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We exist to help golfers get more out of the game they love. Our team of passionate golfers and experts produce authoritative in-depth reviews of the latest golf equipment to help you buy better, tips and advice to improve your game, ideas for golf courses to play and places to stay and coverage of the game at every level from grassroots up to Tour.
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SportsTranscript
00:00The 150th Open is taking place this year at the home of golf, the Old Course at St Andrews.
00:06While you're watching the TV coverage you'll no doubt hear commentators reference bunker names,
00:11building names and various other pieces of folklore that surround the Old Course.
00:15In this video we're going to take a look at some of the unique elements that make the Old Course
00:19so famous. The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the home of golf
00:26because the sport was first played on the links at St Andrews in the early 15th century. Golf
00:31was becoming increasingly popular in Scotland until James II of Scotland banned the game in
00:361457 because he felt that young men were playing too much golf instead of practising their archery.
00:41The ban was upheld by James III and remained in force until 1502, when James IV became a
00:48golfer himself and removed the ban. In 1754 22 noblemen, professors and landowners founded
00:54the Society of St Andrews Golfers. This society would eventually become the precursor to the R&A
01:00which is the governing body of golf everywhere outside of the United States and Mexico. So from
01:05the birth of the sport itself to the birth of the R&A you can see why St Andrews is known as the
01:10home of golf. How many courses are there at St Andrews Links? Today there are seven public golf
01:15courses in total. The Balgove, Eden, Jubilee, Strath Tyrone, New, Old and the Castle Course
01:22which is sited on the cliffs a mile to the east of St Andrews. It's worth noting the new
01:26course isn't actually that new, it's just newer than the old course. The new course was opened
01:31in 1895, 347 years later than the old course. St Andrews Links takes up almost 300 hectares
01:38and the Castle Course almost 90 hectares. Overall more than 230,000 rounds of golf are played on
01:44the seven courses each year with around 45,000 being played on the old course alone. St Andrews
01:49is owned by the local Fife Council with public ownership of the land enshrined in law to protect
01:54the land and make sure it's only used for golf. Okay so let's go through some quick facts about
01:59how the old course is played. Firstly it's played in an anti-clockwise direction after being
02:04primarily played clockwise up until the 19th century. Clockwise play has been permitted once
02:08a year in modern times and it's worth noting that the course is closed on Sundays. The front nine
02:13holes of the course have white flags while the back nine holes except the 18th hole have red
02:18flags. The 18th green has a white flag so that it could be seen in front of the red Hamilton Grand
02:23Building. No other golf course has as many famous bunkers, roads and landmarks as the old course.
02:28It has 112 bunkers and countless hills and hollows each of which is surrounded by their own folklore
02:34and centuries of golfers passing them by. Many have their own names and legends so let's take
02:39a look at some of the most famous examples on the old course. The Swilcombe Bridge is a 700
02:43year old bridge that spans the Swilcombe Burn across the 1st and 18th fairway. It was originally
02:48built to help shepherds get livestock across the Swilcombe Burn. Granny Clark's Wind is a one lane
02:54paved public road going across the 18th fairway. This was once used to haul boats from the town
02:59centre down to the West Sands Beach and it is still used today to take people from the town
03:04to the beach. Hell Bunker on the 14th hole does what it says on the tin really. It's one of the
03:10most notorious golfing hazards. It covers an area of 300 square yards and is between 7 and 10 feet
03:16deep. Of course you've got the Road Hole Bunker 2 on the 17th hole which is arguably an even more
03:21famous hazard on the old course. Those are but a few of the hundreds of bunkers and other points
03:25of interest on the old course. See if you can spot them whilst you're watching the television coverage.
03:30The 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th holes all have their own greens. The 1st and 18th holes have no bunkers
03:37on them and they share one fairway that is 129 yards wide. All of the other holes have shared
03:43greens and all of the holes that do share a green add up to 18. For example holes 16 and 2 share a
03:49green, 14 and 4, 15 and 3 and so on. The Open Championship has been played on the old course 29
03:55times more than any other venue. A study found that in 2015 the Open Championship generated more
04:01than £140 million for the local economy. So there you have it, hopefully you've learned a
04:07little bit about the history, folklore and legend behind the old course at St Andrews.
04:12However what you've heard today is barely scratching the surface of the history of the
04:16home of golf so for even more info on the old course and other courses in Scotland
04:20head to the courses section on the Golf Monthly website.