2023 Old Course Annual Ballot Details and Timing?

ALTSean · July 15, 2022

Have they released details on the timing for the 2023 Old Course annual ballot? We have lodging for August for trip, but would love to get a tee time at The Old Course if possible. Thanks in advance for any information!

2bGood · July 15, 2022

3 minutes ago, ALTSean said:

Have they released details on the timing for the 2023 Old Course annual ballot? We have lodging for August for trip, but would love to get a tee time at The Old Course if possible. Thanks in advance for any information!

not yet

hammergolf · July 17, 2022

Last I spoke to them they had not yet committed to an advance lottery for 2023 yet. Hopefully we will find out something in the next few weeks.

ALTSean · July 18, 2022

16 hours ago, hammergolf said:

Last I spoke to them they had not yet committed to an advance lottery for 2023 yet. Hopefully we will find out something in the next few weeks.

If there is not an annual lottery, is entering the daily ballot and walking up early in the morning the only two viable options (without paying a tour operator a surcharge)?

hammergolf · July 18, 2022

8 hours ago, ALTSean said:

If there is not an annual lottery, is entering the daily ballot and walking up early in the morning the only two viable options (without paying a tour operator a surcharge)?

Yes. Depending on what time of year you go the 48 hour ballot can be good. I’m 2 for 2 with it in mid October. The walk up is pretty much a sure thing as long as you get there early enough.

elwhippy · July 19, 2022

Play the New Course as well. Superb course and a tougher test of Golf than the OC.

hammergolf · July 19, 2022

On 7/15/2022 at 9:44 AM, ALTSean said:

Have they released details on the timing for the 2023 Old Course annual ballot? We have lodging for August for trip, but would love to get a tee time at The Old Course if possible. Thanks in advance for any information!

Another thing to add about the advanced ballot. If you have a small window of dates requested, it reduces your chances significantly. It’s a long shot to start, but the fewer date constraints you have the more your odds increase.

ALTSean · July 19, 2022

1 hour ago, hammergolf said:

Another thing to add about the advanced ballot. If you have a small window of dates requested, it reduces your chances significantly. It’s a long shot to start, but the fewer date constraints you have the more your odds increase.

We have lodging booked in St. Andrews from August 5-13, 2023. We'll have 6 potential days to get on TOC, not counting the Saturday we fly in or the two Sundays we are there. Hopefully there will be an annual ballot for 2023, but if not, we'll enter the daily ballot and probably try the early morning walk up. We'll also likely play most of the other St. Andrews courses as well as some day trips in the local area to play (Carnoustie & Panmure or Crail or Leven & Lundin). Trying to balance booking advance tee times and locking us us in vice leaving room for the TOC. Guess we could always cancel, and potentially give us the greens fees at another course, if we get a tee time at TOC.

hammergolf · July 19, 2022

9 minutes ago, ALTSean said:

We have lodging booked in St. Andrews from August 5-13, 2023. We'll have 6 potential days to get on TOC, not counting the Saturday we fly in or the two Sundays we are there. Hopefully there will be an annual ballot for 2023, but if not, we'll enter the daily ballot and probably try the early morning walk up. We'll also likely play most of the other St. Andrews courses as well as some day trips in the local area to play (Carnoustie & Panmure or Crail or Leven & Lundin). Trying to balance booking advance tee times and locking us us in vice leaving room for the TOC. Guess we could always cancel, and potentially give us the greens fees at another course, if we get a tee time at TOC.

Almost all of the courses in the area have a cancellation policy if you win the ballot. A good plan is to leave one day open so if you do get the ballot you can reschedule a round you may have had booked for another day. In addition if you don’t win the ballot, that can be the day you do the walk up the night before for TOC. I would definitely recommend booking your times well in advance. The best bargain is the 3 day ticket for St.Andrews. For around $350 you can play unlimited golf at all the St. Andrews links courses except of course TOC. Don’t overlook The New Course, The Jubilee Course, or The Castle Course. TOC gets all the pub and rightly so, but the New and Jubilee are actually better courses. Obviously you can’t beat the convenience and location either.

ALTSean · July 19, 2022

2 hours ago, hammergolf said:

Almost all of the courses in the area have a cancellation policy if you win the ballot. A good plan is to leave one day open so if you do get the ballot you can reschedule a round you may have had booked for another day. In addition if you don’t win the ballot, that can be the day you do the walk up the night before for TOC. I would definitely recommend booking your times well in advance. The best bargain is the 3 day ticket for St.Andrews. For around $350 you can play unlimited golf at all the St. Andrews links courses except of course TOC. Don’t overlook The New Course, The Jubilee Course, or The Castle Course. TOC gets all the pub and rightly so, but the New and Jubilee are actually better courses. Obviously you can’t beat the convenience and location either.

Thanks for the info. We'll have 7.5 golfing days (after a red eye from the east coast) and will plan 3-4 days at St. Andrews playing a mix of the courses with the 3 day pass. We'll use the other 3-4 days to play other courses in the area.

Is there a St. Andrews shuttle or transportation to the Castle Course or do folks just get a taxi?

hammergolf · July 19, 2022

22 minutes ago, ALTSean said:

Thanks for the info. We'll have 7.5 golfing days (after a red eye from the east coast) and will plan 3-4 days at St. Andrews playing a mix of the courses with the 3 day pass. We'll use the other 3-4 days to play other courses in the area.

Is there a St. Andrews shuttle or transportation to the Castle Course or do folks just get a taxi?

St. Andrews doesn’t run a shuttle to the course, but it’s only a 10 min taxi ride and prices are very reasonable.