Courses with the word "old" in their name....

[Nigel Islam]

Courses with the word "old" in their name are almost never actually old!. Why is that? I realize there are exceptions, such as Old Town Club, but I guess it is just marketing. Anybody else have any thoughts?

[Jim Hoak]

Sort of like those with word "national" in their name, when their membership is almost all local.  There's arguably only one "Old Course" and only one true "National."

[J_ Crisham]

Old Head in Kinsale is the name of the point of land jutting into the sea. Not suggesting the club is Old.

[Sven Nilsen]

I don't think its as modern a phenomenon as you might believe (although several of these are NLE):

Old Del Monte G&CC (Monterrey, CA) - 1897
Old Ingleside Course (San Francisco, CA) - 1905
Old Brockaway (CA)
Old River GC (Bakersfield, CA) - 1921
Old Lyme CC (Old Lyme, CT) - 1918
Old Merrie Del (FL)
Old Elm Club (Lake Forest, IL) - 1913
Old Oak CC (Lockport, IL) - 1926
Old Orchard CC (Mt. Prospect, IL) - 1929
Old Mission G&CC (Kansas City, KS) - 1930
My Old Kentucky Home State Park GC (Bardstown, KY) - 1928
Old Harbor GC (North Chatham, MA) - Pre-1899
Old Salem Greens Golf Course (Salem, MA) - 1933
Ould Newberryport GC (Newburyport, MA) - 1916
Old Orchard Beach CC (Old Orchard Beach, ME) - 1900
Old Orchard G&CC (Old Orchard, ME) - 1920
Old Channel Trail GC (Montague, MI) - 1926
Ye Nyne Olde Holes (East Jordan, MI) -1923
Old Town Club (Winston-Salem, NC) - 1928
Old Orchard CC (Eatontown, NJ) - 1929
The Old CC (aka Flushing CC) (Flushing, NY) - 1896
Old Belleclaire GC (Bayside, NY) - 1919
Old Flatbush CC (Brooklyn, NY) - 1925
Old Forge GC (Old Forge, NY) - Pre-1901
Old Oaks CC (Purchase, NY) - 1927
Old Westbury CC (Garden City, NY) - 1925
Old York Road CC (Jenkintown, PA) - 1910
Old Monastery GC (Philadelphia, PA) - Pre-1901
Ye Olde CC (Allentown, PA) - 1911
Old Monterey Golf Course (Roanoke, VA) - 1925
Old Point Comfort G&CC (Fortress Monroe, VA) - 1916
The Old Pine GC (St. Johnsbury, VT) - 1899
Old Blue Mound CC (Milwaukee, WI) - 1903
Old Hickory GC (Beaver Dam, WI) - 1920
The Old White (White Sulphur Springs, WV) - 1913

[Mark_Rowlinson]

How old is the New Course, St Andrews?

[Nigel Islam]

Sort of like those with word "national" in their name, when their membership is almost all local.  There's arguably only one "Old Course" and only one true "National."

How old is the New Course, St Andrews?

Great points! Yeah the overuse of "National" bothers this curmudgeon just as much.

[Sean_A]

I assumed Old Town's name was due to the Renolda Estate (the course was built on a donated section of what was a massive estate) being an old part of Salem - quite a literal club name.   

Ciao 

[Niall C]

Mark

The New course dates from 1895 or 1896. I suspect the Old Course wasn't referred to as that before the New was built but could be wrong. It believe was quite common for clubs back then to call their original course the Old Course when they built a new one ie. Troon. These days the old course is more commonly called the championship course if anything.

Niall

[jeffwarne]

The spelling "Olde" is usually a good giveaway

If your "New" course is "old" (St. Andrew's), then it's OK to have "Old" in the name of the other

[Bob Harris]

Now located on Tennis Avenue in Spring House since 1963, the original site of Old York Road CC (1910) was on the Old York Road in Jenkintown, Pa.