Facts About St. Andrews
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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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00:00 The 150th Open is taking place this year at the home of golf, the Old Course at St Andrews.
00:06 While you're watching the TV coverage, you'll no doubt hear commentators reference bunker names,
00:11 building names and various other pieces of folklore that surround the Old Course.
00:15 In this video we're going to take a look at some of the unique elements that make the Old Course
00:19 so famous. The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the home of golf
00:26 because the sport was first played on the links at St Andrews in the early 15th century. Golf
00:31 was becoming increasingly popular in Scotland until James II of Scotland banned the game in
00:36 1457 because he felt that young men were playing too much golf instead of practising their archery.
00:41 The ban was upheld by James III and remained in force until 1502 when James IV became a golfer
00:48 himself and removed the ban. In 1754, 22 noblemen, professors and landowners founded the Society of
00:55 St Andrews Golfers. This society would eventually become the precursor to the R&A, which is the
01:00 governing body of golf everywhere outside of the United States and Mexico. So from the birth of
01:05 the sport itself to the birth of the R&A, you can see why St Andrews is known as the home of golf.
01:11 How many courses are there at St Andrews Links? Today there are seven public golf courses in
01:15 total. The Balgove, Eden, Jubilee, Strathtyrum, New, Old and the Castle Course, which is sited
01:23 on the cliffs a mile to the east of St Andrews. It's worth noting the new course isn't actually
01:27 that new, it's just newer than the old course. The new course was opened in 1895, 347 years later
01:34 than the old course. St Andrews Links takes up almost 300 hectares and the Castle Course almost
01:39 90 hectares. Overall, more than 230,000 rounds of golf are played on the seven courses each year,
01:45 with around 45,000 being played on the old course alone. St Andrews is owned by the local Fife
01:51 Council, with public ownership of the land enshrined in law to protect the land and make
01:55 sure it's only used for golf. Okay, so let's go through some quick facts about how the old course
02:00 is played. Firstly, it's played in an anti-clockwise direction after being primarily played clockwise
02:05 up until the 19th century. Clockwise play has been permitted once a year in modern times and
02:10 it's worth noting that the course is closed on Sundays. The front nine holes of the course have
02:14 white flags, while the back nine holes, except the 18th hole, have red flags. The 18th green has a
02:19 white flag so that it can be seen in front of the red Hamilton Grand building. No other golf course
02:24 has as many famous bunkers, roads and landmarks as the old course. It has 112 bunkers and countless
02:30 hills and hollows, each of which is surrounded by their own folklore and centuries of golfers
02:35 passing them by. Many have their own names and legends, so let's take a look at some of the most
02:39 famous examples on the old course. The Swilcombe Bridge is a 700-year-old bridge that spans the
02:44 Swilcombe Burn across the 1st and 18th fairway. It was originally built to help shepherds get
02:50 livestock across the Swilcombe Burn. Granny Clark's Wind is a one-lane paved public road
02:55 going across the 18th fairway. This was once used to haul boats from the town centre down to the
03:00 West Sands Beach and it is still used today to take people from the town to the beach. Hell
03:06 Bunker on the 14th hole does what it says on the tin really. It's one of the most notorious golfing
03:11 hazards. It covers an area of 300 square yards and is between 7 and 10 feet deep. Of course,
03:17 you've got the Road Hole Bunker 2 on the 17th hole, which is arguably an even more famous hazard
03:22 on the old course. Those are but a few of the hundreds of bunkers and other points of interest
03:26 on the old course. See if you can spot them whilst you're watching the television coverage.
03:30 The 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th holes all have their own greens. The 1st and 18th holes have no bunkers
03:37 on them and they share one fairway that is 129 yards wide. All of the other holes have shared
03:43 greens and all of the holes that do share a green add up to 18. For example, holes 16 and 2 share a
03:49 green, 14 and 4, 15 and 3 and so on. The Open Championship has been played on the old course
03:55 29 times, more than any other venue. A study found that in 2015, the Open Championship generated more
04:01 than £140 million for the local economy. So there you have it. Hopefully you've learned a
04:07 little bit about the history, folklore and legend behind the old course and St Andrews.
04:12 However, what you've heard today is barely scratching the surface of the history of the
04:16 home of golf. So for even more info on the old course and other courses in Scotland,
04:20 head to the courses section on the Golf Monthly website.