New digital system means no more queuing to play on Old Course

The opportunity for golfers to queue on a daily basis for a game on the Old Course at St Andrews is to disappear from next week.

Instead of that being the procedure for single players to join groups of two or three prebooked golfers, it will now be conducted digitally.

The Old Course Singles Daily Draw, which will be introduced from Tuesday, will see individual golfers enter their details in person at the Old Pavilion next to the first tee of the Old Course or St Andrews Links Clubhouse between 9am-5pm the day before they wish to play.

A randomised draw will then take place at 5pm, with golfers being notified by SMS message and email whether they have been allocated a tee time for the following day without the need to queue for lengthy periods.

Over the past decade the numbers for single walk ups have grown to such an extent that many golfers were queuing overnight for upwards of 12 hours in the hope of being offered a tee time.

Neil Coulson, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, described the new system as “more equitable and ultimately a more enjoyable experience”.

He said: “The significant growth in the number of golfers utilising the singles queue has been such that we felt it was impacting the customer experience and becoming increasinglychallenging for our team to manage expectations. for many golfers, playing the Old Course is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the new singles daily draw will ensure golfers successfulin securing a tee time can enjoy the experience having had a good night’ s sleep while maintaining the practice of allowing single golfers to join pre-existing groups of two or three.”