Guardian: "UK's old university towns hit by Covid-19 'double whammy'"

The Guardian’s Caroline Davies considers the state of United Kingdom university towns and while several have ties to golf, there is really only one: St Andrews.

From her story:

Around 9,000 students make up one-third of the population, and Scotland’s oldest university, which generated £268.6m for the local economy in 2018, is the town’s major employer, supporting 4,260 jobs.

With the scenic coastline of north-east Fife, and the Royal and Ancient a golfing destination par excellence, tourism is the second major employer.

“But we are a long way from knowing how students will be able to come, and how many. It’s very difficult to see how international students will be able to return in any numbers at all if normal term times are able to start again,” said Alan Mitchell, chief executive of the Fife chamber of commerce. “Equally, it’s hard to see international golf tourism happening any time soon.”

"Right now, every day is Sunday in the cradle of the game."

Bunkered’s Michael McEwan files as uplifting a look as you can when visiting a locked down St. Andrews.

He covers all elements of the town, operation and details of the limited course maintenance allowed since the lockdown started March 23 to combat COVID-19.

Up and into the heart of the town, there’s only the faintest pulse of life. Auchterlonie’s Golf Shop, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, is shut, as are all of the town’s most famous 19th holes: The Dunvegan, The Keys, The Whey-Pat, The Westport, Greyfriars Inn, Ham’s Hame, The Criterion and more.

The cobbles of Market Street are empty. The six bells of St Salvator's Chapel Tower on the university campus don’t chime. The students have nearly all skipped town. The tourists who top up the population have yet to arrive.

"Appeal fund launched for caddies at St Andrews"

The Scotsman’s Martin Dempster reports on the caddiemaster’s effort to raise funds for St. Andrews caddies out of work. His effort is separate of the St Andrews Links Trust.

Fraser Riddler has established a GoFundMe goal of £20,000, and is trying to get the word out for his troops. From his write-up on the page:

Unfortunately, the caddies who regularly stride the fairways at St Andrews Links are among the worst affected. Caddies have been part of the fabric of golf in St Andrews for almost as long as the game has been played here.  There are references to caddies dating back as far as 1691 at the Home of Golf and through to the modern day they continue to make a meaningful contribution to the enjoyment of the game by golfers of all ages and abilities.

With no play possible for the foreseeable future and international travel set to be badly affected for the remainder of the summer season, caddie’s livelihoods are being seriously impacted. There is concern for the financial hardship many caddies might face due to the course closures. With this in mind, many have indicated they would like to offer help and support to the caddies during this difficult period.

Brooks Koepka: Give Me The Old Course Every Day

USA Today’s Steve DiMeglio interviewed Brooks Koepka about a range of topics and while his favorite snack is noteworthy, the wokesters and architecturalistas will rejoice hearing his very non-Florida Man answer to favorite course.

“My favorite course is St. Andrews, that’s easy. I could play that every day of my life and not get bored of it. It’s always different. Every time you play it, it’s like, why is this bunker here? Then you play it the next couple of rounds and the wind’s in a different direction, different strength, and you realize why that bunker’s there.”

At Least Someone's Enjoying The Old Course...

European Tour player Victor Perez, who was in line to make a 2020 Ryder Cup team, posted this after taking his dog for a walk around a deserted Old Course at St. Andrews. Perez won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill links over Matthew Southgate.

We can’t play, but we can still prepare 📝

I had a fun time today reliving my first @EuropeanTour win while getting ready for the next time we tee it up @TheHomeofGolf 😍 #StaySafe #OneDayAtATime @dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/7ywHolISGy

— Victor Perez (@v_perez2) April 4, 2020

Never Worry About The Old Course First Tee Shot Again

There is no more nerve-wracking tee shot in golf than the opening hole at the Old Course.

There’s the history, the gallery and the mystery of whoever is watching behind those tinted Royal and Ancient windows. Oh, and it’s about a wide of a landing area as you can get.

And I’m confident, should you be worried, that this gem nobly shared in response to a Zac Blair question, will alleviate all concerns you will look foolish should the Old Course opportunity arise. Thanks to reader Brian for catching this.

My brother's friends first shot at St Andrews is unforgettable pic.twitter.com/DsKHW3TizB

— Tom (@culley999) February 21, 2020

Note that it appears the ball remains in bounds. Glad the tees were up!

Old Course Is The Centerpiece Of Climate Change Study

This unbylined Sky Sports story looks at St Andrews university Professor Bill Austin's planned three-year study of coastal erosion and the impact on golf. An R&A grand as part of its Golf Course 2030 initiative.

"This research will allow us to consider all climate-related factors that will have an ever-lasting effect on the home of golf."

The Coastal Change Action Plan is a key component of the R&A's Golf Course 2030.
It was established in 2018 as an industry initiative to consider the impact of the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation on golf course condition and playability.

Researchers estimate almost £400m worth of property and infrastructure around Scotland's coastline is at risk due to erosion.

Golf Place Remains Scotland's Most Expensive Street, As It Should Be

Despite incoming golf balls, tourists galore, hotels and parking problems, Golf Place remains Scotland’s most expensive street for the third year in a row. Oh, but it does overlook the Old Course at St. Andrews. So there’s that.

From the Scotsman.

A street in St Andrews has been named the most expensive in Scotland for the third year running.

An average property in Golf Place, near the famous Old Course, costs £1.877 million, according to Bank of Scotland research.

Another nearby street in the town also makes it into the top 20 most expensive, with a house in The Scores costing £1.092 million on average.

Scores, schmores! Who needs those water and ancient ruins views when you can look at the Old Course?

Reverse Old Course Gets Two Days In November 2019

Great news for the lucky souls in St. Andrews who have an open mind and an appreciation for golf history, as the Old Course will be set up in the reverse fashion once the original routing and later employed by Old Tom Morris to spread wear-and-tear. Annually, the routing is played in April.

Here is Jeremy Glenn’s deep dive on the setup and reverse routing.

From Graylyn Loomis on Twitter:

For the first time in years the St Andrews Links is allowing golfers to play the Old Course in reverse for two days late this month. Who has always wanted to play the Old backwards? pic.twitter.com/r3oDAHDNAC

— Graylyn Loomis (@grayloomis) November 6, 2019

Match Play: Pebble Beach Versus The Old Course

The Morrissett brothers of Golf Club Atlas fame taught me the joy of settling golf course debates via match play. While not a perfect system to compare to works of golf architecture, it can be incredibly effective between semi-like-minded souls. Think of golf course match play as a war of attrition that sheds outside influences that muddy so many golf course rankings.

Forget the friendliness of staff, size of clubhouse and deliciousness of the cheeseburger. They can’t intrude on a straight-up, hole-by-hole duel.

Sadly, there are few forums for such debates and maybe as with 18 holes of golf, laboriously debating the merits of holes strikes some as tedious. But in an incredible week when the world of golf took us to Pebble Beach and The Old Course, the two most important jewels of their respective nations prompted a match to settle a question Matt Adams and I (sort of) addressed earlier in the week for Golf Central.

Here’s how my Pebble Beach vs. Old Course match played out. Disagree away and please, if you’ve been fortunate enough to play both, tell me your match outcomes. I won’t be hurt.  (PS – we play these matches to the end, even if one course closes things out early.)

First Hole – The setting, the width, the burn, the tee where every legend of the game as stood, matched against the mediocrity of Pebble Beach’s opening hole, makes this a quickie. Old Course 1 up.

Second Hole – The “Dyke” features beautifully simple strategy, a need to consider the day’s hole location and a mind-boggling green complex at the end. While I love Pebble Beach’s second hole, changes in recent years to the landing area, the manicured barranca and a shrunken green complex add up to a loss. Old Course 2 up.

Third Hole – For years this would have been an easy win for Pebble’s third, one of my favorite holes until tweaks have taken some of the life and strategic subtlety away. Should be a Pebble win, but it’s not. Halve. Old Course 2 up.

Fourth Hole – Pebble Beach’s fourth has benefited from tree loss down the right, opening up the round’s first view of the sea. Some odd bunkering tweaks do not take away from this drive and pitch in the way gorse might be getting carried away at St. Andrews’s “Ginger Beer” par-4. Old Course 1 up.  

Fifth Hole – Jack Nicklaus’ par-3 is a big improvement over the old fifth and has aged pretty well in twenty years. But the Hole O’ Cross is one of the world’s most bizarre and fascinating par-5’s, with an enormous green fronted by a deep swale that also can feed balls onto the absurd green. Old Course 2 up.

Sixth Hole – Speaking of fantastic par-5’s, Pebble Beach’s 6th remains beautiful and peculiar. A green expansion to reclaim trickier hole locations could make it better. While the Old Course’s sixth is a fine par-4, it’s not nearly as memorable as Pebble Beach’s sixth hole. Old Course 1 up.

Seventh Hole – Order another round, a long, drawn-out debate should ensue here. Pebble Beach’s 107-yard par-3 seventh remains one of the world’s most photographed and fun to play. There may be no better spot in the world of golf. But the green has morphed into a circle and old photos show a far more interesting hole. While the “High (Out)” hole requires a well-conceived tee shot, and one of the most underrated second shots in golf has you playing over the Shell bunker to a double green shared with the Eden. Sorry Pebble Beach. Old Course 2 up.

Eighth Hole – Pebble Beach’s magnificent second over the ocean easily beats out the fine, but ultimately so-so 8th in St Andrews. Old Course 1 up.

Ninth Hole – Another easy win for Pebble Beach. While St. Andrews’s 9th is fun to play, it can’t compete with the setting and shots required. Or the views. All Square.

Tenth Hole – Bobby Jones is another nice little drive and pitch, though the green shared with the 8th is a bit of a dud. The tenth at Pebble Beach? As magnificent a meeting of golf architecture and nature as you’ll find. Pebble Beach 1 up.

Eleventh Hole – The glorious High hole backed by the Eden Estuary, guarded by the Hill and Strath bunkers, offering views of town. Oh, and all of that history. Versus an uphill, mid-length par-4 with two hole locations?  All Square.

Twelfth Hole – The most important short par-4 influencing designers from Jones and MacKenzie to Nicklaus and Weiskopf’s is too much for Pebble Beach’s modified Redan anchored by another circular green complex with most of the best hole locations lost. Old Course 1 up.

Thirteenth Hole – This one is tricky. The Hole O’ Cross is a strange, hard to grasp par-4 at the Old Course but ultimately one with strategy, interest and character. The uphill 13th at Pebble Beach also featured strategic charm, though I’m not sure how often in the modern game its steeply tilted green rewards drives down the left. Both are fun to play. Halve. Old Course 1 up.

Fourteenth Hole – Difficult three-shotters at both courses, the edge goes to St. Andrews on the back of its magnificent green complex and strategic variety. Old Course 2 up.

 Fifteenth Hole – Straightaway par-4’s at both courses and of similar distances. Again, the green complex makes the difference. Old Course 3 up.

 Sixteenth Hole – The Old Course, with its Principal’s Nose and Deacon Sime bunkers, a boundary fence and glorious green, get the edge as much as I enjoy the topography, shot shapes and difficulty of Pebble Beach’s 16th. Old Course 4 up.

 Seventeenth Hole - The Road hole, even in its emasculated state with rough grass covering what should be fairway sending balls farther away from the optimum angle of attack, is still the Road hole. A restored green at Pebble Beach almost made me halve this one, but the restoration wasn’t perfect and the options just aren’t as interesting. Old Course 5 up.

Eighteenth Hole – As much as I adore the finish in St. Andrews, nothing compares to the conclusion of a day at Pebble Beach. Old Course 4 up.

There you have it. At least architecturally, a pretty turbulent match with few halves and ultimately an easy Old Course at St. Andrews win.

Here’s our chat from Golf Central:

Video: How Not To Play The Road Hole

Hat tip to Alex Myers for this absolute beauty. The Old Course Hotel certainly is in play, but playing your second from the 16th is a humiliation I’m certain the Station Master’s Garden never inflicted on anyone.

How NOT to play the famous Road Hole at St Andrews...😳😂 pic.twitter.com/DtFCPBHRSO

— Lads Golf ™ (@Lads_Golf) September 10, 2019

Rusacks, Marine Hotels Will Be Coming On The Market (Again)

Tom Ramage reports that major losses in their hotel empire will prompt the Macdonald Hotels group to sell most of their hotels.

In golf, that means two of the most storied properties possible will be available: Rusacks on the 18th hole of St. Andrews and the Marine hotel overlooking the 16th at North Berwick.

Hey rich golf guys, make sure these land in the right hands, please.

Old Course: The Revamped Shell Bunker Looks Like A Swimming Pool

With a sand bottom…

I don’t meant to be cruel, but the fascination in Scotland these days with constant rebuilding of Old Course bunkers with an eye toward mechanical precision is increasingly tough to watch, particularly when we know a sense of naturalness is essential to reminding the golfer that most of these pits were accidental in origin. The more man-made they look, the more the golfer is likely to reject them.

Anyway, here are the photos of a recent reconstruction followed by a historic photo from a postcard I purchased a few years ago. Look at that face and lack of sand manicuring!

Ignorance Is Strength Files: Slumbers Says R&A Growing Rough To Ensure Old Course Strategy

Even though we’ve seen this movie before: eliminating fairway at the Old Course to mask regulatory ineptitude, the retirement of Chief Inspector Peter Dawson seemingly put an end to that madness.

Turns out, his replacement has signed off on an enhanced rough harvesting effort to combat the surge in driving distances at the home of strategic golf, the Old Course.

Who knew there was any more rough to grow or fairway to eliminate at the Road?

While most understand the Road hole’s strategy and the visual and angle issues caused by bailing out left off the 17th tee, the R&A has begun adding more rough to “enhance” strategy by offering hack-out rough.

From John Huggan’s Golf World report after Martin Slumbers’ day with reporters this week.

“We will be looking at the course setup and there is some rough beginning to grow that will ensure the strategic nature of the Old Course remains. The importance of making sure you play the strategy properly will be enhanced. But if we get no weather, no wind and plenty of rain, we all know the links course is at the mercy of these great players. The Old Course is no different.”

Specifically, Slumbers indicated that the rough left of the 17th fairway on the iconic Road Hole will be enhanced in order to force players to the right, closer to the out-of-bounds. The grass on the bank left of the 14th fairway and right of the fifth will also be allowed to grow longer than ever before.

Also do not discount how much gorse has been allowed to remain to “defend” the course, on top of tee boxes on the neighboring courses, something Old Tom Morris worked to rid the place of and which was instrumental in the course’s increase in strategy and enjoyment.

But it’s the notion of taking a shot away from a player, or disallowing a ball to run to a disadvantageous location at the Old Course, that speaks to a special level of absurdity. Particularly given Slumbers’s suggestion that the growing effort has already begun, meaning everyday golfers will have to suffer more for one week every five to six years.

What a bleak and cynical vision for the most important and cherished links, and all so that a few people can avoid doing their job as regulators.

Storm Ali Shreds Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Tents

They have some work to do in St. Andrews reclaiming tents for the upcoming Alfred Dunhill Links after the dreaded Storm Ali blew through the UK and especially through St. Andrews.

Richard Rooney with details and photos for The Courier.

There was as also this Instagram posting:

View this post on Instagram

Gutted for them .. gonna be a busy day at the old course 😢

A post shared by Caroline Napier (@napiercaroline) on Sep 19, 2018 at 10:42pm PDT