St. Andrews (New Course)

Favorite Hole

No. 9, Par 3, 225 yards

There isn’t a better feeling in golf than hitting a ball that lands at roughly 180 yards, knowing it’s going to kick forward and come to rest near the pin 225 yards away. That’s part of what makes the ninth such a delight, particularly when you have the wind at your back. 

It’s not an execution test (can you hit your number?) but a test of faith. 

Is my ball actually going to pitch forward and ride the slope of the heavily-contoured green, funneling my shot toward a pin that’s typically tucked in the back right part of the green? The answer is yes, but the answer often doesn’t reveal itself until you get near the green. The anticipation that builds as you walk toward the green, with the estuary on your left side, makes for one of the best strolls in all of golf. One of the greatest birdies of my life occurred here, a 6-iron that came to rest eight feet from the cup, and it’s a shot I still think about at night when I lie in bed and wrestle with insomnia. 

The hole presents a very different challenge when you do not have the wind at your back, one that might require pulling driver from the tee. And there is out of bounds along the edge of the hole all the way through the green. But that doesn’t ruin the hole, it reinvents it. You might walk away with one of the most satisfying pars of your life.

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Overall Thoughts

One of the reasons I love the New Course is that it feels like a return to a different time, in part because it doesn’t serve up Instagram bait. There are no famous holes, no bunkers so infamous they become characters themselves, no notable landmarks. Outside the eighth and ninth holes, there really aren't any views of the water. The fairway ripples are plentiful yet subtle. 

If you want to smash a driver, you can typically carry many of the bunkers (although it definitely brings trouble into play in certain spots), but it’s usually more satisfying to make strategic decisions and lay up short of various hazards. You’ll rarely have more than a mid-iron into the green on holes where you choose to lay back. 

The dunes feel more prominent on the New Course than they do on the Old, even though they don’t come into play as often. They’re visually imposing, but don’t dictate strategy nearly as much as the Old. One exception is the approach shot into the eighth hole, the 500-yard par 5. The majority of the green is hidden by two large dunes that guard the entrance, but a good player can fly a long iron (or bounce one) through the gap, giving you a great eagle opportunity. 

The course starts to really shine around the sixth hole, maybe my second favorite to the ninth. The fairway bends slightly to the right, and the green sits slightly elevated, surrounded by gorse bushes. The visual layering here is stunning. By the time you reach the 10th — a 450-yard par 4 that often plays back into the wind — you really understand some of what made Old Tom Morris a genius. 

There are holes in this stretch that remind me of Royal County Down (another Old Tom design), particularly when the yellow gorse is in bloom, not because they present the same strategic challenge, but because of the way you feel peaceful and isolated as you stroll down the fairway. The tee shot on the 10th hole is partially blind, and you have to take aim at a white post that splits the dune looming in front of you. 

I love the stretch of Nos. 14-16, a trio of par 4s that bring you back toward the town of St. Andrews. None of the holes presents a brutal challenge; the fairways are wide, but if you play them in the evening when the sun is going down, the ripples and rumples of the land look like one of golf’s best canvases. 

If you’re picking nits, the first two holes are not particularly memorable. They’re probably the weakest of the entire routing. But every time I play the New Course, I try to appreciate it for what it is instead of what it is not. 

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(How We Rate Courses)

The most common debate about the New Course is whether it would rank differently if it just so happened to be 30 minutes down the road in Fife, or if it were in Troon or East Lothian. It would probably be thought of as a hidden gem, a course appreciated by locals and rarely stumbled upon by tourists. The fact that it’s often seen as a consolation prize for people who can’t get on the Old makes it easily dismissible, and as a result, its subtleties are often overlooked. On a windy day, it’s a very proper links test, and it will make you hit a lot of clubs in your bag. The par 3s have great variety and they can be played differently depending on the day. If you were a local with a Links ticket, you could spend a lot of your afternoons at the New — without a caddie or a phone or a drone in sight — and feel truly happy.

Course Tour

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