"I felt that a victory here, in the cradle of golf, was critical to being regarded as being at least a ‘complete’ golfer. and probably essential to ever being rated the best of one’s time. I’ve rarely been closer to heaven than I was here at the end of it. " On and Off the Fairway Jack Nicklaus

The most revered course in the world, known by many as the home of Golf, has seen twenty five Open Championships and will no doubt see many more. This prestigious course is famous for its double greens and blind putts, the Swilken Burn, Hell Bunker, the Valley of Sin, and the countless characters who have walked its turf.

‘St Andrews’ is a name uttered with reverence and awe in clubhouses all over the world. The ambition of many who play the ancient game is to step onto the tee at the ‘home of golf’ praying for the spirits of past players, from Old Tom Morris to the Open Champions of more modern times, to ‘bless their drive with a flight straight and true’.

"As knee-buckling experiences go, standing on the first tee of the Old Course is up there with the best of them. Prayer can be helpful. ‘Please God, if I have ever done anything decent in my life, reward me this one time with something fairly near the middle of the club. At least, O Lord, spare me the airshot.’ Eisenhower couldn’t bear the thought of just that and walked to the second tee. For a general, and a man who once held the future of the free world in the palm of his hand, this was not the finest example of courage under fire. George Bush has recounted how when, in the early days of Czechoslovakian freedom from communism, he spoke in Wenceslas Square before one million people, his voice was clear, his knees were steady, and his pulse was regular. When he teed off for the first time at St Andrews, his palms were sweaty and his pulse had his attendants reaching for the beta-blockers. I know how he felt."

Pilgrims in the Rough - Michael Tobert