Old Course At St. Andrews - Scotland

The "auld gray toon" of St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife is the home of golf, and no course is more closely identified with the history of the game than the Old Course at St. Andrews. The course is laid out along St. Andrews Bay in the shape of a shepherd's crook, with the first seven holes running out to Eden Estuary, followed by a four-hole loop, and then returning to the world's most recognized clubhouse. St. Andrews is a course that golfers learn to love but it is somewhat unprepossessing and strange at first sight, with broad fairways as rumpled as dirty laundry, lurking bunkers seemingly scattered randomly across the field of play, and immense double greens with rollercoaster surfaces. The earliest documented evidence of golf at St. Andrews dates from January 25,1552, although no doubt golf had been played there for some time earlier. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews was founded in 1754, and eventually became the governing body of the game outside of the United States. Many of the early Scottish pros, including Old and Young Tom Morris, hailed from St. Andrews, where they began as caddies. The Old Course has hosted 25 British Opens since 1873, with Tiger Woods winning the claret jug there in 2000, when he was at the peak of his invincibility.

Kingsbarns Golf Links - Scotland

Kingsbarns, a new links in the backyard of some of the world's oldest, has taken the golfing world by storm. Lying just five miles up the road from the Old Course at St. Andrews, Kingsbarns opened in 1998 and was instantly acclaimed as a links of the highest echelon. Even more unusual is that the course was designed by an American architect, Californian Kyle Phillips, with input from the course's American co-owner, Mark Parsinen. Phillips moved a great deal of earth, 400,000 cubic yards altogether, to create the broad, rolling fairways along the sea that look so natural. In the process, workers discovered graves and dwellings dating back 2,500 years. An old stone bridge from the early 19th century was also unearthed during construction; it now leads across the burn to the 18th green. The name of the course comes from a former castle near the fourth green, which once guarded the grain stored in the "King's barns."