Can the public play the Old Course at St Andrews?

Yes. The Old Course is a public course, not a private club. Anyone with a valid handicap can play it. Tee times are released two ways: a share is sold as advance bookings up to a year ahead, and the rest are allocated through a daily ballot. Visitors enter the ballot by 2pm two days before they want to play, as a group of two, three or four, and find out that evening whether they were drawn. Single golfers cannot enter the ballot but can join the daily single-player queue at the starter's box. The Old Course is closed to play every Sunday; locals walk it instead.

What is the Road Hole at St Andrews?

The Road Hole is the 17th, a par 4 of roughly 495 yards and regularly the hardest hole in Open Championship golf by stroke average. The tee shot is semi-blind, played over the corner of the Old Course Hotel (which stands where the old railway sheds once did) with only a painted line on the wall for aim. The green is defended at the front-left by the Road Hole bunker, a small, steep-faced pot bunker that has cost championships, and at the back by a sealed road and a low stone wall. The road and wall are not a hazard: a ball that finishes there is played as it lies. In the 1978 Open, Tommy Nakajima needed four shots to escape the bunker and made a 9.

What are the double greens at St Andrews?

Fourteen of the 18 holes on the Old Course share seven enormous double greens, each serving one outward hole and one inward hole. The pairs are 2 and 16, 3 and 15, 4 and 14, 5 and 13, 6 and 12, 7 and 11, and 8 and 10. Holes 1, 9, 17 and 18 have their own single greens. The double greens grew naturally as the course was played out and back along a narrow strip of links land. Outward holes fly a white flag and inward holes a red flag so players can tell which target is theirs. Some of these greens are over an acre in size, and a putt across one can be more than 100 feet long.

When is the next Open Championship at St Andrews?

The Old Course is scheduled to host the 155th Open Championship in July 2027. It will be the 31st Open played at St Andrews. The Open visited the Old Course most recently in 2022 for the 150th edition, won by Cameron Smith, so the 2027 staging keeps to the venue's usual rhythm of a return every five to six years.

Has Rory McIlroy won an Open Championship at St Andrews?

No. Rory McIlroy has won The Open once, in 2014 at Royal Liverpool, but not at St Andrews. His Old Course record is vivid all the same. In the 2010 Open he opened with a 63 to tie the course record, then shot 80 in the second round in heavy wind, the largest gap between two successive rounds in the history of the Open at St Andrews, and recovered to finish third. In the 2022 150th Open he was the third-round co-leader and played in the final group, but managed only two birdies on Sunday and finished third again, two strokes behind Cameron Smith. The 2027 Open at St Andrews is one of the clearest remaining gaps on his record.

St Andrews Old Course: A Guided Tour of the Home of Golf

Q: Where is the Old Course at St Andrews?

The Old Course is in the town of St Andrews on the Fife coast of eastern Scotland, about an hour and a half north of Edinburgh by road. It is the senior course of the St Andrews Links, a public golf complex of seven courses laid out on the links land between the town and the West Sands beach. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club clubhouse, a grey stone building, sits directly behind the first tee and the eighteenth green; the town itself, with its university and cathedral ruins, frames the closing holes.

Q: Why is St Andrews called the Home of Golf?

Golf has been played on the links at St Andrews since at least the 1400s, longer than anywhere with a continuous record. Two things the modern game takes for granted were settled here: the round of 18 holes, fixed in 1764 when the course was reduced from 22 holes to 18, and much of the early rule-making, carried out by the Society of St Andrews Golfers, founded in 1754 and later renamed the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. The R&A remains one of the two bodies that govern golf worldwide. For those reasons St Andrews, and the Old Course in particular, is universally called the Home of Golf.

Q: What is the Swilcan Bridge?

The Swilcan Bridge is a small arched stone footbridge that crosses the Swilcan Burn on the 18th hole of the Old Course. It is far older than golf at St Andrews, built centuries ago for shepherds moving livestock across the burn, and is one of the most photographed structures in sport. Players walking up the 18th cross it on the way to the final green, and it has become the traditional spot for a farewell photograph: Jack Nicklaus paused there in his last Open in 2005, as did Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer in their farewells. Visitors who play the course almost always stop for the same picture.

Q: What is the Valley of Sin?

The Valley of Sin is a deep, broad hollow cut into the front-left of the 18th green at the Old Course. An approach shot that is short or drifts left funnels down into it, leaving a long, awkward putt or chip up a steep face to the flag. It has decided Opens: in 1995 Costantino Rocca holed a putt from the Valley of Sin on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with John Daly, one of the most dramatic strokes in Open history. The name captures the mood of a player who has just hit a good drive on a short par 4 and then watched the approach trickle into the hollow.

Q: How many Open Championships has St Andrews hosted?

The Old Course at St Andrews has hosted The Open Championship 30 times, the first in 1873 and the most recent in 2022, when it staged the 150th Open. That is more than any other course on the Open rota. Recent St Andrews champions include Tiger Woods (2000 and 2005), Louis Oosthuizen (2010), Zach Johnson (2015) and Cameron Smith (2022). St Andrews returns to the rota roughly every five to six years.

The Home Of Golf

The Old Course at St Andrews, on the Fife coast of eastern Scotland, is the oldest and most famous golf course in the world. Golf has been played on this strip of links land since the 1400s, and the modern game inherited some of its basic conventions here: the Old Course settled on 18 holes in 1764, and a round of golf has been 18 holes ever since. The course is public, owned by the people of St Andrews and run by the St Andrews Links Trust; the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, one of golf's two governing bodies, has its clubhouse directly behind the first tee. The Old Course has hosted The Open Championship 30 times, more than any other venue, and the 155th Open returns there in July 2027.

This guide walks the Old Course hole by hole, explains the features that make it unlike anywhere else (the double greens, the shared fairways, the Road Hole, the Swilcan Bridge), covers how an ordinary visitor actually gets a tee time, and places Rory McIlroy's St Andrews record in context ahead of the 2027 Open.

The Headline Numbers

30

Open Championships hosted

1400s

golf first played here

7

shared double greens

18

holes (the standard set here, 1764)

72

par, ~7,300 yards

2027

next Open, the 155th

The Course: St Andrews Links

The Old Course was not designed. It grew. For centuries golfers played out along a narrow neck of links land between the town of St Andrews and the West Sands beach, then turned and played home along the same ground. The course took its modern shape through use, through the work of greenkeeper and clubmaker Old Tom Morris in the 19th century, and through small adjustments since. There is no single architect's signature on it, which is precisely what makes it unusual: every feature has a reason rooted in how the land lies and how the game was actually played.

Owner / managerSt Andrews Links Trust (public)

Governing clubThe Royal and Ancient Golf Club

LocationSt Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Par72

Yardage (championship)~7,300 yards

Greens7 shared double greens

Shaped byOld Tom Morris and centuries of play

ClosedEvery Sunday

The land is famously flat to the eye and full of trouble underfoot. Roughly 112 bunkers are scattered across the course, most of them small, deep, steep-faced pot bunkers, and almost all of them named: Hell, the Principal's Nose, the Beardies, the Coffins, Strath, the Road Hole bunker. The Old Course has no water beyond the Swilcan Burn near the first and last holes, no trees in play, and no rough in the American sense. Its defence is the wind off the North Sea, the firmness of the turf, the blind shots, and the bunkers that a wayward ball finds as if drawn to them. On a calm day the scoring can be very low; in a stiff breeze the same course is one of the hardest in golf.

Seven Greens, Fourteen Holes

The single most distinctive feature of the Old Course is its double greens. Fourteen of the 18 holes share seven huge greens, each one serving an outward hole and an inward hole at the same time. The pairs are 2 and 16, 3 and 15, 4 and 14, 5 and 13, 6 and 12, 7 and 11, and 8 and 10. Only holes 1, 9, 17 and 18 have a green to themselves.

This grew naturally from playing out and back along a thin corridor of land: rather than build separate greens side by side, golfers simply widened what they had. Some of these greens cover more than an acre, and a putt across one can be over 100 feet long, longer than many full pitch shots. Because two flags share a surface, the Old Course marks them by colour: outward holes fly a white flag, inward holes a red flag, so a player always knows which target is theirs. The first and eighteenth also share something famous, the widest fairway in championship golf, a single expanse of turf so broad that the tee shot is almost impossible to miss. The skill the Old Course asks for is not hitting the fairway. It is knowing which part of that enormous ground leaves the right angle in.

Out: The First Seven Holes

The Old Course plays out away from the town along the coast, then loops at the far end and returns. The outward holes set up the round and introduce its language: the burn, the shared ground, the named bunkers.

HOLE 1BurnPar 4 · ~376 yds

The most photographed opening tee shot in golf, played from beside the R&A clubhouse over the widest fairway in the game. The challenge is all in the approach: the Swilcan Burn runs tight across the front of the green, swallowing anything short. A simple-looking hole that has unsettled major champions on the first swing of the day.

HOLE 4Ginger BeerPar 4 · ~480 yds

Named for a refreshment stall that once stood nearby. A mound short of the green hides the putting surface and bunkers from the fairway, the first of the Old Course's many blind features, where the right line matters more than the obvious one.

HOLE 5Hole O'Cross (Out)Par 5 · ~570 yds

The first par 5, sharing one of the largest double greens on the course with the 13th. Reachable in two downwind, but the green is so vast that a long putt for eagle can still be a three-putt for par.

HOLE 7High (Out)Par 4 · ~370 yds

The hole that begins the loop. The fairway crosses the line of the 11th, and the Shell bunker waits to catch a drive hit too boldly. Short in yardage, but the angles tighten here as the course turns.

The Loop: Holes 7 To 11

At the far end of the property the Old Course turns back on itself in a tight cluster known simply as the Loop. It holds the two shortest holes on the course and the best run of birdie chances, which is exactly why it can be so dangerous: a player chasing a score here often hands strokes back instead.

HOLE 8ShortPar 3 · ~175 yds

One of only two par 3s on the Old Course. A mid-iron to a green protected by a deep bunker on the front-left. Honest and gettable, the kind of hole a good round is expected to make par or better on.

HOLE 10Bobby JonesPar 4 · ~385 yds

Renamed for the great amateur Bobby Jones, who was made a Freeman of the Burgh of St Andrews in 1958. A short par 4, drivable for the longest hitters with the wind helping, and a clear scoring opportunity at the heart of the Loop.

HOLE 11High (In)Par 3 · ~174 yds

The famous short par 3, played to a green that falls away sharply and is guarded by the deep Strath bunker and the Hill bunker. The downhill, swirling tee shot has wrecked scorecards for a century. It was here, in the 1921 Open, that a young Bobby Jones tore up his card in frustration; he later came to call St Andrews the course he loved above all others.

Coming Home: Holes 12 To 16

The inward holes run back toward the town, and the wind that helped on the way out usually turns into a problem on the way home. This stretch holds the Old Course's longest hole and its most cunning bunkering before the famous finish.

HOLE 14LongPar 5 · ~618 yds

The longest hole on the Old Course, and home to Hell bunker, a vast, deep sand pit set in the middle of the fairway that must be carried or skirted. In the 1995 Open, Jack Nicklaus took four strokes to escape Hell and made a 10. The hole asks a clear question off the tee and a braver one on the second shot.

HOLE 16Corner Of The DykePar 4 · ~420 yds

The drive is squeezed between out-of-bounds on the right and the Principal's Nose, a tight cluster of three bunkers in the fairway. The safe line is left; the bold line, threading between the bunkers and the boundary, leaves the best angle in. A quiet, decisive hole before the Road Hole.

The Road Hole: The 17th

The 17th, the Road Hole, is regularly the hardest hole in Open Championship golf by stroke average, and it is the hole most associated with the Old Course's reputation for quietly cruel design. It is a par 4 of roughly 495 yards that does almost nothing the modern game expects a hole to do.

The tee shot is semi-blind. Players aim over the corner of the Old Course Hotel, which stands where the old black railway sheds used to be, with only a painted line on the wall to aim at. Carry too little and the angle to the green is gone; carry too much and the ball runs through the fairway. The green sits at a stubborn diagonal, long and shallow, defended at the front-left by the Road Hole bunker, a small, almost vertical-faced pot bunker that has cost championships outright. Behind the green is a sealed road and a low stone wall, and here is the hole's most famous quirk: the road and wall are not a hazard. A ball that finishes against the wall is played as it lies. Putting off the road, or even chipping off it, is part of the test.

In the 1978 Open, Tommy Nakajima reached the 17th green in two, then putted his ball into the Road Hole bunker and needed four shots to get out, making a 9. The bunker has been called the Sands of Nakajima ever since. The Road Hole bunker, 17th, the Old Course

The professional play is conservative: take the bunker and the road out of the equation, aim for the front of the green or the safe ground short of it, and accept that par on the Road Hole is a score gained, not a chance missed. Amateurs who try to be heroes here make the numbers that ruin a card.

The 18th: Tom Morris, The Swilcan Bridge And The Valley Of Sin

The 18th, named for Old Tom Morris, is one of the most recognisable closing holes in sport, and on paper one of the gentlest: a par 4 of about 357 yards, shared fairway with the first, no bunker in play off the tee, drivable for a professional. Its drama is human, not architectural.

Walking up the 18th, players cross the Swilcan Bridge, a small arched stone footbridge over the Swilcan Burn that is far older than golf itself, built centuries ago for shepherds moving livestock. It has become the traditional spot for a farewell photograph: Jack Nicklaus paused there in his last Open in 2005, Arnold Palmer before him, Tom Watson after. Just short and left of the green lies the Valley of Sin, a deep hollow that gathers any approach that is short or drawn, leaving a long, steep putt or chip to the flag.

The 18th has decided Opens both ways. In 1970, Doug Sanders missed a putt of barely three feet on the final green to win The Open, then lost the next day's playoff to Nicklaus. In 1995, Costantino Rocca holed a putt from the Valley of Sin on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with John Daly. The R&A clubhouse, the town's grey rooftops and a crowd packed along the railings frame all of it.

Thirty Opens: The Home Of The Championship

The Old Course has hosted The Open Championship 30 times, beginning in 1873 and most recently in 2022, when it staged the 150th Open. No other course on the rota has hosted nearly as many. St Andrews returns roughly every five to six years, and the 155th Open is scheduled for the Old Course in July 2027.

Year	Champion	Note
2000	Tiger Woods	19 under par, won by 8; completed the career grand slam
2005	Tiger Woods	His second Open at St Andrews in five years
2010	Louis Oosthuizen	16 under par, won by 7; his first major
2015	Zach Johnson	Won a four-hole playoff over Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen
2022	Cameron Smith	The 150th Open; 20 under par, the joint-lowest score to par in Open history
2027	The 155th Open	Scheduled return to the Old Course

The Open's modern history at St Andrews has a pattern worth noting: the calm, scorable years (Woods in 2000, Oosthuizen in 2010, Smith in 2022) produce some of the lowest winning totals in major golf, while the windy years turn the same holes into a brutal test of patience. The course does not change. The weather decides which Open it will be.

How To Play The Old Course

The Old Course is public. It is not a private club, and anyone with a valid handicap can play it. That surprises visitors who assume the most famous course in golf must be closed off. It is not. Getting a tee time, however, takes a little planning.

The ballot and advance booking

Tee times are released in two ways. A share is sold as advance bookings, opening roughly a year ahead and taken quickly for the peak summer months. The rest are allocated through a daily ballot: visitors enter as a group of two, three or four by 2pm two days before they want to play, and find out that evening whether they were drawn. Single golfers cannot enter the ballot, but can join the day's single-player queue at the starter's box and are very often paired into a group. The Old Course is closed to play every Sunday; on Sundays the people of St Andrews walk it instead, a tradition as old as the course's public ownership.

Cost, caddies and the other courses

A single round on the Old Course costs several hundred pounds in peak season for a visitor, with lower rates in the shoulder and winter months; the St Andrews Links website lists the current green fee. A caddie is an extra fee paid directly and is strongly recommended for a first visit, because local knowledge of the blind lines and the named bunkers is genuinely worth several strokes. The St Andrews Links is seven courses, not one: the New, Jubilee and Castle courses, among others, cost far less, are much easier to get on, and are excellent links in their own right. Many visitors play one of those first and treat the Old Course as the trip's centrepiece.

For the wider picture of a Scotland and links golf trip, see our Golf Travel Guide 2026.

McIlroy At St Andrews

Rory McIlroy has won The Open once, in 2014 at Royal Liverpool, but not at St Andrews, and his Old Course record is one of the most vivid near-misses on his major sheet.

2010 Open: McIlroy, then 21, opened with a 63 to tie the Old Course Open record, the lowest round of the championship. The next day, in heavy wind, he shot 80, the largest gap between two successive rounds in the history of the Open at St Andrews. He steadied and finished third, behind Louis Oosthuizen.
2015 Open: McIlroy missed the championship at St Andrews through an ankle injury sustained off the course, watching Zach Johnson win the playoff that he might have been part of.
2022 Open (the 150th): McIlroy was the third-round co-leader and played in the final group on Sunday at the Home of Golf, the position every player dreams of. He played a clean, error-free round but managed only two birdies as Cameron Smith's closing 64 swept past him. He finished third again, two strokes back.

Two thirds and an injury withdrawal: St Andrews owes McIlroy nothing, and he owes it a finish. The 155th Open in 2027 is one of the clearest remaining gaps on his record, a chance to win The Open at the Home of Golf in the form of his career. For his Masters back-to-back and the swing behind it, see Masters History and Rory's Swing. For the wider 2026 major season see The Open 2026 at Royal Birkdale, and for the Ryder Cup on Irish soil the year of the next St Andrews Open, see Ryder Cup 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Old Course at St Andrews?

In the town of St Andrews on the Fife coast of eastern Scotland, about an hour and a half north of Edinburgh by road. It is the senior course of the St Andrews Links, a public complex of seven courses on the links land between the town and the West Sands beach. The R&A clubhouse sits behind the first tee and the eighteenth green.

Why is St Andrews called the Home of Golf?

Golf has been played on the links here since the 1400s. The 18-hole round was fixed at St Andrews in 1764, and the Society of St Andrews Golfers, founded in 1754 and later the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, became central to the early rules. The R&A is still one of golf's two governing bodies.

Can the public play the Old Course?

Yes. It is a public course. Anyone with a valid handicap can play it. Tee times come from advance bookings up to a year ahead and from a daily ballot entered by 2pm two days before play. The course is closed to play every Sunday.

What is the Road Hole?

The 17th, a par 4 of about 495 yards and regularly the hardest hole in Open golf. A semi-blind tee shot over the corner of the Old Course Hotel, a green guarded by the steep Road Hole bunker, and a sealed road and stone wall behind the green that are played as they lie rather than as a hazard.

What is the Swilcan Bridge?

A small arched stone footbridge over the Swilcan Burn on the 18th hole, far older than golf at St Andrews and built for shepherds. It is the traditional spot for a player's farewell photograph, used by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.

What is the Valley of Sin?

A deep hollow at the front-left of the 18th green. An approach that is short or pulled left funnels into it, leaving a long, steep putt or chip. Costantino Rocca holed from the Valley of Sin in 1995 to force an Open playoff with John Daly.

What are the double greens?

Fourteen of the 18 holes share seven enormous greens: the pairs are 2 and 16, 3 and 15, 4 and 14, 5 and 13, 6 and 12, 7 and 11, and 8 and 10. Holes 1, 9, 17 and 18 have their own greens. Outward holes fly a white flag, inward holes a red flag.

How many Open Championships has St Andrews hosted?

Thirty, from 1873 to the 150th Open in 2022, more than any other venue. Recent champions there are Tiger Woods (2000, 2005), Louis Oosthuizen (2010), Zach Johnson (2015) and Cameron Smith (2022).

When is the next Open at St Andrews?

The 155th Open Championship is scheduled for the Old Course in July 2027, the 31st Open at St Andrews. It keeps the venue's usual rhythm of a return every five to six years.

Has Rory McIlroy won an Open at St Andrews?

No. McIlroy won The Open in 2014 at Royal Liverpool. At St Andrews he finished third in 2010 (a 63 followed by an 80) and third again in the 2022 150th Open, two behind Cameron Smith. The 2027 Open at St Andrews is a clear target on his record.