Tell us about hole 9, in my opinion, the worst hole on the course.
Help with planning Scotland trip
- Thread starter Canary_Yellow
- Start date
Tell us about hole 9, in my opinion, the worst hole on the course.
richart
Major Champion
Driveable down wind, and into the wind fairway bunkers in play. Little left and you are in the gorse. Not my favourite hole, but certainly not a bad one in my opinion.
PhilTheFragger
Provider of Entertainment for the Golfing Gods 🙄
It’s all about opinions
Agree to disagree and move on , or start a separate thread on the old course
Agree to disagree and move on , or start a separate thread on the old course
Jimaroid
Journeyman Pro
I think I could write a book about every hole on the old course but really what’s the point? It’s been done before... but I’d like to give it a go one day.
It is worth a dedicated thread of its own because, like it or not, it’s possibly the most talked about and divisive course on the planet. Good or bad is irrelevant - it’s just a fascinating curiosity of golf and there’s nothing else that I’ve yet played like it. In my mind the uniquely brilliant thing about the old course is that it does have weak and strong holes - it’s a great example of what the whole spectrum of golf should be. It gives and it takes in equal measure, rough versus smooth, yin versus yang, it’s a naturally balanced course of positive and negative. I don’t think anyone could or would design a course like it from scratch if they had a blank canvas and that in my opinion is a good reason why it’s special even if it’s not the best on every hole.
It is worth a dedicated thread of its own because, like it or not, it’s possibly the most talked about and divisive course on the planet. Good or bad is irrelevant - it’s just a fascinating curiosity of golf and there’s nothing else that I’ve yet played like it. In my mind the uniquely brilliant thing about the old course is that it does have weak and strong holes - it’s a great example of what the whole spectrum of golf should be. It gives and it takes in equal measure, rough versus smooth, yin versus yang, it’s a naturally balanced course of positive and negative. I don’t think anyone could or would design a course like it from scratch if they had a blank canvas and that in my opinion is a good reason why it’s special even if it’s not the best on every hole.
Canary_Yellow
Journeyman Pro
The trip has now been and gone, but what a trip it was.
We were blessed by the weather gods and enjoyed almost non-stop sunshine from Thursday to Sunday. Although there was still a bit of wind around, particularly in the afternoons, I'd wager the conditions were more or less as calm as they ever are in St Andrews.
We also got lucky with the ballot, playing the Old Course on the Saturday with a 6:50am tee time.
In the end, our itinerary was as follows:
Thursday : An early flight up, some time soaking up the atmosphere in St Andrews and then played the Dukes (followed by fish and chips from the Anstruther chippy - top notch it was too)
Friday: Jubilee in the morning, lunch at the Castle clubhouse (beautiful views, great service, decent food) and then played the Castle in the afternoon, followed by a curry in St Andrews (Maisha after a recommendation on here and it was great (thanks D4S - I think it was you))
Saturday: Old Course in the morning, lunch at the Jigger Inn and then the Eden in the afternoon
Sunday: New Course, late brekkie in the St Andrews Links Clubhouse, the Himalayas putting green followed by an afternoon in Edinburgh and a late flight home.
Across the four days we walked about 53 miles! I don't think I've ever maximised my time on a 4 day holiday to the extent we did on this one, and I really don't think we could have squeezed any more in than we did!
We stayed in Elie which is a lovely little place, although in truth we spent very little time there at all, but did manage a little meander round the edge of the course and down on to the beach.
If anyone else is planning a trip, there's some really good advice already in this thread, but feel free to drop me a note as I'd be happy to help.
We were blessed by the weather gods and enjoyed almost non-stop sunshine from Thursday to Sunday. Although there was still a bit of wind around, particularly in the afternoons, I'd wager the conditions were more or less as calm as they ever are in St Andrews.
We also got lucky with the ballot, playing the Old Course on the Saturday with a 6:50am tee time.
In the end, our itinerary was as follows:
Thursday : An early flight up, some time soaking up the atmosphere in St Andrews and then played the Dukes (followed by fish and chips from the Anstruther chippy - top notch it was too)
Friday: Jubilee in the morning, lunch at the Castle clubhouse (beautiful views, great service, decent food) and then played the Castle in the afternoon, followed by a curry in St Andrews (Maisha after a recommendation on here and it was great (thanks D4S - I think it was you))
Saturday: Old Course in the morning, lunch at the Jigger Inn and then the Eden in the afternoon
Sunday: New Course, late brekkie in the St Andrews Links Clubhouse, the Himalayas putting green followed by an afternoon in Edinburgh and a late flight home.
Across the four days we walked about 53 miles! I don't think I've ever maximised my time on a 4 day holiday to the extent we did on this one, and I really don't think we could have squeezed any more in than we did!
We stayed in Elie which is a lovely little place, although in truth we spent very little time there at all, but did manage a little meander round the edge of the course and down on to the beach.
If anyone else is planning a trip, there's some really good advice already in this thread, but feel free to drop me a note as I'd be happy to help.
KenL
Tour Rookie
Sounds absolutely fantastic.
Now you need to tell us what you thought of all those courses ;-)
Now you need to tell us what you thought of all those courses ;-)
Curls
Journeyman Pro
Sounds like a great trip! I looked back through the thread for any tips but your summary post is the best OP, the rest of it reads pretty much exactly like my thread in "Arrange a Game" asking if anyone wanted to go in for the ballot at TOC.
Suffice to say the question was never answered
Suffice to say the question was never answered
Canary_Yellow
Journeyman Pro
Haha! I enjoyed each and every one of them. I realise your post is slightly tongue in cheek based on what's been said about all of these courses before, but I'm going to share my view anyway!
The Dukes is very different to any of the others, and although I understand some people don't like the big corporate experience (it belongs to the Old Course Hotel, for those that don't know) I thought it was a lovely course and the standard of the service we received from the staff their was fantastic - nice grass range and free balls to warm up with too - £40 on a twilight is a great price. We got lucky I think because we played it at 4pm after they'd had an all day comp on with a shotgun start, so by the time we were off the course was completely empty. We let a couple of groups through us as they were in buggies, and although I wouldn't consider taking a buggy out as for me the walk is part of the experience, the Dukes is a very long walk indeed. The course is long and there are long walks between green and tee. Beautiful views and lovely bunkering, although my playing partner got a bit fed up with just how many bunkers there were, primarily because he kept going in them!
The Castle course is breath taking. I've never played on a course with such wonderful views. Regardless of whether you think some aspects of it (the lumpy greens and the chunks of rough in the middle of the fairway that aren't visible from the tee, for example) are a bit silly / extreme, it's well worth playing. The views are simply stunning. I'd need to play it again at least once to give a view on whether I think it's a great course or not, when you only play a course once it's hard to get a feel for how many different ways there are to play a hole, but it is certainly a very good test of all aspects of ones game. Probably not somewhere I'd like to play week in week out, but from time to time it's somewhere I'd love to play again.
The Eden was a pleasant surprise, the front 9 in particular. I really enjoyed the first couple of holes, the third was lovely coming round to the estuary, and the cross over 5th and 8th par 3s are as good as almost any of the other par 3s on the links courses of St Andrews (the 11th on the Old Course being the one that stands out in my memory as better and probably the 9th on the New). The back isn't as strong as the front 9, particularly when you get down to the bottom near the pond, but as a relatively short course (a bit under 6,000 yards off the yellows) its a great one to do as an afternoon round. It is the 5th course at St Andrews, but I would say it's well worth playing - some of the greens are excellent. I had a superb misread on the 4th green, thinking it was relatively flat where the pin was I rolled it nice and gently and watched with horror as it took a 90 degree right turn and down a steep slope towards the estuary!
The Jubilee and New are lovely courses. A proper links experience with some really good holes. The 9th on the New springs to my mind; what a great par 3. From the tee it's hard to aim far enough right as it looks like you're going in the long grass but the banks around the green collect it and feed it in. Again, I'd need to play both courses again to get a really good feel for their relative strengths and weaknesses, it's very hard to appreciate their nuances from just the one round. In my mind I favour the New but that's because I shot 79 round it which was far and away my best round of the trip!
The Old Course is a wonderful experience. There are a plethora of other courses in the world, probably even in the UK, that are more beautiful or have more interesting holes, or better designs from a technical perspective, but there is no course in the world that can come close to the experience the Old Course gives you teeing off on the 1st and playing the 17th and 18th. I think magical is the only description I can give it. Also, everyone that plays it will have their own story because there are so many iconic holes; in our round, my playing partner parred the first while I had a double bogey having dunked my second in the Swilcan Burn, then on the 17th he hit his on the Old Course Hotel roof while I boomed a drive straight over the corner and managed a par, he got up and down from the Road bunker to save double bogey (par with his second ball), and to top it off I also managed a trip into the valley of sin on the 18th (which is much deeper than it looks on TV).
I really enjoyed the 11th hole too, having hit the green with my first shot, albeit quite wide, I managed to putt off the back of the green with my second trying to get it up to a pin at the back! A perfect demonstration of why some call it the shortest par 5 in golf!
I can't imagine anyone regretting stumping up £180 to play it for the first time. It's impossible not to have a big grin plastered all over your face walking up 18 and putting out with a crowd watching. There's no other course that can match that, it's unique. Cabby might be right that for those fortunate to have played it a lot, the novelty may or may not wear off, but for the vast majority, they will never be lucky enough to have that problem. I feel I need to play it a couple of times to fully appreciate some of the subtlety to its design that is impossible to appreciate having played it only once.
Sounds like a great trip! I looked back through the thread for any tips but your summary post is the best OP, the rest of it reads pretty much exactly like my thread in "Arrange a Game" asking if anyone wanted to go in for the ballot at TOC.
Suffice to say the question was never answered
I think I might have actually taken a couple of tips from Pendodave's thread rather than this one!
In relation to the ballot, we got lucky on our third and final attempt, but I would say for anyone that happens to be in St Andrews and wants to play the Old Course, get down to the Old Pavilion early on in the day every day and try your luck. We were the third group out went as a two ball in the end as the other two players didn't turn up and everyone else waiting to play had already been allocated a tee time. I'm sure there are other days where people turn up as a single and don't get out at all, but all I'm saying is don't assume that is the case because it isn't. If you don't get lucky in the ballot there's no harm in wandering down if you can haul yourself out of bed early enough!
I think you have summed up exactly what I've been saying about TOC since I've been on here, a magnificent experience, and other than the 11th, it's.....err.....hmmm...anyway, really glad you enjoyed your time, you certainly filled it with golf.
Curls
Journeyman Pro
Great stuff, that's a great summary of the other courses in town and I'll keep it in mind should I find myself with a day to spare - thanks chap. And as for hauling myself out of bed, don't worry I'm positive it'd be worth it! I'd just like the certainty of a tee time if at all possible so I could really look forward to it, fingers crossed someone is up for it closer to the event.
Thanks again :thup:
D
Deleted member 21258
Guest
Thanks for the write up, great read. :thup:
Am hoping to enter the ballot in August(3 ball) and will be crossing our fingers and have got a few days to get lucky with. If we don't get a time will have to play one of the other courses you mentioned.
Am hoping to enter the ballot in August(3 ball) and will be crossing our fingers and have got a few days to get lucky with. If we don't get a time will have to play one of the other courses you mentioned.
D
Deleted member 17920
Guest
Great write up and glad you enjoyed all the courses. I still haven't found anything in golf that comes close to the buzz teeing off on the 1st hole.
Do you wish you had stayed in St Andrews?
I stopped a few miles away when I went for the week, really wished I had stayed in the town.
Do you wish you had stayed in St Andrews?
I stopped a few miles away when I went for the week, really wished I had stayed in the town.
Captainron
Big Hitting, South African Sweary Person
I am glad that you enjoyed your time up there. If you hadn't we would all be questioning your sanity :lol:
Great little write up and I hope more people decide to go up and do this sort of trip because it is brilliant.
Great little write up and I hope more people decide to go up and do this sort of trip because it is brilliant.
Canary_Yellow
Journeyman Pro
Yes and no. We were able to find somewhere really cheap to stay by staying away from St Andrews (£60 a night on Airbnb). Accommodation in St Andrews is quite pricey, also I suspect it would be difficult to find somewhere for a sensible price that wouldn't require a short drive to the golf courses or town anyway. I think the main benefit of staying in St Andrews itself would be the evenings and being able to pop into town for dinner etc.
I think had we been there longer than 3 nights we would have started to get tired of the 20 min drive to and from St Andrews!
