St. Andrews Links: New

A good debate can erupt about the second-best course at St. Andrews. Many would advocate for the Jubilee or Eden courses, but our panel prefers the New Course, which only seemed new when Old Tom Morris laid it out in 1895, predating the competition by several years. It begins on the far side of the Ladies Putting Course (also known as the Himalayas) and plays adjacent and to the right of the Old Course, closer to the sea. It has the same out-and-back routing with holes that touch the Eden estuary, though the ground is less naturally rumpled and the greens less enormously plateaued. The British golf writer Bernard Darwin predicted the New Course would always suffer as the “relief” course in comparison to the Old, and this is certainly true, but recent work by British designers Martin Ebert and Tom Mackenzie to create more of a sandy dunes appearance throughout has helped give it a more individualized personality and a boost to the aesthetic appeal.