THE OLD COURSE
IN REVERSE

And there’s yet another layer that most golfers don’t know about. Until the late 1800s, the predominant routing for the golf course was a clockwise direction. It wasn't until Old Tom Morris, a local greenkeeper, clubmaker, ballmaker, course architect, and arguably, the most important figure in the history of golf, decided to separate the 1st green from the 17th. Doing so created the current 18-hole layout and the counterclockwise route we know today. But even into the 1970s, the original clockwise routing was played somewhat sporadically, mostly in the off-season to mix up wear patterns on the turf. Since then, it’s been an increasingly rare occurrence, sometimes with years elapsing between the reverse route being used.

During the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews, Tiger Woods was asked about playing the Old Course in the clockwise direction, aka in reverse, and said “I’ve always wanted to play it backward, one time before I die. I think that would be just a blast because I can see how certain bunkers…why would they put that there? And then if you play it backward, you see it. It’s very apparent. That’s totally in play. That one day would be a lot of fun to be able to do.”

And so on the fitting date of April 1, 2024, we stood on the 1st tee as guests of the St. Andrews Links Trust, the stewards of the golf courses of St. Andrews, looking out toward the widest fairway in golf and staring down an unfamiliar target — the feared 17th green. And the weather couldn’t have been worse. As a group, we’ve played in some truly horrible conditions in various parts of the world from atmospheric rivers in California to hurricane-force winds in Ireland, we’ve encountered the full spectrum of temperatures. But this was a truly special combination of everything. Winds off the North Sea stayed steady at 40-45 mph, bringing in sheets of moisture and temperatures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Even the notoriously hearty Scots were overheard saying they wouldn’t be out in this if it wasn’t a special occasion. But it was. So just before our time, I grabbed a couple airline-sized bottles of brandy from the little food stand in the starter’s hut and poured them into a steaming mug of Bovril, a salty beef broth drink popular in the UK, to warm my innards and loosen me up.

At first, everything felt off-kilter, and turned up on this backward route. In reverse, the first hole you play is from the 1st tee to the aforementioned 17th green. Known as the Road Hole green, it’s among the most diabolical in the entire sport with a ravenous bunker at the front left, and a road cutting into the entire right side, with out of bounds just beyond. Under normal circumstances, you’d spend the preceding 16 holes thinking about the shot you’re going to hit into this green. But in today’s routing, we didn’t have to worry about the buildup and got right to it, well before our swings were loose.

One of our colleagues, Soly, pondered the idea of driving the green, to which we replied, “Sure, you can clear the burn with this wind at our back…but then what? Do you really want to drive the green? It’ll likely end up on the road behind.”

He decided against it, instead hitting an iron and laying up short of the burn (as we get older and wiser, the motto “No Laying Up” is more of a suggestion than a rule). I took a similar approach, leaving me with a comfortable 75-yard wedge into a front (from the reverse perspective) hole location. From there I did something I’ve never done before in seven other rounds on the Old — I skulled one over the green, the ball rolling onto the road immediately behind the back fringe. A gaggle of spectators emerged, taking a quick break from their walk back to the hotel that runs hard up against the 17th fairway, keen to see me putt from the pavement. I did it quickly, giving the ball a good knock to get it toward the back half of the green, and after missing the next putt, I tapped it in and scurried to the next tee box, my ego bruised.

As we continued down the course, we explored familiar pieces of ground from wildly unfamiliar angles and directions. From the 18th tee to the 16th green, then the 17th tee to the 15th green, and so on, the course, and what we thought we knew about it, shifted. As Tiger noted, some of the bunkers and mounds that had never made sense in the counterclockwise direction suddenly looked brilliant. Cottage, Sutherland, The Spectacles, Admiral’s, and The Beardies all took on new meaning. From the other way, these obstacles are golf’s version of vestigial organs, rendered moot by evolution. Today they were central to the challenge at hand. 

Coming up on the 7th and 11th holes, the 7th plays as a par four from the 13th tee to the side of the Eden that usually hosts the 11th hole (usually a par three.). Those shots lived up to expectations, with the second shot on the 7th probably the highlight of our golfing year. All three of us came up woefully short, with the balls falling out of the sky like a piece of debris and landing in, or short of, the Hill bunker, one of the worst spots on the entire course. We each laughed, looked at the others, and soaked it up.

Somehow, by the time we’d gotten out to the far end of the course, the wind had switched and was now hurting on our right, heavy off the North Sea. Admiral’s bunker was right in the landing area for where we wanted to hit our drives about 225 yards off the tee. There was plenty of room past that to the right, but it was a matter of whether we could actually get past the gorse and scrub with how strong the wind was. Lay back too much and you’re worried about going too far into one of the narrowest, most well-protected greens in golf. Navigate the tee shot, and you’re faced with an uphill shot over the Hill bunker with the Strath bunker guarding the right side and a steep depression on the left. When approached, as I have many times, from the right at a 45-degree angle, these obstacles pose more of an objective challenge, and the green, while shallow, is an ample target at 40 yards wide. But in reverse, and with an extra shot as a par four, each hazard and element compounded the challenge. Our minds in overdrive and the early-April weather deteriorating, we were fighting for our lives. 

After playing through The Loop, arguably the most stock part of the routing with 9th and 10th holes crisscrossing as they normally do, we decided that a steak roll and a Bovril were necessary before playing the 10th and 11th holes. A much-needed break from the weather, we felt refreshed for whatever new challenges lay ahead. After washing our hands in what is assuredly the hottest faucet water on the planet, we played the 10th and 11th holes (from a thrilling angle back at the Eden green) and then set back toward town, the buildings becoming more imposing with each passing shot, and the weather deteriorating further. 

The 14th hole, like the 5th, was easily a highlight of the day. A par five, the wind rips off the left side of the fairway with the Seven Sisters guarding it and the Hell bunker lurking up the middle, playing to the back half of the double green shared by the 4th and 14th holes on the normal routing, adding another 50 yards to the hole and bringing “Ginger Beer” more into play. The usual 14th follows this same corridor, but with the tee on the reverse route much farther to the right and with the short, right half of the green, this one felt a lot more free-flowing.

Apart from the 12th and 15th holes (which felt unnatural), we were surprised how coherent the routing felt overall. We’d expected to feel like we were playing a course backward, but nearly every hole felt just as (if not more) fluid from this direction. A true credit to the original design and to the brilliance of the greens. Even from the normal direction, the Old Course never feels constraining and is far more of a “choose your own adventure” where you can assess a variety of paths and obstacles, and then spend the round hunting down the best angles into that day’s hole locations. 

We’d known going in that there would be fireworks at the ends of the course. Having already faced the 1st tee to the 17th green at the start, we now stood on the 18th tee staring into town. Although a similar view from what we’d seen during previous rounds, it was a different golf hole from that tee box tucked on the left and the angle somehow made the widest fairway in the world feel narrow. 

The mental challenge each hole presented lent itself to a more tired, accomplished (and drenched) feeling walking off of that familiar 18th green. At the Dunvegan, a local institution just up the block from us, we relived the day in glorious detail over a well-earned pint and a bowl of soup. Seated next to us were a group of University of St. Andrews students who had played a few groups ahead of us. As we compared notes, it was incredible to see how we’d each played virtually every hole in a radically different fashion. I hope one day that Tiger will be afforded the same opportunity to play the Old in reverse — I guarantee it would be as memorable for him as each of his Open victories here.