Kristy Dorsey
| Special for Golfweek/Newsquest
An entire day’s play on the Old Course in St. Andrews during the height of the season this July has been set aside for heavily discounted tee times as part of an expanded affordable golf initiative.
St. Andrews Links Trust, the organization in charge of eight of the area’s golf courses, is almost tripling the number of tee times available through The Drive offering first launched last year. The 88% discount on regular green fees means that prices range from $10 per round for the Strathtyrum links up to $60 for the Old Course, normally priced at $475 at that time of year.
A total of 179 tee times were made available between May and October of last year, giving 716 golfers the opportunity for cut-price golf. This year, 496 tee times are up for grabs for a total of 1,984 rounds of golf.
Fifty-six of these tee times, equivalent to 224 players, will be available on Friday, July 3. Sam Bunce of Glasgow and his partner, Christine McConnell, were among the 44 who got to play the Old Course last year.
“I’ve been playing golf for over 40 years, but the Old Course is so iconic,” Bunce said.
“I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw the email from St. Andrews Links telling me I had been selected out of thousands of people to play as part of The Drive. It was such an incredible opportunity. I had to phone them to check it was real.
“Standing at every single tee was a pleasure, knowing that all the greatest players like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus had been there too, waiting to tee off on the world’s oldest course. It was a day I will never forget. I even managed to get a couple of birdies, which made it extra special.”
There is a catch: Applicants must be residents in Scotland but unable to hold a current St. Andrews Links yearly ticket. All tee times provided as part of The Drive are from existing visitor or commercial allocations so as not to impact priority times allocated to Links ticketholders.
“To say The Drive’s first year was a success would be an understatement, with more than 22,000 applications made to play our historic courses over two phases,” said Neil Coulson, the trust’s outgoing chief executive. “For many, it was their first time playing at the Home of Golf.
“We’re building on that momentum by making a significant investment in the initiative for 2026, tripling the number of opportunities available and opening it up to a more diverse range of courses in our portfolio – including our new heathland course, the Craigtoun.”