Golf’s Greatest Cathedral is Open to All.
For nearly 500 years golf has been played at St. Andrews… six days a week. This is not uncommon. Many courses are closed one day each week, usually Mondays, for general maintenance. The Old Course is closed on Sundays.
When golf was first played on the links, keeping the sabbath holy was of utmost importance. People who were caught engaging in any sort of work or recreation would be punished, and therefore golf would not be played on Sundays. In the 1800s the people of St. Andrews petitioned Old Tom Morris to reverse this rule, but he insisted that the course needed a day to rest from constant play. Today, the Old Course turns into a park on Sundays where people walk dogs and kids can build sand castles in the Road Hole bunker. There is however one exception: tournament golf.
When the Open came to St. Andrews in 2022 for its 150th playing, I was lucky enough to be in attendance. The whole week was incredible. I watched Tiger receive a standing ovation from the 18th tee to the 18th green in what may have been his last Open at the home of golf. I watched a hungry Rory McIlroy charge up the leaderboard seeking his first major in nearly a decade, and Cam Smith tear the Claret Jug from his grasp by plotting himself around the Old Course in a final round 64..
As is tradition at many Open courses fans are allowed to walk up the 18th fairway and completely surround the green as the final group holes out. I was up against the ropes in the middle of thousands of fans as Cam Smith was named Champion Golfer of the Year and paraded the Claret Jug around to all those in attendance. As the newly minted Open Champion slipped away to celebrate his victory, fans lingered around the first and eighteenth holes soaking in their final moments at golf’s greatest cathedral. As I was sitting in the middle of the fairway, I noticed a child running around playing with his plastic club. At that moment a lightbulb went off. I was staying less than 200 yards away from the 18th green in St. Andrews University’s McIntosh hall. I sprinted back to grab my putter and a few balls.
For the next two hours my brother and I recreated each momentous shot on the iconic Road Hole: Cam Smith’s putt around its notorious front bunker, Rory’s missed birdie putt, and even chipped with my putter attempting to get up and down from the road. However it wasn’t just my brother and I that got to experience the Old Course that night. Countless people came up to us asking for a couple of putts, and we always obliged. Seeing the smile on peoples faces as they got to knock around balls mere hours after the conclusion of the Open on the same turf was incredible and something I will never forget.
It is hard, dare I say impossible, to imagine anything like this happening somewhere other than St. Andrews. Think what would happen if I turned up to Shinnecock, Augusta National or Muirfield with a putter and a few balls trying to roll some after the conclusion of a major championship. I most likely would be arrested! This is what makes St. Andrews so special. It is a place that encapsulates the spirit of golf that we all love, something we should try to embody in every interaction we have through this game to leave it better than we have found it.
— TMM
