Getting On As a Single at the Old Course In St. Andrews is a Singular Experience

The pros will contest the British Open this week at the Old Course, but the rest of the year it's an amateur's playground with some of the best stories told by singles who get on the hard way.

There’s a sense that you’re doing something unscrupulous and an "Ocean’s Eleven" all-black outfit may be necessary as you wander out into the moonlit night and scurry down Golf Place toward the Old Course. There is nary a person on the normally bustling St. Andrews, Scotland, street at 3:30 a.m., as the roadway from the Dunvegan Hotel is met with just the pounding of your own footsteps and a head on a swivel for any movement in the shadows.

The foremost thought is how everyone’s Mama always lectured that nothing good ever happens after midnight. Drinking. Tomfoolery. Trouble. That’s the anticipated sequence halfway between the sun setting and peering back over the Eastern horizon, no matter where you’re standing in the world.

The moon lights the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland / Ward Clayton

One block later the moon lights up the 18th green on the Old Course on the left and the R&A Clubhouse on the right as a growing murmur of conversation and laughter emerges. Just ahead is The Old Pavilion, a small standalone building that abuts the first tee on the Old Course. A crowd has assembled around the periphery, as if they’re waiting for the next train to arrive. The crowd of about a dozen folks stands around sharing golf stories or nestled under sleeping gear figuring out why they’re all gathered outdoors in the middle of a chilly, breezy night where no bar is in service.

Upon arrival, wide eyed and seeking some type of orderly process, the conversation and snoring briefly stops as the queue is explained beyond the basic sign posted on the locked Pavilion door. You’re behind this person and your number is 14. That’s it. Simple as that for the Single Golfer gathering for the next day’s rounds on the Old Course, a ritual just as telling about this place as hoofing it around the course.

What individual golfers experience is a quick lesson in personal relationships, first among those waiting for times and then suddenly meeting other strangers, if lucky, for a jaunt around the Old Course. This practice escalated this summer in the runup to the 150th British Open, with the earlier-than-usual arrivals of single golfers ending on June 17 when the Old Course closed for final tournament preparation. It’s also surely to be a destination post-Open and into the summer of 2023 just before the Walker Cup is scheduled for Sept. 2-3 at the Old Course.

No other golf course ranked among the top places to play in the world has such a direct path to a tee time for those with no high-level connections or the good luck to get a group on via the lottery-like ballot. Many of the world’s best are ultra-private courses with the only inroad being a friendly member or corporate engagement. Imagine Augusta National, Pine Valley or not-faraway Muirfield having such an open invitation. Yes, Bethpage Black has the routine where you sign up on a list and sleep in your car for a time. But Bethpage isn’t the Home of Golf or the site of an Open Championship every five years.

Some golfers waiting out single spots on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, make a full night of it / Ward Clayton

Beginning in early evening every Sunday through Friday, folks wander up to The Old Pavilion in great anticipation (the Old Course is closed for play on Sundays). Those in the know look as if they’re hiking the Appalachian Trail, wearing layers of camping gear, toting sleeping bags and blankets and even “borrowing” pillows and assorted blankets from their nearby overnight accommodations. Arrivals in the middle of the night think they’ll be the first but surely someone else planned to get there by dark (or earlier) the previous night and make this their modern-day manger.

There are other ways to play here but the odds are against you and they’re of a more standard means, via a ballot or lottery. For way-ahead planners, there’s the advanced tee time ballot, which opens the last week of August through the first week of September for the following year’s play. A date range and names and handicaps of each group member must be included, and single golfers are allowed to enter. Notification is sent out via email by mid-September and it’s not as big a longshot as getting Masters Tournament tickets, but the odds aren’t favorable.

For those willing to take a chance closer to their visit, the Old Course daily ballot is a random drawing, with a deadline early afternoon two days prior to the desired day of play with entry via phone, stopping by the St. Andrews Links clubhouse or online with the names of each person in a twosome, threesome or foursome and their respective home club and handicaps. A decision is rendered late afternoon two days prior to the tee time. 

Summertime entries have tons of competition, so the colder weather and distance from the warmer months equal a better chance, especially when the next-door Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s membership, St. Andrews Links Trust membership, expensive tour companies and local residents possess a much higher pecking order and reserved spots.

However, the immediacy and ritual of the Single Golfer entryway is just more exciting. Here’s more detail: The Old Pavilion has a covered outdoor area, overhead heaters and benches on three sides separated from the indoor office for the starter, a small internal locker room and restrooms, an indoor sitting area and a snack bar – with the interior locked up overnight. Prior to the building’s construction in 2014, those waiting would be exposed to the uncertain weather and weren’t covered. Now, it’s a much more palatable routine.

Since 2014, singles have had a much more palatable waiting area at the Old Course / Ward Clayton

Amazingly, there is no sign-up sheet or official to check everyone in, but the people on-site in line police the whole ordeal and let newcomers know the rules, very much in tune with golf’s self-governing mantra. Remember where you are in line and who you’re behind, denoting the tall dude with the beard as your position, No. 14 behind No. 13. Potential players in line cannot leave The Old Pavilion area or else they will forfeit their spot in line. No one can sit in for you or else another person waiting will say the correct person was tall and bald while this person is short and blond-headed.

A father and son in St. Andrews used to hang at local pubs and sell their service as sit-ins until that was nixed by Old Course authorities. There have been potential players who left nearby St. Andrews bars and thought they reserved a place in line, only to forfeit the spot when they departed, much to their angry response at daybreak. There have been others who were overserved, entertained the gathering through the night, were told in the morning to return at late morning to play and slept through their tee times.

There’s an odd camaraderie mixed with disdain. You’re appreciative of the effort put forth by others to make this trek into the middle of the night and the light-hearted conversation, but if someone ahead of you was to suddenly come up lame or must leave before their supposed window to play, your chances improve.

Anticipation builds when the sun comes up / Ward Clayton

At 6 a.m., just as the sun is rising and 30 minutes before the first tee time, Old Course staff arrives, those who are asleep rise to step in line like they’re headed to an elementary school lunch, the friendly banter generally ceases, and the doors open as the routine becomes more formalized and names are taken on a formatted white sheet titled, “Old Course – Casual Golfer List.” Friendly Scots staff the starter’s booth inside, monitor the available spots that day and display the patience of Job from repeated questions. Everyone is required to present a handicap card, sign in and provided instructions on their tee time if there are open spots, the expected chances of getting on that day and when they need to check back if still in question. It is highly, highly recommended to get in the good graces of those starters on duty as they have a keen sense for how likely those farther down the list are to making a go of it and if there’s a smidgen of a chance for the friendly fella in the light blue baseball cap. On this day, our presiding starter was Angela, a smiling lady with short, black hair, a delightful Scottish accent and a realistic yet hopeful perspective.

My late-August 2018 virgin venture overnight from Sunday to Monday was met with a vibrant assortment of storytellers, which I’m told varies by the personalities of the folks who have gathered. One night could be boisterous, the next dour and quiet. Talk of first-time experiences and returns to the Old Course, politics, travel and sport often ramble on. One of those I stumbled into was a younger American man who took the train in from Edinburgh the previous afternoon, with golf clubs and sleeping bag in hand. He found a dining spot in town and filled his belly, then moseyed down to the Pavilion by dark Sunday and met Nos. 1 and 2 from Virginia who had missed out on the usual lotteries and opted for the Single Golfer route, towing sleeping bags and WiFi to The Pavilion.

Train Man, as I called him, was scheduled to fly home the next evening from Edinburgh, so a quick train ride, a sleep on a bench, a morning round and then back on the train to exit the country. That’s an economic venture. Another man, hailing from continental Europe, was the last one who didn’t get on the previous overnight on Friday and came back for more, hoping for a round on the Old for his 75th birthday. He was No. 8. People were rooting for Birthday Man. Originating homes included Southern California, Michigan, Florida, Boston, England, Germany, India, Canada and points in between.

The person in front of me was the most important. When I first arrived in the middle of the night, during the conversation I could hear a Southern accent, a drawing card for a native North Carolinian. His name is Bryan Cobb, a former football offensive tackle at Wake Forest in the early 1970s and a retired pediatric dentist. At first hesitant to tout his past ventures to St. Andrews, he eventually let on this was a regular vacation for him through the end of 2018 after his first visit in 2001. He was 33-0 as a single, so this man was a sage who could provide instructions throughout the night and into the following day.

A smattering of beers had appeared earlier in the evening, I was told, to bring out the vibrant stories. At approximately 5 a.m., the wife of a person in line departed and brought back a dozen coffees to share with the group as opening time approached.

This day, Aug. 27, was a summer bank holiday in Scotland, with less open spots as many had a day off. The first eight in line were secure with tee times at the outset but the remainder were told to be patient. Angela suggested the rest of us check back late morning. However, Cobb whispered it would be wise to hang tight, have a bacon roll and be present. If others in front of you depart and someone with a mid-morning tee time doesn’t show, you could be at the right place to join in. Singles are also at the mercy of twosomes or threesomes to tack on a stranger, but normally there’s a welcoming head nod instead of a brush off. In early afternoon, when the R&A has reserved times, it was noted that R&A members have been known to imbibe over lunch in their private building, ditch their golf and entire tee times could be available. Early afternoon also has groups playing the second leg of 36 holes who may miss their time because of slow play, bad weather or traffic.

Sitting in The Old Pavilion is a treat itself, although quite the close-but-no-cigar feeling. Visit the Himalayas putting green up the right of No. 1 or stroke a few putts on the square putting green just a few feet from the first tee. Newbies to the Old Course take photos on the tee, dribble shots off into the widest fairway in golf and are just glad to be here, hell with how they play. The clock kept ticking and I kept asking. Nos. 12 and 13, Martyn Andrews and Cobb, got out at 3:30 p.m. I was told shortly thereafter – 12 hours after arriving – that I would likely be deposited into Dark Time, the time after official tee times where there is a chance you won’t finish before darkness and locals have precedence but could allow singles to join.

I was given 15 minutes to rush to the clubhouse right of the first hole, pay the greens fee (a very acceptable $170), collect rental clubs and present myself to the first tee. There I met a trio of locals who were kind enough to accept my company – Arizonan Ron Fortson, who summers with wife Claudia in St. Andrews and got on as a single in his first visit in 1985 for 12 pounds (about $14); former caddie Hugh Waddell, who owns the nearby Northpoint Café (“where Kate met Wills for coffee,” reads the banner); and Dominic Bodemeaid, an Old Course caddie who dropped an accounting gig with Porsche in London a few years back to caddie in St. Andrews for a living. They’re regular playing partners, often on what they simply call “The Old.”

Twelve hours after arriving at the Old Course, Ward Clayton made it on / Ward Clayton

This was an absolute blast. I am sure it would have been awesome even if I was alone. But there was banter among the group, like the overnight collection, which I learned later that Ron scopes out during the day to see if there are first-time candidates to fill out his game later that day. Trash talking started at the first tee. We carried our own bags and finished in four hours with no rushing. Hugh broke out the shorts on a sizzling 64-degree day where the wind heightened at 15 mph. Dom, my team partner, parred the last to shoot 72 and we were the receivers of “poundage” – Hugh’s word – in the wager, a victory which I learned is held high over the losing side’s heads.

The best part of this escapade is that I remain in touch periodically with all three. Dom visited the 2019 Masters Tournament, his first trip to Augusta, and was met with great welcomes for a caddie of such accomplishment at a cherished spot in the world of golf. All three, with friends and significant others, attended the international film debut of “Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk” in Edinburgh in the summer of 2019, and I tacked on a morning tee time – not a Single Golfer try – with Ron and Hugh that week on the Old via the local ballot.

We had an open spot for our 8 a.m. tee time, filled by a gentleman from Kentucky who spilled out of The Old Pavilion as if shot out of a cannon when summoned to the tee. With no warmup, he scuffled around in awe on the first couple holes. But then my partner found his swing and helped carry us home. With that further “poundage” won, it was surely a story ready if I ever joyfully amble out in the middle of the night to play golf.