Explore all St Andrews Old Course

St Andrews is the oldest golf course in the world. Its layout and natural hazards make it as challenging today as when it was first played - possibly as early as the 1300s.

Today, St Andrews has four 18-hole courses and a beginners' 9-hole course, all owned by the district council. The most famous of these is the Old Course on which are played some of the important tournaments.

The Old Course is laid out on true links land (the 'link' between the shore and the farm land). It is mainly level, but full of humps and hollows. Unlike today's carefully designed inland courses, the wind, sea, sand and other natural forces created the famous layout of St Andrews.

The links came about when the sea moved back from the land leaving banks of sand and saltwater gullies. With time the sandbanks became dunes covered with marram grass and the gullies were colonized with other grasses. With the vegetation came rabbits that cropped the grass to make the turf suitable for golf.