St. Andrews golf guide: a 5-day dream trip to the Kingdom of Fife

To avid golfers, the Old Course at St. Andrews requires no introduction. But the region around it begs for exploration. In a recent episode of the Destination Golf podcast, GOLF’s travel guru Simon Holt outlined a dream itinerary for a five-day trip to the Kingdom of Fife, anchored by a round on the granddaddy of them all. (To listen to the entire episode, click here.)

Day 1 – Crail Golfing Society

An overnight, cross-Atlantic flight touches down early at Edinburgh Airport, which welcomes nonstop service on major airlines from Boston, New York, Newark and Chicago. Sleepy? Sorry. You’re not going to bed. The better move (for your jet lag and your joie de vivre) is to hit the ground running and light out for the links. It’s only about an hour drive to Crail, a sweet introduction to classic links. Gil Hanse-designed Craighead is the newer of the two courses here. But Crail is the seventh-oldest golf club in the world, so let’s hurtle headlong into history by playing Craighead’s sibling, the Balcomie Course, instead. Designed in large part by Old Tom Morris, it’s a bouncy, wind-blown layout, shot through with quirks and enhanced by sweeping sea views at it curls along the Firth of Forth. On the footpath between the 14th and 15th holes, you’ll pass a cave where, legend has it, a long-ago Scottish monarch was killed in battle. Whether that really happened is a source of some dispute. But you know the saying: don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. Or dampen your enjoyment of the closing seaside stretch.

Day 2 – The New Course

The Old Course at St. Andrews wasn’t always called the Old Course. Its original name was Pilmoor Links. It only became the Old Course when the New Course came around. That happened in 1895, which makes the New Course pretty old itself. Sitting side-saddle next to the Old, the New follows a similar routing, tracing something of a shepherd’s crook as it works up, out, around and back, though many of its fairways are harder to find. Given its location, it’s not the first course golfers target on a trip to St. Andrews. But of the seven courses run by the St. Andrews Links Trust, Holt ranks it second on his list. You probably wouldn’t cross an ocean just to play it. But once you’re in St. Andrews, it’s a must.

Day 3 – Carnoustie

Okay. We confess. You’re no longer in Fife. But we can’t let you come all this way without cashing in on a round at Carnoustie. The eight-time Open Championship host site is a quick skip from St. Andrews, 40 minutes up the coast, and it’s everything you know from its reputation: a brawny, beautifully conditioned course that strikes a rota-worthy balance, at once artful in its design and exacting in its demands. If you somehow manage to par the 18th hole, don’t tell Jean van de Velde, whose triple bogey in 1999 is etched into the annals of golf infamy. (If you’ve got time for a second 18, double up that day and play Panmure, where Ben Hogan used to tune up for the Open.)

Day 4 – The Old Course

This is the course you’ve built your trip around, the toughest tee time of them all. So rather than digress into its history, let’s get to the brass tacks: how do you get on? When push comes to shove, there are four ways, and only one is guaranteed: booking through a tour operator. You’ll pay a premium, and you’ll need to plan more than a year in advance (every now and then, spots open through last-minute cancelations, but that’s not something you can ever count on), but on a trip like this, the cost is worth the comfort. The second option is to enter what is known as the “advanced ballot,” which opens in September on standrews.com for tee times the following year. Log on, enter the names, handicaps, the home clubs of the players in your group and the date you hope to play, then wait a few weeks to find out if you’ve won. The third option is to enter the 48-hour ballot, which is pretty much what the name suggests: around noon two days prior of the day you hope to play, enter all the names and relevant info. You’ll have your answer by around 5 p.m. that day. Lastly, there’s the singles ballot, which you enter the day before you hope to play. Same information. Same lottery process. Same timing on when they let you know.

Day 5 – Kingsbarns

A truly “new” course by St. Andrews standards, this Kyle Phillips design opened in 2000 and has been on GOLF’s list of Top 100 Courses in the World ever since. It’s a great spot to end your trip. “It’s beautiful. Amazing views. Every hole is a picture,” Holt says. “And after a long week, it doesn’t beat you up. The fairways are wide. You’re not going to lose golf balls. The service is amazing. The clubhouse is cool. The food is really good. You’re going to be happy. And you’re going to want to come back.”

When to go

You can play year-round in Scotland, theoretically, at least. But days are short in winter and the weather can be rough. On some courses, including the Old Course, they play off mats from around the start of November through the end of March (give or take a few days, depending on conditions), which doesn’t qualify as torture but also doesn’t cut it for your dream trip. Better to target May through October, or the roughly two-week shoulder season on either end, when greens fees are slightly discounted.

Where to stay

One of the beauties of St. Andrews is that you can make your base in the heart of town and have all of the courses listed above (and many others) within easy reach. In some cases, you can practically roll out of bed onto the first tee. Airbnbs abound, particularly in summer, when St. Andrews University empties out of students. Cozy bed-and-breakfasts are plentiful, too. On the higher end, the Rusacks St Andrews is a longtime standby, with comfortable rooms and a rooftop restaurant and bar overlooking the Old Course. Seaton House, another luxury option just steps from the course, is a relative newcomer, the result of an extensive renovation of the former Scores Hotel. And then there’s the Old Course Hotel, which stands so close to the fairway of the Road Hole 17th that players hit over it in the Open Championship.

Where to eat and drink

St. Andrews has its share of white-tablecloth dining, but after a long day on the links — and more golf scheduled the next day — the last thing you’ll likely want is a protracted, formal meal. The town is long on laid-back spots to eat and drink. Among the many on Holt’s list:

Little Italy — Pizza. Pasta. Chicken parmigiana. Veal Milanese. This family-run resaturant turns out spot-on renditions of Old World classics in a relaxed setting that have made it a favorite of discerning locals, tourists and R&A members when they’re in town.

Swilcan Loft — A modern cocktail bar on the rooftop of the Old Course Hotel, with a menu of smartly executed chophouse fare.

Tailend — You can’t spend a week in Scotland without ordering fish and chips, and you can’t find a better version in St. Andrews than the one served here.

Criterion Bar — A lively watering hole with a long list of local beers and specialty items known as “cri-pies,” gigantic iterations of classic savory Scottish pies, stuffed with assorted vegetables and meats.

18 Restaurant — A new rooftop restaurant at the Rusacks Hotel for steaks, seafood and a range of seasonally driven Scottish dishes, complemented by a killer view of the Old Course.

Dunvegan Bar & Restaurant — If you play golf in St. Andrews and don’t wind down at least one of your days at this landmark, friends might wonder if you were ever really there.

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