St Andrews Links · Kingdom of Fife
The New Course
Anything but new — and the one the locals lean towards.
Type
Links (Historic)
Par / Yards
Par 71 · 6,625
Green Fee
£££
Designer
Old Tom Morris
Est.
1895
Pilmour House, St Andrews · 01334 466718 · standrews.com
Overview
The New Course is anything but new. Dating from 1895, it was built to ease demand on the Old, and is yet again the course the locals tend to favour. Without a ballot, without all the fanfare that goes on, on the 1st of the Old, the New quietly gets on with it — a very good links course, played by people who know what they're doing and are here to enjoy it. Playing it is wonderfully natural — golf laid across the land rather than carved into it.
The course
The New Course is new in name only. Where the Old is expansive, the New is exacting. Fairways are tighter, greens smaller, and punishment more immediate. It threads through gorse and rumpled ground, demanding discipline from the tee and precision into the greens. There are moments of generosity — but not many. The shared green at the 3rd and 15th is a charming nod to the Old Course next door.
The New's signature holes tend to blur in a barrage of great tests. The 6th is frequently mentioned for its views of town, but if the wind blows off the water, you will be tested. The 9th hole is a strong, long par 3, playing uphill alongside the edge of the Eden Estuary, to a hollowed-out, semi-blind green with out-of-bounds and water lurking to the left.
The closing stretch from 15 to 18 is among the most demanding finishes on the Links — and in the prevailing southwesterly wind, one of the sternest tests of golf you'll find anywhere in St Andrews.
Signature moments
3rd & 15th
The shared green
The only shared green on the Links — a subtle, charming nod to the Old Course next door. Stand on it and look back; you'll see both tees, both approaches, both sets of footprints.
15th–18th
The closing stretch
A demanding finish, especially in the wind. The course saves its sternest test for last — and by the 15th tee you'll understand why this is the locals' favourite, not the tourists'.
Throughout
Tighter than the Old
The New Course is not a consolation prize. It is a different examination entirely — tighter, quicker, more unforgiving. Many regular St Andrews visitors prefer it.
Along the Eden Estuary — the New Course at its most exposed and its most beautiful. This is what the prose means when it says the estuary adds both beauty and danger.
Two faces of the New Course — the pot bunker that makes you think twice, and the wind in the grass that tells you exactly where you are.
Gorse, flag, and St Andrews on the horizon — the New Course from the ground it has occupied since 1895. The locals keep coming back. You will too.
Insider Knowledge
Book the New Course alongside a round on the Old and play them back to back. The contrast is instructive — you will understand both courses better for having played them together. The New is also the most bookable of the St Andrews Links courses, making it the natural entry point for visitors who couldn't secure an Old Course tee time. It is not second best. It is genuinely excellent.
Less theatre than the Old — but a purer, sterner test. Many who know St Andrews well, know the New Course best. Play it without expectations and leave with considerable respect.