“Augusta National is the only other golf course that would remotely get anywhere near the Old Course in terms of being on a bucket list for any golfer,” says NCG Top 100s Podcast host Dan Murphy.
The Old Course at St Andrews has once again been named Scotland’s best golf course. It has topped the NCG Top 100s rankings.
Long been regarded as the Home of Golf, it remains one of the most visited and recognisable golf venues in the world.
ST ANDREWS, Old Course (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
But, can its storied history allow it to be judged in the same way as other layouts? Or does its status mean it’s impossible to make the comparison?
Murphy admitted that ranking the Old Course first was not without its debate. He suggested that any other outcome would have caused even greater uproar.
“Number one is the Old Course at St Andrews, and I know some people think that is ridiculous,” he added. “Personally, Muirfield would be my number one.
“All I’ll say is that one thing would have caused more controversy than us ranking the Old Course at number one is if we ranked it at any other position. I know we would have got a huge amount of abuse if we put it anywhere else.
“I have long said that I would quite like to not rank the Old Course. I’m not sure you can rank it in the way you rank everywhere else because it is sacrilege to say it is anything other than number one.
“Of all the courses I think it is the one you are in the most danger of being blinded to. It is so difficult to separate the actual holes from everything that goes around it; the game’s spiritual birthplace and the home of golf.
“I think in many ways it is the hardest to rank and I know there will be people out there that will say ‘it’s number one by so far, it would be ridiculous being anything else’.
“Then you get the other extreme and Lee Westwood’s famous comment about it not being amongst the top 100 courses in Fife.
Rory McIlroy at St Andrews, Old Course. Source: The Open
“I do think he had a point there that, just in terms of the golf course, it is on first playing a very confusing golf course. It is very difficult to get to grips with it, I think, on first, second and even third playing.
“It’s very confusing. It’s not obvious where you’re going. I think it is very difficult to get your head around. It’s not clear what the lines are off the tees.
“There’s so many bunkers. It feels like you can’t figure out which one it is you’re supposed to be flying over.
“So I think it takes, more than anywhere else, a lot of knowing to get round.”
Fellow NCG Top 100s Podcast host, Tom Irwin, sits on the other side of the fence. He completely dismisses any case for the Old course being ‘too easy’ and suggests the highs rival that of any golf course in the world.
“To me it’s number one and number one by some distance,” he said.
“I would start by saying it’s an unbelievably good walk. It’s just pan flat and it’s where this kind of golf began.
“So the flow of the golf course is just exceptional. For that reason it makes you want to keep playing. I think it has hugely got that in its favour.
St Andrews, Old Course
“I love the fact you get all those scoring chances at the end of the back nine and start of the front nine. But then you turn to point back towards the town you’ve got to hang onto your hat.
“I think it’s impossible for the Old Course not to come out on top with our ranking criteria because it should be in the dictionary to define charm and memorability.
“I think these people who say it’s ‘too easy’ are playing the course with pins in the middle of massive greens, when the ground is soft and off front tees.
“That is to its credit that it’s playable and for most people, so you can get around. It’s a positive thing and it is being portrayed as a negative thing.
“It’s high moments are as high as anywhere. The par three, 11th is amazing. I think the par four, 7th is one of the best holes in golf.
“The biggest thing for me is that you could take almost any gofer in the world there tomorrow and they’d have a nice time.”
HAVE YOUR SAY
Do you think the Old Course at St Andrews deserves to be ranked number one in our Scotland list? If not, why and which course would you replace it with? Let us know by leaving a comment or a post on X!