Caddie Golf Tours

A great but tough day of matchplay golf on the Old Course St Andrews against Donald, my good friend and St Andrews caddie. He kindly gave me 3 shots each side. It is the 19th June and St Andrews has been afflicted with the haar, a sea mist, for the last 6 days. Visibility got quite bad out at the Eden Estuary and the par 3 11th hole, as can be seen from Donald's tee shot, only 160 yards to the pin! It did begin to clear as we played the back nine and by the time we reached the 17th we could see the town of St Andrews from the tee position. The match is over, as Boyne drove OB from the 16th tee, Donald winning 4&2. From the 17th tee both drives find the thin slither of fairway, remarkably, Boyne 200 yards from front edge of green and Donald 180 yards. One makes bogey and he par!

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.

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 ...

Matt Hooper, friend, founder, photographer and editor of the St Andrews Magazine has just published the winter edition 05. It is a great read covering all things St Andrews with a bit of golf thrown in. It can be found here along with this years back issues:  www.issuu.com/standrewsmagazine   Old Course 17th green Road hole at St Andrews. This festive publication features the following: A St Andrews Christmas, St Andr ews Remembers the Fallen, The 2018 St Andrews Magazine Awards, Sunday Lunch at  The Seafood Ristorante , The Beauty of Winter  The Vintage Beauty Box , Yoga for a flexible winter  Hot House Yoga , A Caddie's Year on the Links  Caddie Golf Tours , Brilliant Bjerregaard wins the  Alfred Dunhill Championship  Dunhill links championship, Interiors for Winter  Interiors by Tracy Smith , Golf's Greatest  Discovery Inc , Rory McIlroy causes controversy with plan to give up European Tour membership in 2019 and A preview to...

The construction work for the repositioned tee on the 17th Road hole at the Old Course, St. Andrews, has been completed. The new tee, pictured below, is on the same line increasing the length of the hole by 35 yards, from 455 - 490 yards. The original championship tee that we shared with the professionals for our medal play is pictured below. This will obviously remain and I suppose if conditions got too extreme , God forbid the thought , the R&A would have the option of bringing the play forward. You've got to be looking forward to seeing some drives struck from the new tee, now that it has once again become an intimidating drive, on the world of golf's most famous par 4.

There has been some conjecture over the last couple of months about the positioning of the 17th tee on the Old Course at St. Andrews and in an official announcement today the rumours can now be confirmed...it is to be moved! Below is the news release from the R&A informing the golfing world of the change. NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&A 16 October 2009, St Andrews, Scotland: The 17th hole of the Old Course will be lengthened ahead of the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship at St Andrews. The ‘Road Hole’, which has remained the same length for more than 100 years, will increase in length by some 35 yards to 490 yards. A new Championship tee will be constructed on the practice range of St Andrews Links Trust. It has long been suggested that the 17th hole would benefit from additional length to restore the original challenge of the hole. In advance of the 1964 St Andrews Open, three-time Open Champion, Henry Cotton, recommended the alteration stating: “I would make a tee jus...