Why St Andrews is the Home of Golf.
People have played golf on this strip of links land for more than 600 years. This is the story of how a small Scottish town gave the world its game — and why every golfer should walk the Old Course at least once.
The town that gave the world a game.
Golf wasn't invented in a boardroom — it grew, organically, on the wild links land between the town of St Andrews and the sea. For six centuries the same ground has been walked, putted and cursed by everyone from kings to caddies.
Understanding that history is the difference between playing a round and making a pilgrimage. Here's the story our drivers tell on the way to the first tee.
Golf was banned here before it was loved
The first written record of golf in St Andrews is, oddly, a ban. In 1457 King James II of Scotland outlawed 'gowf' because it was distracting young men from the archery practice they needed for national defence. The ban was repeated in 1471 and 1491 — proof that nobody was actually listening, and that the people of St Andrews were already hopelessly addicted to the game.
By 1502, with peace declared, King James IV took up the game himself and the bans were lifted. Golf has been played continuously on the links at St Andrews ever since — making it the longest-running golf ground on earth.
The Old Course shaped the rules of the game
The Old Course is not just old — it is the template. The 18-hole round became the global standard largely because that is how many holes St Andrews settled on in 1764, when the Society of St Andrews Golfers combined some of the shorter holes. Before that, courses had wildly different numbers of holes.
The course's enormous double greens, deep revetted pot bunkers and the famous Swilcan Bridge are imitated on courses worldwide. When you stand on that bridge, you are standing on stone that pre-dates the game's written rules.
The R&A and the modern game
Founded in 1754, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews became one of the two bodies that govern the rules of golf worldwide, alongside the USGA. Its clubhouse, completed in 1854, sits behind the first tee of the Old Course and is one of the most recognised buildings in sport.
Today the town hosts The Open Championship roughly every five years, and golfers make pilgrimages here from every corner of the world. We drive a great many of them — and the look on a first-timer's face when the Old Course comes into view never gets old.
Play the home of golf.
From airport to first tee, accommodation to clubhouse, we handle the logistics of your golf trip so you can focus on the round. Ask us about DIY golf weeks across Fife's great courses.
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