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Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Sunday, June 30th and Monday July 1st
The New Course - St. Andrews |
The New course is really only the new course in relation to the Old Course. But such is the way with the New. Everything here is in relation to its more famous older brother course. I've been buying ball marks from every course I played. There is no ball mark for the New Course. There are Old Course Ball marks and St. Andrews Links ball marks, but no New Course ball marks. Also the holes on this course do not even have names yet. I guess it's too new for names.
How new is the New Course? It was laid-out on the seaward side of the Old Course is 1894 by Old Tom Morris. It was paid for by the Royal and Ancient in an agreement with the Town Council of St. Andrews. Put this links course anywhere else in the world, and visitors would be singing praises for this course. As it is, it is more a relief 18 for it's older neighbor.
We played the course on Sunday, setting up this time in advance knowing the Old Course is closed on Sunday. Tom Morris had started the tradition of closing the course on Sunday, saying even if the golfer's don't need a rest, the course does.
There is a new visitors locker room and club house right beside the first tee of the New and Jubilee courses at St. Andrews. The lockers cost a L1.00, which is returned to you when you unlock the lock. Towels for the shower cost L5.00, which L4.00 is returned when you return the towel. The food upstairs is fairly good, (Good haddock and chips), and the bar is good. Plenty of windows in the clubhouse to watch the action across the many visible holes of the Old, New and Jubilee.
We played the New course in what started out as easy conditions, but they gradually worsened as we played. The wind picked up midway through our round, and by the 15th, a fairly steady rain was falling. The routing here is good, taking advantage of the terrain and the wind. The first 4 holes share fairways with the last 4, running along beside the Old Course. The 5th hole veers off slightly West, even more toward the Old course. Then the 6th takes you back toward the town. 7 through 9 had back toward the furthest point and the Estuary. From there, the gradual process of coming home starts, with a slight diversion on 11, back out toward the Estuary.
The New course is not nearly as penal as the Old Course. Most of the drives were visible and you could generally see the hazards ahead of you. The New Course is a basic links course. I thought it did have much better views of the Auld Toon than on the Old Course. You also go out, closer to the Estuary than on the Old. My biggest complaint about the New course was the green speed and condition of the cups. It seemed the greens hadn't been mowed and cup moved in probably fairly close to a week.
The coming home holes border the Jubilee course, which led to a major screw-up on my part. The 17th hole on the New is a fairly long par-3. The rain was coming down and we had been following a three-ball all day. I took the tee on the 17th, and waited for what I thought was the group ahead of us to clear the 17th green. They were taking there time, and finally cleared away, so I hit. Ends up I hit a very fine shot, onto the 1st green at the Jubilee Course. I was proud of my shot, and turned to accept congratulations from my mates. I was kind of surprised when they were all laughing. I suppose I could have played from there, (didn't see any O.B. stakes), but I was too embarrassed walking past the group that just finished playing the 1st hole of the Jubilee. I picked up my ball and headed over to the 18th green on the course I was supposed to be playing.
The next day was my companions final day in Scotland. We were thinking of either playing the Duke course at St. Andrews or at Crail Golfing Society. The decision was too take the day easy and not have planned golf. There was packing too be done, Dick and Darla were going back with much fuller bags than they came with. Darla decided to spend the day walking around St. Andrews, Mike Smyth decided to take another crack at the Old Course and Dick and I took the train to Edinburgh to do a little sightseeing. We arrived in Edinburgh early and walked around the town a bit, getting to the Castle at 9:00, 30 minutes prior to it's opening. The Castle was very interesting, with a Great Hall full of weapons from medieval time. We were back on the train by 12:00 to return to St. Andrews. Unfortunately, we both slept right through out stop and the next three or 4 stops, and the trip took over an hour longer than expected. But we did get a chance to see some very beautiful Scottish countryside on the way back.
Tomorrow I drop off Mike, Dick and Darla in Edinburgh and pick up Mark Koenig in Glasgow.
My favorite holes on Jubilee....I mean New Course:
Hole#2 367 yard Par-4 (The Second)
There are two small pots down the left side you can see, however, to their left, and near where you'd like to drive, are two other small pots. Get into these bunkers, and you're not going to reach this green in two. Avoid them and the hole is fairly simple. There is a lot of room to miss right of the pots in the fairway, as this fairway is shared by the 17th hole. There is only one pot bunker up at the right front of this flat green.
Hole#4 369 yard Par-4 (The Fourth)
A slight dogleg left. The best tee shot hugs the left gorse as close as you dare. There are no fairway bunkers on the hole, but gorse all the way to the green along the left. On your approach, 3 nasty pot bunkers protect the entire left side of this green. don't mess with them, if the pin is left, you're probably better off hitting the middle of this green. The green is flat, except for a swale from the back left to around the middle of the green. The small swale affects just about every putt on the green.
Hole#6 445 yard Par-4 (The Sixth)
After heading out too the Estuary, we now briefly head back toward town. On the day we played, this hole gave the best view of the town of all the holes we played at St. Andrews. The Auld Toon was covered in a mist that made t look even more ancient. The hole itself is a mild dogleg right, with a narrow driving area, pinched in by gorse bushes on both sides. No bunkers on the hole, and only a swale in front of the green to effect approach shots.
Hole#9 225 yard Par-3 (The Ninth)
This is a tough par-3, requiring a wood to reach the far-away green. The left side has out-of-bounds along the beach. The right has gorse and mounds. A shot down the left can roll along, with the green in a slight swale, mostly on the left. There aren't hazards, but plenty of grass bunkers can make for a difficult shot from the right.
Hole#12 518 yard Par-5 (The Twelfth)
Plenty of small pots are in the driving area down the right side. The ideal line is down the left, as close to the gorse as you dare. A large field of gorse protect the left side for second shots, with 5 tough little pots protecting the middle of the fairway, for lay-up shots. Get over these, and the approach to the green is fairly simple.
Hole#16 431 yard Par-4 (The Sixteenth)
A hole absolutely littered with bunkers. The best line is down the left, but the rough comes more into play down the left. There are two penal pots down the right at about 220 from the tee. The other problem going down the right, is the series of 7 bunkers dotting your way to the green. Down the left there is no such problem.
Hole#17 229 yard Par-3 (The Seventeenth)
The only problem with this hole is they situated the green in the wrong location. It should be where the Jubilee fist green is.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Dan King
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