EXPLORE
TASTE
REFLECT
Royalty’s antipathy towards the game
didn’t last. Indeed, the first recorded
female golfer was Mary Queen of Scots,
and the Royal family’s enthusiasm and
endorsement of the game from the
16th century onwards did no harm in
popularising golf throughout England
and Scotland.
Scotland is rightly proud of its
association with the history and
development of golf, and is home of the
world famous Royal and Ancient Golf
Club of St Andrews — host of this year’s
Open Championship, held in July. St
Andrews’ association with golf in some
form or another goes back 600 years
and more, but it was in 1754 this proud
Scottish town established, and gave to
the world, the 18 hole course, and with
it, the rules of the game.
St Andrews has also provided fans
of the game with some of the greatest
drama in golf history, having been a
venue for the Open since 1873. It is
regarded as one of the challenging
courses of professional golf, and to
many, winning the Open at St Andrews
really does establish you as a true
great of the game. Past winners include
names such as Sam Snead, Bobby Jones,
Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Tiger
Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
Indeed, it was Nicklaus who said
this about St Andrews in 1970, after
the first of his two victories there, “If a
golfer is going to be remembered, he
must win the Open at St Andrews. At
last it is my greatest dream come true.”
And this from Ballesteros: “Victory
anywhere is always sweet, but to win at
St Andrews rises above anything else.”
But you don't need to be a professional
player to challenge your abilities at the
world famous links of St Andrews.
Pilgrims descend on St Andrews in
their thousands every year, just to have
the privilege of saying they have tested
their mettle on one of the seven courses
you can play. If you want to play the
Old Course — the one used for the Open
— you need to enter a ballot, such is its
popularity. The Old Course features in
any top 10 of the world’s greatest golf
courses, and over the past century and
a half it has set the standards for many
golf architects and designers.
That said, it rarely makes the
top five: those you will find in the
United States. Golf began to surface
there during the 19th century, and by
1900 there were a thousand courses
throughout the country. Today there are
U N D E R T H E B A N YA N T R E E
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2015
CREATE
A B O V E : You'll always
get a warm welcome
at Laguna Lang Cô
O P P O S I T E : Golfers
of all capabilites can
enjoy the diverse design
of the course; hole seven
at Laguna Lang Cô
starts with a testing tee,
but there's a real chance
of a birdie if you can
avoid the bunkers
around 18,000, and it is estimated that it's home to at least
half of the world’s golf courses.
Probably the most famous course in America is in
Augusta— host of the Masters Tournament every April since
1934. Along with the Open in the United Kingdom, the Masters
is one of the two most famous events on the annual golfing
calendar, and the presentation of the famous green jacket by
the outgoing champion to his successor is traditionally one
of the iconic moments of the season. The latest recipient of
that famous jacket is Jordan Spieth, from Texas in the US. He
might not yet be as big a global name as Tiger Woods, but he
soon will be, on the evidence of his stunning success at this
year’s Masters, at just 21 years of age.
Alas, your prospects of playing a round of golf at the
Augusta National Golf Club are minimal. Very minimal. Unlike
St Andrews, it is strictly members only, and is a very exclusive
organisation at that.
But don’t despair: there are plenty of other fantastic golf
courses you can visit, in America, or around the world. Even
more so, as numbers of high profile players lend their name,
and their experience, to the eternally growing industry that is
golf course development and design.
Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are the most established,
but Greg Norman also has a thriving business built around
golf, while Sir Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Tiger
Woods are among those doing very nicely thank-you.
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