186 - St. Andrews (Old Course)

Location: St Andrews, Scotland

Rating: 9.1

Wow what an experience. Genuinely everything I had hoped for and more. I had emailed the club to enquire about the 3 day unlimited package which doesn’t include the Old Course but I was incredibly fortunate to receive a reply that stated that a 4 ball had cancelled their Old Course package (2 courses and dinner/lunch) and would I like to take their spot. No brainer! Even emailed back to check that I was reading it correctly.

Our tee off time was 9am and like every young kid on Christmas Eve I didn’t sleep a wink the night before. We got down there at around 7am to make the most of the day. Right next to the first tee is a little, St Andrews operated, coffee/breakfast bar where you can get your morning kick and watch the first groups tee off. We then made our way to the range for a quick warm up, about a 10 minute walk past the infamous hotel and got our allotment of balls.

Back to the first tee and the nerves began to settle in. I could barely line my club up behind my ball as the crowds gathered in St Andrews. Once you’re off you’re just soaking it all up, all the tradition, all the shots you’ve watched on TV, all the double greens, double fairways and starting to work out the routing that you’ve seen many times before. The road hole is way intimidating than what I thought on TV and bailed out so far left where I thought my playing partners had gone out of bounds they were in the middle of the fairway.

And then the 18th, as you’re saddened in a way to be finishing your round it is incredibly cool to finish your round with people watching and even applauding your good shots, needless to say I 3 putted the last but didn’t care one bit. It’s awesome, I couldn’t recommend doing it more and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

£600 is what we paid for our 2 course package. We of course got the Old Course but managed to find a time on the Castle Course the following day. Included in the price was a morning drink & breakfast roll, food at the halfway house and then lunch after the round. It’s a lot but it’s more than worth it.