Letter from St. Andrews: Out of Left Field
Very seldom do I stray from my beloved St. Andrews nest to other parts of Scotland, but when I do, I invariably discover something interesting—or odd. Case in point, a recent lost weekend in the Highlands wherein I took a counterclockwise route that included stops at the Trump property near Aberdeen (a truly spectacular site, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Ladies First
Unlike in America, where the U.S. Golf Association runs the women’s national championship, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has no official role in the British version, which is conducted by the Ladies’ Golf Union. However, virtually the moment the Old Course was announced as the 2007 venue, the R&A offered all […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Glimpse of Seven
I’m sitting in a little trailer, high atop a hill precisely two miles east of the center of St. Andrews. The trailer is unfurnished except for a simple table and three chairs occupied by me and two gentlemen with whom I’ve come to chat. Our conversation has barely begun when one gets a call on […]
Letter from St. Andrews: The Auld Grey Toon
Well, we’ve made it to the Auld Grey Toon, but not to our auld grey hoose. Renovation of our apartment—sorry, our “flat”—proceeds apace, which is to say thoroughly behind schedule and riotously over budget. As I write this, the place is uninhabitable—a grim, hollowed-out hovel from which you might expect a grizzled G.I. to emerge, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Is Eight Enough?
Earlier this year, the St. Andrews Links Trust announced that its No. 7 course, currently under construction on a clifftop two miles southeast of town, would be named the Castle, in recognition of the fact that a medieval stronghold had occupied the approximate site of the intended 9th and 18th greens. The name was one […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Blessings of Eighth Place
Two hundred yards or so behind the 18th green of the Old Course, on a broad street called the Scores, sits a sturdy stone townhouse with a brass plaque at its entrance. Inscribed on the plaque are the words “The Old Course Experience.” “Could this possibly be what it suggests?” I wondered on the day […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Closed Open
I’m not sure why—maybe I haven’t fully and truly expatriated, or maybe it’s just that I’m a congenital jackass—but I get uncommon pleasure from tweaking my fellow St. Andreans with a question. When the 19th-hole conversation turns to the game’s majors, I ask, “So who do you like in the LCSE?” “What?” they say. “The […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Worst To Finish First
A year ago, when Phil Mickelson won the Masters, he lost something almost as significant—the title “best player never to win a major championship.” Lefty thereby joined the relieved ranks of David Duval (2001), Mark O’Meara (1998), Davis Love III (1997), Tom Kite (1992), Greg Norman (1986) and Ben Crenshaw (1984) in shedding an unofficial […]
At Home in St Andrews
In 1983, George Peper hit a prodigious slice off the 18th tee of the Old Course at St. Andrews, onto the street that borders the hole. He never found the ball, but he discovered a home, buying a flat on the street after spotting a “For Sale” sign during his search. For 20 years, the Pepers were absentee owners, visiting intermittently during the summer and renting it out to University of St. Andrews students the rest of the year. READ MORE
