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Showing posts with the label #standrews

St Andrews Castle Course opens

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The St Andrews Links Trust will be opening the celebrated Castle Course on Monday 27th July after the forced closure in late March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  It should be noted that due to Covid-19 there will be some restrictions in place, the main one being no access to changing facilities but the toilets are available in the clubhouse, and the Halfway Hut will be open for limited snacks and drinks from 09:00 - 16:00 each day. The driving range will also be available for a quick warm up before your tee off as is the practice putting green. Please contact Caddie Golf Tours for information about golf at the Castle Course, St Andrews, and across Scotland.

St Andrews allow 3 and 4 golfers

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The St Andrews Links Trust have announced today that local ticketholders in St Andrews can now play golf in 3 or 4 balls with golfers from no more than 3 households. This will allow us to golf with local friends and also the option of inviting one or more guests to join us.  This announcement is in line with the Scottish government's physical distancing 2 metre rule and the travel restrictions of 'broadly' 5 miles which, if truth be known, is being loosely interpreted.

Old Course rough June 2020

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With the horrendous Covid-19 virus lessening in Scotland we are now moving into the third week of golf here in St Andrews. Only the Castle Course, on the outskirts of town, remains closed. Hopefully it will reopen in July. During my game on the Old Course last week with good friend Doug Clements, founder of the Kingsbarns Whisky Distillery, we both commented on how brutal the rough had grown and that it must be 10 years since we had seen it as penal. The weather has been perfect for the rough growing: damp in March then warm through April and May. The best advice I would give to any golfer to get out of it, amateur or pro, is grab your wedge, choke down, take the easiest exit and swing hard. Good luck. Old Course 17th Road hole rough The Old Course is superb condition, especially so with a limited number of staff working since the coronavirus and lockdown. There are a few bunkers to finish off from their winter reworking but it really does look ready for The Open. Unfortunately we now ...

Old Course St Andrews - golf returns

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The Scottish government have allowed the resumption of golf in Scotland, and St Andrews, with the majority of golf courses now open for play with a few restrictions/guidelines in place. The local golfers at St Andrews are being allowed to play in 2 Balls with a 12 minute space between each tee time. The golf courses initially opened last weekend were the Old, New, Eden as 2 nine hole layout, and the small 9 hole Balgove. The demand was exceptional high after 9 weeks of no golf for the St Andrews golfers and on Tuesday 2nd June the Jubilee Course was opened.   The round over the Old Course with Donald, my golfing pal, took us 3 hours 20 minutes. A little slow mainly due to a good chat with the Caddie Master who we met out on the course and had not seen for 9 weeks.   There is hope that the by the end of June all the St Andrews Links courses will be fully opened, probably still with only 2 golfers playing together, but as yet there is no indication as to the lifting of travel re...

2020 tee markers on Old Course St Andrew

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The Old Course and the other links courses in St Andrews have moved towards non gender specific tee markers for the 2020 season. No longer do they have a red disc for ladies, yellow for gents and white for the gents medal/competition on their tees. They have introduced green, blue and black to signify forward, middle and back respectively. Golfers are encouraged to play from the tee position that suits their game...Fore!