The New Course is the oldest "new" course in the world, having been built by Old Tom Morris in 1895. The Old course was becoming really popular in the late 1800's, as many visitors were coming to St. Andrews by train, and it was determined that an additional course was required to take some of the pressure off the Old.
The R&A paid to build the new course, in exchange for allocated tee times on the old course. These tee time allocations remain today, and were enclosed in an act of parliament in 1894. The new has quite a different feel to the old, possessing only a few similarities to it's older brother. The double green at the 3rd / 15th being one of those.
The new is more defined and narrower than the old, and has fewer, and shallower bunkers. The humps and hollows in the fairways are much less pronounced.
It is a good test, and was fun to play, but does not possess any real "wow" holes.
The par threes here are a very solid set, with two of them being over 225 yards long.
Sue Nicholson preparing to fire into the tough par four (5 for women) 6th hole. A real brute back into the wind, and the most gorse lined hole on the course.
The par three ninth, located beside the Eden Estuary, is the most spectacular, and memorable hole.
The weather conditions were overcast and windy, and it felt like it wanted to rain all afternoon. The ground conditions were firm and fast, and it took a lot of wedges over the back of the green to get it into my head how firm the ground was.
Peter Hannon drives into the wind on the par four 15th. Peter and his wife Melanie only arrived yesterday, and he performed really well today, scoring a fine 35 points, helped by a great eagle 3 for 5 points on the 8th.
Marilyn Cookes in mid swing on the 16th tee.
The greenside trap on the 225 yard par three 17th.
A nice introduction to links golf in Scotland, however, everyone is really ready for the real thing, the Old Course tomorrow. Geoffrey and Elizabeth Knight both played beautiful golf today. Elizabeth had a fine 39 points, but the family bragging rights went to Geoffrey who took the win with 40 points.
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