Do Scottish golfers take special St Andrews feeling for granted?

The Scotsman golf correspondent reflects on his most recent visit to the home of golf

The par-3 17th forms part of a tough closing stretch on the New Course at St Andrews. Picture: St Andrews Links Trust

Here’s a question for you: Do us Scots take St Andrews for granted? Answering it personally, I’d say ‘yes’ after definitely feeling during my most recent visit to the Auld Grey Toun that I do often under-appreciate how special it actually is in a purely golfing sense.

The trip was for my first game of 2024 and what an absolute treat that was to be on the New Course, which has to be one of the most underrated layouts in the world and only, of course, because it’s neighbour is the Old Course. If it was located anywhere else in Scotland, it would have hosted all sorts of championships over the years because it really is a fantastic test of golf.

I love the fact it almost lulls you into a false sense of security due to the fact the opening few holes don’t seem too difficult and you can still be going along nicely to the turn before it turns into a very tough test indeed over the sensational closing stretch, and I say that after we played it in flat-calm conditions.

The Links Trust Clubhouse with its Tom Morris Bar & Grill is a fantastic facility. Picture: David Cannon/Getty Images.

What I also really like about it is that, although not exactly in a dramatic way, it changes direction a bit more than the Old Course, where, the loop apart, it’s pretty much straight out then straight back in. On the New, holes like the ninth and 13th point in a totally different direction to any of the other holes and, by the time you get to them, there’s already been a couple of different direction alterations to take into account, which simply adds to not only the challenge but, in my book anyway, the enjoyment of playing a golf course as well.

St Andrews, I have to confess, will always have a special place in my heart. My wife was born in the now disused Craigtoun Maternity Hospital on the outskirts of the town while, not long before we met, I will always cherish sitting in the grandstands as a young fan when Seve Ballesteros produced his iconic celebration after winning The Open in 1984. Living less than 40 miles away, it’s always enjoyable to head up there for non-golfing visits, but nothing really beats making that journey to swing a golf club.

I still vividly remember my first such trip, which was with my dad and his mates in a group from eastern Berwickshire who’d go on a couple of outings each year to play for the quaintly-named Cowjum Cup. For anyone interested, that was derived from the majority of those involved, myself included, hailing from the village of Coldingham, which is famed for its stunning beach and also the fact a priory that housed Benedictine monks was largely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell as he rampaged over the border in 1650.

Anyway, we played the Jubilee Course that day and, though another cracking test, that wasn’t the main reason I often find myself recalling that visit. It’s because we had to change our shoes in the car park because, at that particular time, there was no facility that visiting golfers could use. Not now, of course, and, having used it on this occasion, what a fabulous place the St Andrews Links Clubhouse, with its Tom Morris Bar & Grill, is to spend some time either before or after a round.

The service was first class and I have to say that is something that too many of us – and not just at the marquee venues – perhaps take for granted because, during my time on this planet, I have certainly witnessed that particular bar being raised quite considerably and all those at golf clubs and other such golfing facilities around the country who’ve been responsible for driving that deserve enormous credit.

Yes, our fantastic courses are the main attraction and always will be, but, in the modern world, it’s equally important that Scotland delivers off the course and, based on this personal experience, the people playing more than 250,000 rounds this year on the seven St Andrews Links Trust courses - the Castle, of course, was the most recent addition and sits high above the town at the opposite end of the others - can feel very confident indeed about getting exactly what they’ll be looking for in terms of the overall experience in the home of golf.

At various points during our hit, I found myself thinking how special it was to be playing on a piece of linksland that, in addition to the Old, New and Jubilee, also boasts three other courses - Eden, Strathtyrum and Balgove. Even though I’d played it on a couple of occasions before, I also loved looking across from the New Course and seeing fellow players, no doubt locals mainly at this time of the year, enjoying one of life’s greatest golfing thrills by simply being out on the Old Course.

Those players will be the world’s best women professionals when it stages the AIG Women’s Open for only the third time in August and, for me anyway, that is probably going to be the most-eagerly awaited event in 2024, though the 152nd Open at Royal Troon, one of my favourite courses in the world and vastly under-used when it comes to tournament golf at the top level, is running it very close indeed.

After any visit to St Andrews, you always leave feeling jealous. Mainly because of the offerings available to those who can play there on a regular basis and there surely can’t be anywhere else in the world that offers better value than the yearly ticket for residents of the town, which, for the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 was £357, albeit with certain conditions applying, for a full week and £273 for five-day use.

It’s not just that, though, because there really is something special about the whole place and here’s hoping the majority of golf-loving Scots don’t take what’s on their doorstep for granted.