At 110 years old, the New Course is anything but
new. A day after the 1895 British Open was completed on the Old Course, a number
of competitors christened the New in a 36-hole tournament. Sandy Herd, who had
finished second to J.H. Taylor the day before, came out on top, though his 86–86
was hardly impressive. The scores made it clear: This new 18 could
challenge—perhaps even embarrass—the game’s best players. It was certainly more
than merely a “relief course,” despite having been created specifically for that
purpose, to handle overflow traffic from the Old Course.
The second half of the 19th century was witnessing
a golf boom, with courses springing up in England, Wales, Ireland and even in the United States.
The Scots themselves were embracing the game in greater numbers. In St. Andrews, the only course in town was packed from dawn
til dusk. Everyone played, and why not? The game was not only fun, it was free.
Golf was every Scot’s birthright, especially if you were a St.
Andrean.
When overcrowding and slow play became intolerable,
the Town Council and the R&A agreed in 1894 that a second 18 had to be
built. Most sources today credit Old Tom Morris as the architect. Not only was
Old Tom St. Andrews’ Custodian of the Links, he was also the foremost golf
architect of the day, having remodeled the Old Course and laid out Prestwick,
Royal County Down, Royal Dornoch, Muirfield and Lahinch, among many others.
Except for some lengthening and conditioning, which
is markedly better today, the New Course is little changed, with the holes still
going where they’ve always gone. They march out on the first nine, one after the
other, the Old Course tight along the left, until they reach the Eden Estuary at
the ninth. Then they march back in on the second nine, with the Jubilee Course
now tight along the left.
The New enjoys much the same type of undulating
linksland as the Old, but has fewer blind shots and somewhat fewer of the
hummocks, cants and cambers that afflict odd bounces and lies on players of its
ancient neighbor. Luck plays a lesser role here. There is little in the way of
high-risk shots that can result in either birdie or double-bogey.
Out at the far end of the links, in the charming
dune country bordering the Eden Estuary, lies a particularly attractive trio of
holes that displays the New at its best. On the par-5, 481-yard 8th, a pair of
imposing sandhills stands sentinel, one on either side of the narrow gap leading
to a largely concealed green. Next, at the 225-yard 9th, above and along the
estuary, the gently rising shot—sometimes a driver—must find a punchbowl green
just over a ridge. A hook vanishes into the sea.
The par-4, 464-yard 10th is altogether splendid.
From an elevated
tee, our back to the water, we command the entire world of St.
Andrews:
holes and golfers on the New, Jubilee, Old and Eden,
and, beyond them in
the far distance, the town itself, its low, gray
silhouette punctuated
by a
handful of church spires. It is the
game’s most awe-inspiring and
endearing
panorama.
A regular diet of the New Course never grows stale.
Again and again
in the course of a round, this classic links presents
opportunities to
execute shots to the green along the firm,
fast, wrinkled
ground,
sometimes calling for a bump-and-run
from as far away as 100 yards.
Imagination and touch are
essential.
Unlike the Old Course,
which is closed on Sundays, the New is open
seven days a week. And if by any
chance you need a golf cart,
why it’s
available on this wonderful course. Hard
to know what
Old Tom might
think about that. Still, a man revered for his
kindliness just might
have
consented.
