St. Andrews: The New Course
In my opinion the New Course at St. Andrews has but one purpose: to help you steady your nerves for playing the Old Course. The “new” course was actually completed in 1885, so there is nothing new about the New Course. It’s a very classic Scotish links style golf and the best part about it is that a number of holes actually run alongside the Old Course, making it the perfect opportunity to get used to playing on the hallowed ground. It has a lot of the same features as the Old Course: wide fairways, double greens, deep links style sod bunkers placed right in the way of the best of drives. You don’t need a caddy as this course is WYSIWYG. The optimal dress rehearsal, and it’s a lot less fuss than the Old Course. Be sure to check out the golf shop and restaurant. The food is pretty good, so you might as well eat there after your round.
How it ranks
- Bucket list rank (1 to 5 buckets): 2 buckets, it’s helpful to play
- Location: Europe/Scotland
- Spectacle/Visual: 6
- History: 8
- New/ancient: Ancient
- Play-ability 8
- Memorability 6
- Buddy-a-bility Yes. Amazingly so.
- Service/etc. 7
- Value 8 it’s not that expensive, pretty easy to get on and you are next to hallowed ground.
- Shopping 8 Really good golf shop.
- Warm up facilities/Range 6 the range is actually a ride away from the course. It’s a decent facility with both indoor and outdoor hitting bays. This is shared with the Old Course.
- Food & Drink: Be sure to get a mince meat pie while you are on the course at the shack. The facility has a pretty good restaurant as well.