Golf Australia – August 2019

130 AUGUST 2019 | golf australia

YOURYOUR

QUESTIONS

ANSWERED

HOW CAN I GET ON THE OLD COURSE?

I am travelling to the UK with three mates next

year to go to The Open Championship at Royal

St George’s and play some golf. We want to try

and play the Old Course at St Andrews during

our trip. Is it worth just turning up and taking

our chances in the ballot or can we book a tee

time? Also, what other courses should we play

in the St Andrews area?

Matt Johnson

Bondi Junction, NSW

There are a number of ways to get on the Old

Course. The ballot, which you have mentioned,

is a good way as almost half of the tee times to

play the Old Course are allocated to the ballot. It

is drawn 48 hours in advance of play and golfers

should provide their names, home club and

handicaps either online, by phone or at one of the

clubhouses before 2pm, two days before the day

they wish to play. This is a particularly good option

if you are a group of three of four players.

As you will be travelling there next year, you

can also jump online and make an advanced

reservation via the St Andrews Links Trust website

(www.standrews.com). Applications can be made

via an online form from 1am (AEST) on Wednesday

August 21 until 3pm Wednesday September 4, 2019.

Not all applicants for an advanced reservation

are successful and you may still need to go into the

ballot after you arrive in Scotland.

The high season cost of the advanced

reservation is £340 per person, which also gets

you a tee time at your choice of any of the other

six St Andrews courses – New, Jubilee, Castle,

Eden, Balgove or Strathtyrum. We can thoroughly

recommend the New and Jubilee layouts.

Be mindful of this though ... Green fees for

advanced reservations need to be paid by the end

ofNovemberthisyearandarenon-refundable.

Have you got a golf question you would like answered?

Send us an email at [email protected] and we

will answer your query in a future issue.

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