I played here in July 2021, staying at Rusacks Hotel as part of our little road trip which took us next up to Cruden Bay. It was so exciting to see the Old Course and I had not quite appreciated how many courses there are on this piece of land at the west beach. The town was pretty empty too, as there were very few overseas visitors due to covid travel restrictions.
I managed a decent enough 77 although doubled on the last. I had read The New was just as tough as The Old, but I really enjoyed the course. The course is not nearly as narrow as The Old, and has some nicely placed traps and pin positions forcing a bit of decision making around shots in to the greens. I thought the fairways were a bit more generous than I had imagined they might be, although anything too wayward was lost for sure.
The starter area is good, with a nice restaurant, although the service was incredibly slow. We gave up on our coffees after a 25 minute wait. I guess the pandemic has caused staff shortages. I did not see any warm up areas other than a putting green. The New and Jubilee start in the same area, and is an easy walk from town or you can just use the parking lot right there.
The courses at St Andrews
Here’s a link to the Club: https://www.standrews.com/play/courses/new-course
Here’s some pics I took. We were very fortunate with the weather; it started out drizzling and just got better all day and there was virtually no wind which must be a rarity here.
I stayed at Rusacks hotel. It’s right on the 18th fairway. Be warned, its being renovated, and the new block they have built was not quite finished when we were there. It’s also so out of character with the rest of the street front. They offered us an upgrade on arrival, only to be shown to a room with no view of the 1st tee and 18th green, and worse the windows were still being completed. So then they offered us another upgrade to the third floor. That room did have the views, and was all very nice. But the ac made a lot of noise even when turned off at night, and even on the third floor there is noise from the street below. I would be sure not to stay on levels 1 and 2, and make sure you get the view they claim to offer. It’s L400 plus a night which just is not worth it. I’m just not sure I’d stay here again even though the views were terrific.
We had only a couple of nights, so ate at the hotel the first night - absolutely average menu, nice enough dining where you also get breakfast. The second night we ate at hotel du Vin. Pretty good! https://www.hotelduvin.com/locations/st-andrews/
We did the usual shopping at Auchterlonies. https://auchterlonies.com
Had lunch at The Tom Morris Bar and Restaurant a the St Andrews Links Clubhouse: https://www.standrews.com/relax/st-andrews-links-clubhouse
My daughter, Sarah, arranged for me to have a putting lesson. I was a bit sceptical that I would need 90 minutes, but I really learned a lot from Scott Wilson and would absolutely recommend him and the teaching facility. The teaching area is right next to the 16th fairway on the Old. Here’s a link to the venue: https://www.standrews.com/learn
Fife has an abundance of really great courses including:Kingsbarns, Crail, Elie, Lundin Links, and the latest addition, Dumbarnie. You could easily spend a couple of weeks in this part of Scotland and play some fabulous golf courses. In addition, the Kingdom has some very cute fishing villages to hang out at too.