What Was YOUR score at The Old Course?

[Mike Hendren]

It's easy.
It's ruined by technology.
And so it goes on this site recently.

I'm guessing many have played The Old Course - likely with the markers well forward to expedite play.  I don't write down scores but I'm guessing I was around in 84 and 88 give or take s stroke back in late October 2003.

What did YOU legitimately shoot and what was your handicap at the time?  Just the facts please.

Bogey

[David Lott]

Best: 80

Worst: 104

Not too far off the extremes of my usual distribution then. I could break 80 a couple of times a year, and really stink it up once in a while too--though 104 (with a caddy!) was a little unsettling.

True story of the 104:

#8. Downwind in firm breeze--pin close to front edge. (1) Overclub, closed face and long. (2) chip too strong over into thick grass (3) fluff chip (4) blade chip (5) putt way short (6) putt 4 feet long (7) miss four footer ( tap in.

Me (frustrated): "That's about as badly as you can play this hole."

Caddy: "Yes"

[RSLivingston_III]

Almost always in the low 80s and some 70s.
Of course all rounds were with 1920s era hickory clubs. (Probably don't need to say that anymore)

[Scott Warren]

83. Playing off 7. With a triple on the 7th. And 39 putts. Finished with three 4s then seven straight 5s.

[Tim Gavrich]

I shot 72 on June 14, 2008.  I think I just had two bogeys and two birdies (and an up and down out of Hill bunker on 11  ).  I was a scratch player at the time, as I am now.

[Sean Leary]

71 off of a 5 handicap in 2004. Was 4 under on 17 and made 5 footer for triple. First under par round in my life.

Played extrordinarily short with minimal wind and firm conditions.

[Paul Jones]

I shot a 75 with perfect weather.  Handicap at the time was a 2.

Paul

[Andrew Summerell]

I rarely score when not playing competition, but I have broken 80 at least once when one of my partners was scoring. I would guest most of my rounds were in the low 80's.

[Chris Cupit]

Four or five rounds in mid seventies.

Played in the 1999 or 2000 St. Andrews Links (?)  It is a big stroke play event the week before the Amateur Championship.  You play 18 on the old, 18 on the new and if you make the cut 36 on the old the next day.  77 on the old in weather that was atrocious.  During the second round in the afternoon on the new, it was so windy/rainy that the competition was called for that round and scores cancelled!

Played with Nick Dougherty that day--what a player as a very young amateur then.

Anyway, next day was 36 on the old course.  81-67.  (I will admit the 81 was fighting off the effects of the Dunveagan but...)We did play the tips (the then tips which had been added for the Dunhill Cup at that time).

If you haven't figured it out yet, it is all about the weather.  If the weather is nice and calm (I'm not sure a Scot would equate calm with nice ) you can shoot a great score.  When the wind blows, it can be brutal.  What is so hard about understanding that?

It's a great golf course that is too short for the greatest players in the world if the weather is calm.  But, that is usually not the case.  Maybe if the weather stays calm and the best in the world shoot a bunch of 62-66s, the R & A will get with the USGA and do something about the technology which has already ruined many great courses for elite players.

PS  I did have one good competitive round but when I am speaking of the elite players, please know I mean professionals not good amateur players (which I would say I was a decade ago).

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

What wonderful thoughts. My low was a 74 and most in the mid to high 70's with 3 or 4 in the low to mid 80's. There are I believe 15 rounds todate. All kinds of weather. I do not ever remember looking like Calcavecio, well maybe tummy was, but not demeaner at after 9 today

[Carl Johnson]

I played three years ago, my first and only time.  Our group played a typical 4-ball Nassau.  My partner and I lost a couple of pounds (money).  I did not try to keep a medal score.  I picked up two or three times, maybe more.  My index at the time was 19 point something.  If I'd have finished every hole with a legitimate medal play score, I'm certain it would have been over 100.  We each had our own "trainee caddie."  Not an excuse, but mine could not read putts.  After a while I gave up asking him, or ignored his advice.  Not that I did much better on my own, but at least I got the general direction of the breaks right.  By the way, the weather could not have been more benign.  Personal highlight was No. 1.  I should have quit then.  Nice drive down the fairway, 6 iron to 20 feet or so, and two putt for a par.  The rest of our four ball did keep medal play scores, but only on an ESC basis, taking conceded five footers as made, and so on.  They could come back to the U.S.A. and say, "I shot an 82" or whatever on TOC.  If that makes them happy, then that's o.k. with me.

[Tom_Doak]

I have not played it as many times as you'd think.  I've walked it WAY more often than I played it.

I think my best round when I lived there was 78 ... not so great.  Worst round, somewhere in the high 80's.  I have never played particularly well there.  But I've hit some of the most memorable shots in my life there.

[Jeff Tang]

I've only played it one time.  I shot 80 in 2000 about a month after the Open was there.  I was a 7 at the time.  Minimal wind and a beautiful day.  It was fun playing #17 when trying to break 80 and knowing I needed to finish par-par to do it.  Gave me some insight into what it's like to play that hole with something on the line.  I made a 5 and finished with a 4 on 18 for the 80.

What I didn't realize before playing the 17th was how close the road is to that green.  I was thinking, don't fly the green, hit the road, and go ob and kill your round (I'm a head case when it comes to trying to close out a round as you can tell by that thought process).  Needless to say I pulled the shot and then had to contend with chipping across the road hole bunker to try and make my 4 which I didn't do.  Great hole.

[Matt MacIver]

Shot 87 as an 18.  Very light wind and very high spirits.  Evidently golf is a mental game and despite the Duvegan's best attempts the night before, I was in fine form the that day.  Love love love that place!

[Joel_Stewart]

76 in a 2 club wind.  Made eagle on #9 with a drive on the front edge and then holed a 40 footer.  Wasn't in one bunker.  Played to about a 5 handicap at the time.

[Jim Jackson]

new in the barrell - my first post...

maybe my favorite golf story - was backpacking through Europe in the summer of 97, golf shoes in tow.  Hitchhiked from closest britrail stop to St. Andrews, arriving around 7 PM as the sun went down.  Walked the course a bit with my pack before settling on a hostel.  To the bar until 2 AM, up at 5 to rent clubs and wait.  Got off in the 2nd group for 70 pounds, caddieless, hit 13 greens in winds in the teens, and made a snake (with an old acushnet bullseye putter) on 18 for 74.  Sat behind the 18th to watch a few groups come in, toured the college/town for a few hours, trashed the shoes, and hitched back to the train stop.

Two variables that make the score better - at 6'6" its really uncomfortable to use stock lenth/lie clubs, especially rented ones, and those size 15s took up way too much friggin space in my pack.

Wish I had that acushnet today.

I suppose i was around a 5 at the time.   

[Ken Moum]

I went over in 2006, with a 12 index, but playing like an 18, hitting most of my tee shots sideways.

After a week in Scotland, playing Cruden Bay, Nairn, Dornoch, Brora and Boat of Garten, we arrived in St. Andrews on a Sunday.

Played the Jubilee on Monday, the New on Tuesday morning. Through all of that, my play continued to stink.

Tuesday evening the Links Superintendent and TOC Head Greenkeeper played my friend and I in a match on The Old. There was a stiff wind blowing in the same direction as it was Friday of this week.

I just got out the card to show someone at my club, and it says I shot 46-47, with a couple of doubles written down where I picked up.   The highlights of the round were chipping in for 3 on the third, and a nice up-and-down from in front of Strath on the eleventh.

The next day we had a tee time with our wives, in less wind, and I managed an 87, but once again had a couple of no return holes, carded as doubles.

FWIW, we lost our match 4 and 3, and bought the boys a round of Magner's cider in Dunvegan.

I will say this, if I had ANY idea where my tee shots were going, I don't think it would have been hard to play to my handicap--even in the breeze.

K

[Dave McCollum]

I shot an 89 with a 9 on #2 with no lost ball and the only time I took a drop (unplayable) in a bunker.  I suppose I was around an 11 cap at the time.  We had about a 25mph breeze straight out of the Eden Estuary—into going out, downwind coming home.  My highlight was having my caddie hand me my putter after my downwind drive on 9.  My lowlight, other than #2, was three-putting #9 for a 4.  I’m old, learned the game late in life, can't hit it long, and stink.  Fabulous time.  I remember every shot.

The most interesting story of the round came from walking the course on Sunday before our Monday round.  We played the New in an opposite wind on Sunday.  When we walked out to the 14/5 fairways on TOC that afternoon with same breeze, we simply could not figure out how to play 14.  We sat on dune for 10 minutes and couldn’t come up with a reasonable strategy.  The next day, with the breeze shifted 180 degrees and playing downwind, it was a simple driver down the pipe over the bunkers, a 4-iron over the green, a chip back, and a putt.  Easy as pie, and therein lies the beauty of the place and the key question:  where’s the wind?

[Pete_Pittock]

Ten rounds over the years. Most were 83-84 with about a 10 hdcp. I usually dip one in the Swilkan, have to come out of bunkers sideways or backwards a couple of times a round bogey 17 and par 18.  The reverse course was around 90 in a noticeable breeze.

[John Kirk]

75, with probably a 1 handicap, net 74.

The most important stat?  Teed off with three other Americans at 6:50.  Last putt at 10:30.  Three hours and forty minutes.  No hurrying, no dilly-dallying.

[CJ Carder]

80 the first day after making 5 on the last 3 holes each.     Of course it didn't help that I shot 42 going out.

76 the second day after I felt more comfortable about where to hit it.  Plus I putted better.

I was a 6 handicap at the time.

[Mark Pearce]

An 85, playing off 13, in strong winds (I won't estimate speeds but, off the yellows, I reached 5 with driver 7 iron and 12 with driver 5 iron!).  7 of those 85 were spent enjoying the 11th.

[Mike Benham]

Even par 72, 2 birdies, 2 bogeys and I played 17 just like you are suppose to (but I was younger then) ... tee shot on #1 was webscast to a worldwide GCA audience ...

And also got the standard keepsake photo op:

[Sean_A]

My first game at TOC was a around 1990 in a playful wind.  I knew nothing about the course and hadn't a clue where to go on many of the front nine holes.  Played with two English guys in the same boat - clueless.  I can recall doing a lot of standing around, waiting for the group ahead to do their yardage marking.  Anyway, I was probably a 9 and didn't likely didn't break 90, but I won the money.  I have been back during the off season a few more times and played better, but I don't think I ever went ower than 77ish.  I still don't know how to play the course.

Ciao

[Steve Okula]

The day I played it, the wind on the far end of the course was so fierce that the balls would not sit still on the green, so scoring was impossible. Our caddies told us that if there were a competition under these conditions play would have been suspended. Really.

The way back in the weather calmed and the last three holes we played in glorious breezy sunshine. I finished 5-3, and I consider the bogey on the Road Hole to be more of an accomplishment than the birdie on 18.