a year ahead. It's closed to golf on Sundays, when the links belong to walkers.
Jack Nicklaus played his last professional round at the 2005 Open and stopped on this bridge to wave goodbye. The moment went on a Bank of Scotland £5 note.
The burn used to wander across the links. Its stone banks were built in 1834 and 1835, fixing its course for the first time, and today it's a penalty area on the card.
The club began on 14 May 1754 as the Society of St Andrews Golfers, when twenty-two noblemen and gentlemen put up a silver club to be played for. It became the Royal and Ancient in 1834, and its clubhouse went up behind the 1st tee from 1854.
18 holes. Par 72 and 6,670 yards from the black tees, down to 6,044 from the green.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Burn | Dyke | Cartgate (Out) | Ginger Beer | Hole O'Cross (Out) | Heathery (Out) | High (Out) | Short | End | Bobby Jones | High (In) | Heathery (In) | Hole O'Cross (In) | Long | Cartgate (In) | Corner of the Dyke | Road | Tom Morris | |||
| Black | 367 | 400 | 366 | 413 | 519 | 368 | 359 | 170 | 349 | 3,311 | 341 | 173 | 309 | 414 | 527 | 415 | 377 | 449 | 354 | 3,359 | 6,670 |
| Blue | 355 | 385 | 344 | 402 | 509 | 358 | 347 | 157 | 290 | 3,147 | 310 | 164 | 299 | 391 | 514 | 391 | 346 | 427 | 366 | 3,208 | 6,355 |
| Green | 346 | 368 | 322 | 397 | 462 | 324 | 340 | 143 | 263 | 2,965 | 296 | 154 | 299 | 379 | 492 | 369 | 327 | 417 | 346 | 3,079 | 6,044 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Women's par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 38 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 38 | 76 |
| Stroke index | 10 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 17 | |||
| Women's stroke index | 12 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 15 | |||
| Score |
The holes tinted yellow are the highlights below. Press one to read about it.
The course runs out towards the Eden estuary and back alongside the outward holes, so most greens are shared: a hole going out has a white flag, and a hole coming home a red one. Only the 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th have a green of their own.
1Burn
One of the widest fairways in golf, shared with the 18th, with the R&A clubhouse behind the tee. The Swilcan Burn that gives the hole its name runs right in front of the green, and there isn't a single bunker.
- 11
High (In)
A short hole to a green shared with the 7th, sloping from back to front, with the Eden estuary behind and the Hill and Strath bunkers in front. In 1921 Bobby Jones picked up his ball in Hill bunker and walked away from his first Open here.
- 14
Long
The longest hole on the course and the hardest on the card. Out of bounds runs down the right. The Links Trust's advice is to drive for the stretch of fairway called the Elysian Fields, and the second shot has to stay out of Hell Bunker.
- 17
Road
The drive goes over the corner of the old railway sheds beside the Old Course Hotel. The green is shallow, with the Road Hole bunker cut into its front left and the road itself just behind, in play.
- 18
Tom Morris
Named after Old Tom Morris, who built its green. You drive at the clock on the R&A clubhouse, cross the Swilcan Bridge on the walk up, and the hollow in front of the green is the Valley of Sin.
The Old Course at St Andrews, a public links played for some 600 years, with its double greens and the Swilcan Bridge on the walk up the 18th.
- Holes
- 18
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 6,670
- The Open
- 30 times
- Established
- c. 1400
Booking
No tee sheet to book into: enter the daily ballot or the singles draw, or take a package a year ahead. Handicap 36 or under, with a certificate.
Green fees, 2026
- 21 April to 18 October£355
- Early April, late October£240 to £250
- November to March£180
To hire
- Caddie£80
- Clubs£42.50 a day
- Battery trolley£22.50
- Manual trolley£6.50
The clubhouse
The Tom Morris Bar and Grill in the Links Clubhouse looks out on golfers teeing off the Old Course.
The Old Pavilion by the 1st tee serves tea, coffee and snacks.
Only four holes on the Old Course at St Andrews have a green of their own; every other green is shared by two holes.
The first, ninth, seventeenth and eighteenth stand alone. On the shared greens the two hole numbers always add up to eighteen, as the second and sixteenth do.
The sat-nav address is the Links Clubhouse on West Sands Road, St Andrews, KY16 9XL, where the parking is free, and you drop your clubs at the Old Pavilion by the 1st tee.
St Andrews has no station: Leuchars is about ten minutes away by bus or taxi, and Edinburgh Airport is about an hour's drive.
Scotland, in print.
Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.
More courses in Fife, and the collections this one is in.
For further reading, before you go.
- Ways to play the Old CourseThe Links Trust's Old Course page: how to get a round, the 2026 fees and every hole.standrews.com↗
- The daily ballotHow to enter, for two to four golfers, and when it closes.standrews.com↗
- The Singles Daily DrawFor golfers on their own: where and when to enter, the day before.standrews.com↗
- The Swilcan PackageA round guaranteed a year ahead, with one on another Links course.standrews.com↗
- The scorecardEvery tee, every par and stroke index, with the local rules.assets-eu-01.kc-usercontent.comPDF↗
- Before your roundHandicap certificates, checking in at the Old Pavilion, and what to wear.standrews.com↗
- The history of the linksThe Links Trust's timeline, from the early 1400s to today.standrews.com↗
- The Old Course reversedThe few days each spring when the course is played the old way round.standrews.com↗
- Clubhouses and facilitiesThe Links Clubhouse, the Old Pavilion and the rest, with opening hours.standrews.com↗
- The Tom Morris Bar and GrillThe restaurant in the Links Clubhouse, and how to book a table.standrews.com↗
- Golf Monthly on the Old CourseA review of the course, with its key facts.golfmonthly.com↗
- Top 100 Golf CoursesThe course, its history and golfers' reviews.top100golfcourses.com↗
- Scottish Golf HistoryGolf at St Andrews from the first records, with the old maps.scottishgolfhistory.org↗
- The Swilcan Bridge listingHistoric Environment Scotland's record of the Golfers' Bridge.portal.historicenvironment.scot↗