{"id":437265,"date":"2025-10-29T01:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=437265"},"modified":"2025-10-29T01:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:41:16","slug":"st-andrews-old-course-getting-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/st-andrews-old-course-getting-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"St Andrews Old Course Getting Makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, the talk about the golfball rollback<\/a> sparked debate about the Old Course at St Andrews.\u00a0 The debate is whether or not the course was fit for modern play<\/a> in professional tournaments.\u00a0 The R&A sees some issues with the historic course and has decided that it was necessary to prepare the Old Course for the upcoming Open in 2027 by giving the course some needed adjustments.<\/span><\/p>\n

St Andrews And Modern Equipment<\/span><\/h2>\n

St Andrews is the oldest golf course in the history of the sport.\u00a0 It got its start when the original ban on the sport was lifted back in the 1500s.\u00a0 Back in the days of wooden clubs and leather feather balls.\u00a0 The concerns came in as modern clubs and balls started appearing.\u00a0 Modern equipment is designed to get the most out of every swing with pinpoint accuracy, resulting in a lot of courses finding out that they can\u2019t accommodate swings that would have been record-breaking when they were established.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Announcement<\/span><\/h2>\n

With The Open taking place in 2027, it was decided that it was best to revamp and restore the course now, rather than later.\u00a0 The executive of the R&A announced the restoration,<\/a> as well as who will be working on the Old Course.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with St. Andrews Links Trust, we have commissioned Mackenzie & Ebert to carry out a carefully planned program of work to enhance and restore the challenge of the Old Course in a few key areas,” said Mark Darbon, chief executive of The R&A. “Our approach is grounded in deep respect for the course\u2019s unparalleled history.\u00a0 We believe this work is important in ensuring the Old Course continues to evolve and challenge the world\u2019s best golfers in the years to come while enhancing the experience of local and visiting golfers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This will not be the first time the Old Course has undergone a makeover.\u00a0 The latest one being in 2015, ten years before the golf ball rollback was implemented.\u00a0 The work that will be done will, of course, be considerate of the history of the Old Course.\u00a0 The announcement itself is filled with a deep respect for St Andrews.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Can Be Expected?<\/span><\/h2>\n

This project will involve expansions, additions, and some rearrangement.\u00a0 Six holes will be lengthened, putting space between the tee box and green.\u00a0 Only one hole will be slightly shortened.\u00a0 There will be new tee boxes constructed, as well as others being moved, as part of a way to better facilitate spectator movement.\u00a0 Fairway bunkers are being relocated to be more of a challenge to the pros of today, so that they don\u2019t just fly over them.\u00a0 The restorations will be carried out throughout the Old Course, with a focus on the more iconic and historical features, such as Boase\u2019s Bunker and Road Hole Bunker.<\/span><\/p>\n

St Andrews In 2027<\/span><\/h2>\n

The work on the historic course is set to begin as soon as November 3rd, just next Monday.\u00a0 The move will do great things to keep the Old Course relevant in the modern age.\u00a0 Especially for a major tournament like The Open.\u00a0 It would be disrespectful to let the Old Course fade away from golf\u2019s history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit:\u00a0 \u00a9 Rob Schumacher-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, the talk about the golfball rollback sparked debate about the Old Course at St Andrews.\u00a0 The debate is whether or not the course was fit for modern play in professional tournaments.\u00a0 The R&A sees some issues with the historic course and has decided that it was necessary to prepare the Old Course […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":435767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga","category-sports-history"],"modified_by":"Taylor Craig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437268,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437265\/revisions\/437268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}