The long nights of packing a pillow and blanket and then heading off in darkness looking to find a place to bed down for the night near the opening tee of the Old Course at St. Andrews, then waking with the hope of getting to play the course some time the next day, will soon be a thing of the past.
The Links Trust that administer the handing out of tee-times to visitors have moved into the 21st Century by announcing that a computerised tee-time draw to play the famed Old Course will be introduced from next Tuesday, March 12th.
Visitors will have the opportunity to enter a new singles daily draw, offering a modern and equitable digital solution to its in-person singles queuing system.
The Old Course Singles Daily Draw will offer golfers from around the globe the chance of securing a tee time by joining with existing groups of two or three pre-booked golfers.
The daily draw requires individual golfers to enter their details in person at the Old Pavilion next to the first tee of the Old Course, or St Andrews Links Clubhouse between 9am-5pm the day before they wish to play. A randomised draw will then take place at 5pm with golfers being notified by SMS message and email whether they have been allocated a tee time for the following day without the need to queue for lengthy periods.
The new digital system will replace the previous practice of golfers queuing outside the starter’s hut prior to play, which was formalised in the 1990s to cater for single walk ups to the Starter.
Somewhat sadly, over the past decade numbers have grown to such an extent that many golfers were queuing overnight for upwards of 12 hours (sometimes even longer), often in inclement conditions, in the hope of being offered a tee time.
Neil Coulson, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said: “We are excited to introduce the new digital solution for the Old Course Singles Daily Draw, which makes securing a tee time as a single golfer at the Home of Golf safer, more equitable and ultimately a more enjoyable experience.
“The significant growth in the number of golfers utilising the singles queue in the past decade has been such that we felt it was impacting the customer experience and becoming increasingly challenging for our dedicated team to manage expectations.
“For many golfers, playing the Old Course is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the new singles daily draw will ensure golfers successful in securing a tee time can enjoy the experience having had a good night’s sleep while maintaining the practice of allowing single golfers to join pre-existing groups of two or three.”
Seven years ago Aussie visitor Laurence O’Dwyer arrived at the Old Course at 3am, only to be greeted by the sight of 15 other golfers sleeping roughly with pillows and blankets, each looking to secure a tee-time somewhere after 6.30am.
You can read Laurence’s story of ‘that’ bizarre early-morning arrival at the Home of Golf when he finally made it onto the first tee a full 12-and-a-half hours later by clicking here.
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