The first time you played The Old Course..............

[Anthony Gray]

   Was it spiritual?

   What surprised you the most?

   How was the weather?

   Who did you play with?

   Was it The Holy Grail?

   Anthony



   

[Jim Franklin]

Absolutely spiritual. The weather was cool with a mist now and then. No rain gear needed though. I was really surprised by the variety of shots that you could play and how short #1 was. I was also surprised at the size of the greens and the amount of movement in them. I played with my best friend since I was 6 and hooked up with a young local lad and a retired guy from San Diego now living in St Andrews. And yes, it is the Holy Grail. I can't wait to get back.

[Mike Benham]

Was it spiritual?    No, I would prefer historical, not unlike walking into a famous museum, with hushed surroundings

What surprised you the most?  How short the course is ...

How was the weather?  Started in glorious sunshine and got progressively worse, after raining on holes 13-15, we finished in the early evening gloom, a rainbow appearing as I made my par putt on 18, capping a round of even par 72 ...

Who did you play with?  El Scientito

Was it The Holy Grail? No, the Belhaven Best that we discovered earlier in the trip was ...


   Anthony



   
[/quote]

[Anthony Gray]

Was it spiritual?    No, I would prefer historical, not unlike walking into a famous museum, with hushed surroundings

What surprised you the most?  How short the course is ...

How was the weather?  Started in glorious sunshine and got progressively worse, after raining on holes 13-15, we finished in the early evening gloom, a rainbow appearing as I made my par putt on 18, capping a round of even par 72 ...

Who did you play with?  El Scientito

Was it The Holy Grail? No, the Belhaven Best that we discovered earlier in the trip was ...


   Anthony



   

[/quote]

  Mike,

  Belhaven Best?

  El Scientito?

  What color pants did you wear?

  Thanks.....Anthony

 

[Tom Huckaby]

Was it spiritual?
Nah, I was 21 years old, playing in tennis shoes, and very hungover.

   What surprised you the most?
That back then one could walk right up, get a tee time, rent some clubs and play... all without breaking the budget of a kid backpacking through Europe.

   How was the weather?
Cloudly, cool, pretty perfect actually.

   Who did you play with?
Two of my best friends on this planet, Brian Walsh and Steve Cammarano.

   Was it The Holy Grail?
Not back then it wasn't.  As I say, I was far too hungover to call anything a holy grail (having discovered cider, which was new to this American).  Oh I wanted to play it - that's why we sought it out, why the three of us took a train north from London while the others went to Wales... but holy grail is taking it way too far.  It was just something I wanted to do.

Now later, upon returning... it took on more spiritual/grail status.

TH

ps - I can translate for my friend Mike, who likely isn't up this early... Belhaven's Best is a fine ale one finds in Scotland.. it is nectar of the gods... and El Scientito is Steve Pieracci, infrequent poster here, rocket scientist extraordinaire.  As for his pants, man I could comment on that too as he had alerted me to his tee time and I watched these two yokels play #1 on the St. Andrews web cam... but my memory is not that good for such details.
 

[Mike Hendren]

Most surprising:

1.  The modest scale of the elevation changes
2.  The massive size of the greens
3.   With a few dramatic exceptions, the flatness of the greens
4.   The relative absence of quirk and whimsy.

Mike

[Bart Bradley]

Anthony:

Played there 3 years ago in July....with my father-in-law, Tom.

Perfect morning weather 1010 tee off time, 65 degrees, 20mph wind, sunshine and clouds mixed.

It does have a certain spiritual quality..you can feel the history...you feel good just being there...

I was surprised most when on arriving in St. Andrews, I took a wrong turn at twilight looking for the hotel and ended up on the road that comes within about 30 yds of the Swilken Bridge...you can imagine that on your first trip in St. Andrews you are not expecting to just drive right up and shine your headlights on the Swilken Bridge.  "Oh look, Dad, there is the Swilken Bridge"...Dad:  "No, it can't be"...me:  "It has to be...look!"

It is a great, great place...but I am not sure what you mean by "Is it the Holy Grail?" ...it is not hard to find, it just costs a ton to play.

Bart

[Sean_A]

   Was it spiritual?  

   What surprised you the most?  

   How was the weather?

   Who did you play with?  

   Was it The Holy Grail?

   Anthony



  

Was it spiritual?  No, there is nothing about golf I find spiritual.

What surprised you the most?  A few things.  1) My playing partners hitting grounders all over the place.  2) That a well executed fade worked wonders around TOC  3) The number of hidden bunkers and more especially how small some of them were.  4) How slow play was. 5) The size of the greens.  6) How easy the course was.

How was the weather? Fine, I spose typically British.  A bit of this and a drop of that.

Who did you play with?  Two Brits, one Scottish and the other English, both of whom played the ground game whenever the opportunity presented itself.  The Scot carried about 4 clubs without a bag and he was dressed as tatty as they come, but he could play a mean 3 iron draw that went further than some go on holiday.  This guy was good and I mean good.  Nothing looked good, but after the game the Englishman said he shot 2-3 under depending on gimmes.   

 Was it The Holy Grail?  I spose so except TOC isn't holy or a grail. 


Ciao

[Anthony Gray]

  My first time I played with three locals after walking up. The weather got bad on the back. With the rain coming down sideways one of them on 16 said "I'm walking off!". The other two said "we have to finish its his first time". The first man screamed "I can't see out of me f*%#ing glasses". We finished and then they hosted me at their club beside the 18th fairway for a much needed warm meal. Unforgetable.

  Anthony

[Andrew Mitchell]

   Was it spiritual?  No, not really.  But it was over 20 years and I knew even less about golf architecture than I know now
   What surprised you the most? That I could walk up to the starter's hut without a tee time and be playing the course within 20 minutes.  Also that despite knowing the course from television I only recognised holes 1, 17 & 18
   How was the weather? Dry and sunny with a light breeze

   Who did you play with?  An American by the name of Bil Brown.  I didn't know him and he too had turned up at the starter's hut as a single.  I remember his name as that was also the name of my uncle who started me playing and bought me my first half set of clubs. 
   Was it The Holy Grail? I didn't think so at the time.

[mike_malone]

 I understand "spiritual" as feelings that connect one to the greater. So, it certainly was spiritual . I gave myself over to the experience.

  I was surprised at the size of the greens. I also was surprised at the variety of land hazards , that is , how often some mound or hill needed to be taken on to execute the shot.

  The weather was mild with an occasional shower. It was just breezy enough to affect the ball.

  I played with three locals who had been to Carnoustie earlier in the day. This made me feel right at home. One of them told me on #2 that I was his partner in the match.

 It was absolutely the Holy Grail.  I spent the whole time gawking at the features that have been emulated so much by others.

[Josh Stevens]

Was it spiritual? - no, i had a hangover, was all i could do not to vomit.  First tee shot off the toe out of bounds right, then plonked a topped nine iron into the burn.  Got better from then on.

  What surprised you the most? - the size of the undulations, once past the first hole, the moguls were huge

   How was the weather? - about 20 below zero with a howling gale off the water, had to wear so many layers i could barely swing. At least it didnt rain

   Who did you play with? - guy from San diego i met on the first tee, his first links experience and he hated it, just couldnt understand that there were no defined fiarways

   Was it The Holy Grail? - no not really.  Great fun, but in no rush to do it every weekend.  I have played better

   Anthony

[Jamie Barber]

Was it spiritual?

No - I'm a devout atheist

What surprised you the most?

Flatter than I expected. With the stong wind the downwind holes were very short. the short 12th played as a 6iron to the green. I birdied the 18th after putting my 2nd from the Valley of Sin (which again was less fearsome than I had imagined). The headwind holes were very long!

How was the weather?

Bitter. It was February and blowing a gale. I had two pairs of trousers, 4 tops, two pars of socks, a hat and played in woolly gloves. Standing on the 17th it must have been -10C with windchill. Two days later we played the Jubilee and got snowed off in a blizzard

Who did you play with?
Uni friends and 3 other golfing mates. The lowest h/c (a 2) didn't break 80. I was off 12 and shot 98.

Was it The Holy Grail?
For me it wasn't. I would love to play it again, but it didn't have the wow factor of County Down. I think it's a course you learn to love, but the green fees make that a difficult prospect (i.e. can't afford to play it very often)

[Mark Chaplin]

2007 with 7 fellow club members.

Teed off at 3.30 after a very heavy R&A lunch.

Weather cool and breezy.

Hit the pin with my second to the first!

[Niall C]

Was it spiritual ?   Its hard to get spiritual when you're teeing off at 7.45 am and have only had 3 hours sleep after a night on the lash.

What surprised me the most ?  Not much considering I had walked the course before, seen a couple of Opens there etc however I was surprised at the blindness/lack of definition off the tee.

Weather - usual Scottish part cloudy/part sunny, bit of wind kind of day.

Who did I play with ? - 3 very good pals who were my regular 4 ball at the time. Two of the guys had played it before so didn't bother with a caddy, while myself and my other pal did. Best decision, we just kept hitting it where they said and easily outscored the other two. I got the shock of my life when I realised I was 2 under par after 12 (I'm a 9 handicapper). Unfortunately fell away once I started sobering up, and finished with a 77.

Holy Grail ? - not sure if any course is the holy grail but definitely had to be done.

Niall

[George Freeman]

   Was it spiritual?  In a golf sense, yes.  All I know is that it was one of my greatest golf experiences...

   What surprised you the most?  The flatness, the size and movement of the greens.  Also, excluding 5-6 holes, I was surprised how difficult it was for me to remember the individual holes (which usually comes pretty easy to me) after one round.   

   How was the weather?  Everything cooperated except the wind, which was blowing 45 mph steady, gusting to 60 mph.  At 8 am I walked over to the posted tee sheet and saw 4 foursomes (2 from the R&A, 2 from St. Andrews GC) crossed off, obviously canceling b/c of the wind.  Having only one chance to play, I would have gone out in a hurricane.  I dropped two balls on the putting green, only to watch them both be blown 20 feet off the green by the wind.  You had to put your tee in the ground at a 45 degree angle into the wind in order to be able to tee up the ball, otherwise it would blow over.  On more than one occasion, after not setting it down parellel to the wind, my golf BAG blew 15-20 yards away.  My playing partners opening drive, a three wood that probably would have gone 180-200 yards in normal conditions, was blown backwards, almost hitting us and ending up out of bounds BEHIND us....

   Who did you play with?  It was mid February and I felt like I was the only tourist in St. Andrews at the time.  The starter told me a father and son were waiting to tee off and that I could join them if I wanted to.  It ended up they were from metro Detroit.  I grew up in Michigan and at the time was living in metro Detroit.  Out around #8, a single caught up to us and in a familiar accent, asked if he could join us.  Low and behold he lived about 10 minutes from me in Birmingham, MI.  I flew half way around the world to play a course in Scotland in February only to get paired with 3 guys who all lived within 40 min of me.

   Was it The Holy Grail?  It sure felt like it.  More so than the course was just the town of St. Andrews in general.  I can't imagine a town more immersed in golf than St. Andrews.  I fell in love, even in February...

[Bill_McBride]

   Was it spiritual?    Not at 6:30 in the morning, first off.  The caddies were more hung over than we were, but barely

   What surprised you the most?  That we got such a good time via the ballot.  Also how fast the course played and how huge the greens were.  #5/13 is over an acre I think!

   How was the weather?   Lovely, warm (June) with a light breeze.  The day before was Sunday and we played both courses at Crail, with light rain in the morning and fine weather in the afternoon.

   Who did you play with?  I played with my brother Bink, who played well enough to beat me and had a couple of birdies.  We left St Andrews the next morning and went down to North Berwick for two rounds and then on to Painswick for my first Buda and his last.  We squeezed in a round at Porthcawl too, so it was a great trip.

   Was it The Holy Grail?  Pretty much for me, I had been studying everything I could find out about the Old Course for years.  The caddies were amazed that I knew the names of all the bunkers, although I only got into one of the Coffins and the Scholars Bunker (not recommended).

We would have played a second round on one of the other courses after playing TOC in the morning, but made the fatal error of getting blotto over drinks and lunch in the R&A clubhouse as guests of a member from home.

It still ranks as one of the great trips of my life, and was the start of several really good trips to the British Isles for golf.  St Andrews remains my favorite place on earth.





   

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

I was young, dumb and ignorante...
Thought it was a goat ranch..

20 years later...........aewsome..deep religious experience, the place was an ispiration...and insight into the art of golf course architecture...truly made golf course architecture a passion..
One of the greatest places on earth.

[Tom Huckaby]

That's funny Michael.. I had a similar experience with TOC.. as well as many other great courses.  I had the fortune to play quite a few when young and dumb, due to tournament play or whatever... and appreciated very few of them.  I thought Cypress Point was a one-hole course that first time, for example.

My was the appreciation better at all (particularly Cypress) when coming back and playing it many years later, as old and dumb....

 

Funny commonality in these threads too - why do so many of us drink so much the night before the TOC round? 

[Bill_McBride]

Funny commonality in these threads too - why do so many of us drink so much the night before the TOC round? 

Or after the round for that matter!  I think there's something in that Belhaven's Best, particularly when chased by a Bell's whisky. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Well after the round I can completely understand - one celebrates, after all... and St. Andrews has only about 500 different options for
"19th holes"... one better than the next!  It's one of my favorite towns also....

But wouldn't you think we'd all have more sense and save this for after the round, preferring to be more clear-headed for play?  Heck my excuse that first time was I was 21 and an idiot, and drinking was pretty much the purpose of the trip... I have to wonder about some of you other more level-headed adults.

Hey, wait a second... come to think of it...the same thing happened pretty much every subsequent trip for me also... so put me down as a long-term idiot there.

I think it's the town.  It's the New Orleans of Scotland.

 

[Bill_McBride]

We checked into the Dunvegan Sunday after a day at Crail and got into a drink buying contest with two young caddies who talked us into hiring them the next morning.  I was frankly quite surprised when they showed up.  They weren't very good caddies, it could have been the drink or it could have been the attitude.

[Tom_Doak]

I played The Old Course for the first time with my mom, dad and brother Dave on a family trip to Europe when I was 15 years old ... the very hot summer of 1976.  We only played there and at Gleneagles ... we had a tee time at Troon, but when we got there I wasn't allowed to play because I was not yet 18, and juniors were not allowed to play the main course.  (Which was okay at the time, because we'd just landed at Prestwick on the overnight flight.)

Spiritual?  No.  Exciting?  Yes, even though I would say that like most first-time visitors, on half the holes we really had no idea where we were going.

I had a much different take when I arrived fresh out of college in 1982, and walked the course at 5:00 my first morning there.  Ever since then it has felt like home for me.

[Anthony Gray]

  Tom Doak,

 It is nice to see an other poster talking about his mom.

   Anthony

[Ash Towe]

Was it spiritual?- No but there was a mystique and an excitement at being there.

Most surprising-The length of the course and how difficult 17 is.  Getting on that green and avoiding the road bunker recquires a fair bit of thought.

The weather was cloudy and overcast.  Cool for the time of year. ( July )

I played with a good friend from England and 2 young students from Sweden.  The starter asked if they could join us.  You could see how desperate they were to play.  Turned out to be their last day in the UK.

Was it the Holy Grail.  Not at the time but I did not have as good an understanding of its position in the game of golf as I do now.