St Andrews Trip Report April 2019

[Argonne69]

Walking down Golf Place on the way to the Old Course

 


 


 

TOC Front Nine

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

Good drive. Bad bounce.

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

The Old Course Back Nine

 


 

The par 3 11th

 


 


 


 


 


 

H. E. L. L.'s bunker on the 14th

 


 


 


 


 


 

The 17th - Road Hole

 


 


 


 


 


 

The 18th

 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Dunvegan Hotel and Bar, and The Golf Inn

 


 

North St

 


 

Market St

 


 


 

 

[Argonne69]

Off to the Jubilee course

 


 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Jubilee Front Nine

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

The River Eden

 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Jubilee Back Nine

 


 


 


 


 

The par 5 11th

 


 


 


 

The par 3 13th

 


 


 


 


 

The 16th

 


 

The par 3 17th

 


 


 


 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

University of St Andrews

 


 


 


 

St Salvators Chapel

 


 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Off early to play the New course

 


 


 


 


 


 

The New and Jubilee clubhouse

 


 

 

 

[Argonne69]

The New Course Front Nine

 


 

1st green

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

The New Course Back Nine

 


 

A view of the Jubilee 8th green and 9th hole

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

Last approach

 


 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Leuchars Station - Off to Dundee

 


 


 

The River Tay

 


 


 


 

Woodhaven

 


 


 

Dundee

 


 


 

Perth

 


 


 

Stirling

 


 


 

Glasgow's Queen St Station

 


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Glasgow's George Square

 


 


 


 


 

Who?

 


 


 

Glasgow Green

 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

'Interesting bridges on the River Clyde

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

 


 


 

Glasgow's Central Station

 


 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

The big bus home

 


 

 

[tiderider]

that's a great trip ... some great memories in there ...

[bellken]

Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed the pictures.

[Matt J]

I enjoyed reading your thread @Argonne69 - and your pictures are fabulous. Glad you made it and enjoyed your trip!

[AuldPLO Swiss Golftrotter]

Some really nice pics of what seems to have been a great trip !

[ceejay81]

LOVE the pics! Looks like you had a fantastic trip! My July trip can't come soon enough!

[clp34vmp]

Thanks again for posting these! Loved scrolling through the photos - they bring back great memories. Can't wait to return myself someday.

[Argonne69]

OK, time to wrap up the report. It was a great trip, with my primary goal of playing the Old Course as my 500th course completed. Other than a few minor changes in my travel plans, everything went off without a hitch. The weather was cooperative for the most part. I play golf in Chicago in windy conditions from March through November, so the 45 to 50 degree temps weren't an issue. The lovely 73 degree day on Monday was a bonus.

 

As noted earlier, I got my tee times on TOC and Castle through the singles lottery. However, I don't think it would have been a problem showing up as a walk-on. 'Tough to schedule an international trip without a guaranteed tee time, but it seems this time of the year would be a good time if you didn't enter the lottery. I'm not sure when it starts to get busier, but I imagine things would pick up in late May.

 

I was a tad worried about not having a rental car, but I found enough to do to keep myself occupied. Pubs included. On Thursday evening I was thinking that I may have had my fill of the local courses, so I called Carnoustie to see if they had an early tee time on Friday morning. They didn't. I guess I didn't look at a map close enough to notice that Carnoustie is basically right across the street from the Golf Street train station. Since I was planning to take the train to Dundee/Glasgow, it would have been fairly easy to get to the course on my final day. That said, I'm still glad I played the four main courses at St Andrews Links, as it's unlikely I'll be back any time soon. Carnoustie will be on the list for the next visit. As noted previously, one can safely travel to/from St Andrews without a rental car. If you're happy with the idea of sticking close to town, I recommend it. The bus and train service was almost ideal without the hassle and cost of a car.

 

I was very pleased with my play, especially my generally uncooperative driver. 'Not hooking the ball into the cr*p sure makes for a fun week. I'm a low ball hitter, and the firm conditions were just right. My lag putting was also spot on when I found a GIR. I was disappointed with my play on the par 3's. I average one bogie per round on the par 3's by taking a very conservative approach, i.e. forget the flag and fire for the middle of the green two putt yourself to an easy par, but my irons were misbehaving, and I wound up averaging close to 3 bogies a round. My scrambling didn't quite get it done during the week. I think it's primarily due to the turf that I don't get to play on regularly. I'm very good at using a hybrid or Texas wedge around the greens, but I couldn't quite get the speed right, and left myself too many 6+ footers for par.

 

One minor nit during the trip was the continuous hiccups with wireless data. I was international roaming with my Verizon plan, and while I had 4 or 5 bars of signal strength in town, it would sometimes take 4 to 6 attempts to render a web page. Too many people on too few towers? 'Not sure, but it was annoying. I was able to hop on to free wi-fi at times (w/ VPN), but that's generally a hassle.

 

As for the courses, I found them to be fun, but none of them will crack my top ten. I'd rank them:

 

1) Castle Course: The toughest of the bunch with a good variety of holes, plenty of trouble off the tee, and the trickiest greens. Great views of the sea. As mentioned earlier, it reminded me of Arcadia Bluffs. I'd say it would likely make a top 20 course for me.

 

2) Kingsbarns Links: Similar to the two Sand Valley courses, they fairways are generous, and the greens are challenging without being unfair.

 

3) Old Course: Iconic? Of course. A true links golf course that plays firm and fast, and often makes you think about your club selection off the tee. I'm very glad I got to play it, but I won't be in a hurry to play it again. The majority of the holes (2 - 16) blend together without distinction. I'm sure that there are plenty of nuances that come out with repeated play, but the reality is that most of us will play it once, or maybe twice.

 

4T) New and Jubilee Courses: Similar to TOC, but without the history. Fun courses to fill out a week, but uninteresting for the most part. I'd play any of the four Bandon Dunes courses over both of them eight days a week.

 

 

Overall I'd certainly recommend a trip to the birthplace of golf. Getting there is a little bit of work, but not difficult.

 

 

[Haloha]

Argonne69, thanks for the great stories and pics! Its always fun to read your reports. So since this was your 500th round is the 600th round next year? Just wondering how many rounds a year you get to play? I'm at around 125 rounds a year

[Argonne69]

> @Haloha said:

> Argonne69, thanks for the great stories and pics! Its always fun to read your reports. So since this was your 500th round is the 600th round next year? Just wondering how many rounds a year you get to play? I'm at around 125 rounds a year

 

No, this was my 500th different golf course played. My 400th was Pebble Beach in July 2017. I've played over 500 rounds in the past 5 years, and over 1000 rounds since 2007. I've been averaging 65 new courses a year, but certain life changes later this year will significantly change that, up or down. I'm getting laid off from work in October, and I'm either going to wind up in a new job, or retire early.

[SixtySomePing]

Thank you Argonne, this is what I've always wanted to see of this area. Non-commercial, everyday life of such a beautiful place. The pics make their own book, and tell their own story. I know from my point of view, they pulled me in so quickly and I was walking down the fairways as well, and preparing my next shot as if was there too. The stories were very good too, as 8:00 AM is much too late for breakfast. Not sure why, but I was picturing beans on toast as i was reading... Well done.

[@_the_crook]

fine travelogue - many thanks for sharing your experiences Arg.

 

[MountainKing]

Great report as always!

[Matt J]

If and when you make it back to the UK buy a Vodafone SIM card at the airport or a cellular shop in a commercial district. It was affordable and worked incredibly well on my last trip. I used the navigation and streaming music from my phone the entire trip without hiccup. I guess the caveat being your phone has to be unlocked, but I don't think that's much of an issue any longer.

[WAB]

Thanks for sharing and congrats on playing TOC as your 500th course. Looks like it was a great trip. I’m going at the end of July to celebrate my 50th bday. This is only my 6th year playing golf, but I caught the bug in a serious way and now I cannot imagine life without it (and lots of it).

[Cmoney710]

Has anyone ever stayed at the Dunvegan Hotel?