How Did You Hit Your First Tee Shot At The Old Course?

[EmperorPenguin]

I mentioned this in a different thread, but this topic can take a life of its own, so I am starting a new thread.  For those of you who have played The Old Course at St. Andrews, please share with us your experience of the first tee shot.  Mind you, you are playing in front of the R&A clubhouse and there will be onlookers checking you out on the first tee, so you may be quite nervous for your first tee shot at The Old.  I remember that it is about 129 yards wide, so it is hard to miss, but it may be challenging when you have the whole R&A watching you.  My first tee shot was not so good: I did my preshot routine and came off the ball and sliced it nearly OB right.  I was about ten yards from the OB line, but I was definitely in play.  I was not nervous because it was our seventh round together, and to me it was just another opening hole--really, I thought of it that way. One of my guests recently told me about what was going on in his mind during his first tee shot.

 

As I was setting up to hit, before I pulled the trigger I was wondering if people were watching me from behind.  I stopped, looked back and saw a bunch of members looking out the window at me from the R&A clubhouse.  I stepped back, tipped my cap at them, and went through my preshot routine.  I was very nervous, but I striped my tee shot straight down the middle.

 

Come to think of it, mine was indeed a slice.  My caddie knew that I tend to fade the ball, so she told me to aim at the Swilcan Bridge on the left and swing normally.  I did just that, so it was a pretty big slice to end up where I did.  I was not at all nervous; I just made a bad pass at the ball by not releasing the club.  The rest of the round was very good, with straight shots.  I shot 37 going out, and we closed out our opponents 7&6.

 

How was your first tee shot at The Old Course?

[Robert72]

Three hundred and fifty yards, with a slight draw, right down the middle.

 

 

[2bGood]

More of a pull then a draw for me - and not pure. Still in no trouble at a decent distance. Made par. 

[scott_Donald]

haha, interesting reads so far.

 

In the last year I have hit two shots on the first tee of the Old Course - 2 iron right in the middle perfect, driver into the burn on the right; par and a bogey. winds were the complete opposite both rounds, both 20mph plus days, for some reason I never golf on the non windy days!

[imkirby34]

Surprisingly (to me), I hit a crisp 3W that hugged the right side and landed about halfway between where the 2nd grandstand ended and the burn.  That was with not exactly the greatest visual in my head as one of my buddies preceded me with a pull hook drive that went across the 18th fairway and stopped a couple yards from the cars parked on The Links.   I hit a weak PW just off the green on the right, chipped to 5 feet, and sunk the par putt.

 

I was there in June and playing Tuesday of the last week before they closed it to complete preparations for the Open Championship - thus, the grandstand.  I had been dreading that tee shot since before we even arrived in Scotland 5 days earlier.  Luckily, our tee time was around 0830, so there weren't nearly as many people around as when we finished - I wasn't looking forward to #18 tee either for that very reason.  

 

In retrospect, I am very happy that we bumped into Gary Player after we finished #18 and not on the first tee because if he had been watching, I might've completely whiffed my opening tee shot.

[Cwing]

August 2014. Morning. People all around. History filling the brain. More nerves than I’d ever experienced on a golf course. My miss is a fade that can become a slice.

 

Aimed left of middle. Took a breath and swung the club. Contact was so-so resulting in a weak fade. Walked off with a bogie and felt good about it.

 

Great Day!

[hammergolf]

I “almost” hit it OB left. It was just such a surreal feeling standing over the ball. Not nervous, but just amazed by the experience. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve played many of the great courses, but I never had that feeling before or since. I hit a big hook that just kept running and running and ended up in bounds by a yard. The good news is I punched out short of the burn and was able to get it up and down for par. 

[EmperorPenguin]

44 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

I “almost” hit it OB left. It was just such a surreal feeling standing over the ball. Not nervous, but just amazed by the experience. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve played many of the great courses, but I never had that feeling before or since. I hit a big hook that just kept running and running and ended up in bounds by a yard. The good news is I punched out short of the burn and was able to get it up and down for par. 

Ha, you fared a lot better than Ian did in '95.

If the strong winds were not there, I think he would have not made such a bad pass at the ball.

 

Keep the first-tee-shot memories coming, guys.

[hammergolf]

7 minutes ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Ha, you fared a lot better than Ian did in '95.

If the strong winds were not there, I think he would have not made such a bad pass at the ball.

 

Keep the first-tee-shot memories coming, guys.

Another guy from my group hit it OB right and we’ve NEVER let him forget it. I’m just thankful mine was in by a yard because you just don’t think it’s possible to miss such a wide fwy.

[jvincent]

Aimed right down the middle of #1 and #18 and hit a slight pull onto the 18th fairway. 

 

Other nervy first tee shots because of spectators:

- Bethpage Black

- Pebble Beach

[puttnforthe8]

On 10/26/2022 at 9:43 PM, Robert72 said:

Three hundred and fifty yards, with a slight draw, right down the middle.

 

 

So you were in the ditch!  Great story!

 

I hit my raggedy 3w down the left side with a low cut and was left with 110 in.   Wasn't nervous because of St Andrews, I ended up nervous because the group in back of us was Richie Cunningham/Ron Howard and his father and brother (Clint) and a family friend.  We chatted with them while waiting to tee off and so I ended up being nervous about teeing off in front of them. 🤣

Edited October 28, 2022 by puttnforthe8

[ND2005]

Nice little 3 wood down the middle. Sand wedge just over the pin. Drained the birdie putt. 

 

Round only went downhill from there. 

[PeterCL]

3 wood down the middle, wedge on the green......3 putt bogey.

 

Same thing on 18 too.....

Edited October 29, 2022 by PeterCL

[Chigolfer2]

Caddie wanted me to hit a fairway wood.  I told him I might miss the ball so I'm hitting driver.  Hit a solid drive but pushed it slightly right and went into the burn where it made the bend.  Hit the green from where I dropped and saved a 5.  I was OK with this since I did not want to hit a worm burner in front of 70 onlookers.  Another guy on our trip who is a 9 HC wiffed on the first tee at TOC which helped make my decision.

[hammergolf]

23 hours ago, puttnforthe8 said:

So you were in the ditch!  Great story!

 

I hit my raggedy 3w down the left side with a low cut and was left with 110 in.   Wasn't nervous because of St Andrews, I ended up nervous because the group in back of us was Richie Cunningham/Ron Howard and his father and brother (Clint) and a family friend.  We chatted with them while waiting to tee off and so I ended up being nervous about teeing off in front of them. 🤣

Yeah, it’s 343 to the burn from the back tee online with the flag, and 330 to the left edge or right edge lines of the green….

 

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/lists/yardage-book-old-course-st-andrews-2022-british-open/

[ColinKelvin]

I was extremely nervous but managed to hit a driver a decent way down.  Aimed well left.  3 putt bogey.  Four putt double bogey on the second after my first putt at the front came back to my feet!  Settled down after that.

 

Of my playing partners, off the first tee one was down the middle (old links member who was unfazed by the fuss and plays the OC most weeks); my 6 handicap brother topped a hybrid, and my 14 h'cap friend scattered some tourists OB on the right...

[Chanceman]

Can't recall - but just fine I think.

What I do remember is my tee shot from the 2nd tee which I topped, hit a rock about 10 yards out and rebounded back over our heads on to the 1st fairway. Embarrassed? Me? Nah. 

[McMunch]

Wasnt as nervous as I thought I would be. There were a lot of people there but not everyone is watching you specifically...mostly milling around and general town noise. I couldnt believe I was there in the first place so I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude. It was an amazing feeling.

 

Driver. Pulled it a little left. Skulled a 9 iron off the back. Down in 3. Bogey.

[hammergolf]

12 hours ago, Chanceman said:

Can't recall - but just fine I think.

What I do remember is my tee shot from the 2nd tee which I topped, hit a rock about 10 yards out and rebounded back over our heads on to the 1st fairway. Embarrassed? Me? Nah. 

I had that happen with a tee marker one time, but not at TOC.

[buckI]

Hit two skankers in the fairway but put both second shots in the burn for easy double.

 

Came back though and shot mid 70’s both times so overall good day!

[Oufcfan]

Decided to hit the driver. Biggest club face and all that. Hit it solidly down the centre left with a 8/10 strike. Hit 50° a pin high left and then 3 putted… but after hitting 2 solid shots, I honestly couldn’t care less about that!

 

it was a steady drizzle for most of the day so there was only about 30 people watching. And I remember being nervous over the tee shot but it wasn’t too bad. But about 10 seconds after hitting and walking back to watch my playing partners, that’s when my hands started to shake a little. Delayed adrenaline I suppose. 
 

I think we all agreed that there actually would be less pressure if it was a tight driving hole.

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Oufcfan

[truexbeliever]

This thread has definitely brought back memories! I played as a single fairly early in the morning after lining up in the queue at about 3am. Everyone else in the group had already hit and all hit pretty good shots. I managed to thin a 4 iron that luckily kept rolling…and rolling…and rolling after initially traveling about 100 yards. The rest of the group (who all knew each other) kind of looked around thinking “great…we’re going to be stuck with this all day”. I then managed to be the only person in the group to hit the green and make par while everyone else either put their approach shots in the burn or over the green. I ended up being one over through 14, but we won’t talk about how the round ended…

 

For me the nerves on the first tee wasn’t related to the people wandering around / watching. I started to think about the history and the number of people who have stood on that same piece of land to hit their opening tee shots on the old course. Thinking about the fact that Tiger, Jack, Rory, Palmer, Watson, Bobby Jones, and on and on and on had stood in the same spot to his the same shot caused my hands to shake and I’m just glad I didn’t completely miss the ball. 

 

This really makes me want to go do it all over again!

[ousuxndallas]

Little to no wind, hit a driving iron down the middle.  Had 110 in, front tucked pin - hit wedge past hole to 40 feet.  Drained putt for an opening birdie.

 

This game is easy.

[sabram]

Mine was down the middle. My tee shots were pretty good all round except 17. Unfortunately, my putting sucked. Caddy made fun of my putting throughout the round.

[Looper34]

3 wood center left about 8 steps shy of the burn.  1/2 a SW into the green that landed, you guessed it, in said burn.

[clp34vmp]

I played it on a pretty benign August day. Hit a high weak fade which was far from great but safe at least. Put my second on to about 30-35 ft. or so but proceeded to leave my first putt about 4-5' short and missed the par putt. Round improved significantly from there. Definitely look back on that round as one of my favorite golfing memories.

[ThermalDan]

My foursome visited in May 2022.  Played 11 courses including Muirfield/Carnoustie/TOC.  Our stick (4hcp) played great the whole trip except on the first tee of these three courses.  At Muirfield, he blew his approach over the green, lost in the tall grass.  At Carnoustie, he shanked it into the bern just in front of the tee and caromed into the tall grass, causing some concerned looks from our caddies.  On TOC, he smoked a tee shot then duffed his 2nd into the bern, it plinkoed around and nearly hit the group teeing on 2.  Great time!

[nitram]

I listened to my caddie (Ian) and hit a 3-iron, left center to the middle of the generous fairway, which left me 110 to the middle of the green. And yes, there were plenty of members and on-lookers watching my shot. As I was teeing the ball, Ian said, "bairnie (no pressure) laddie, but the pleengie's (gallery) see plenty of kirked (crappy shots) hereaboot (around here) but ken (know) a tidy one (good one)".

 

So I asked, "can anyone translate for me"? Ian gave it about ten seconds and since no one offered to translate, said, "Be brilliant, and hit the fooking ball". It was the beginning of a fantastic 5-1/2 hours.

[AltC]

4 iron which I tugged a wee bit but still rolled out to 125 in hit it 20 ft past the pin with pitching wedge and almost holed the putt. 2nd time I played 21 degree hybrid (into a hoollee) carted it a little left 130 in solid 9 iron only just cleared the swilcan burn - 8 foot up hill putt - missed it after watching my mates trolley get blow by the wind into the burn - hilarious but his phone was in it - well all that rice crap doesn’t work he had to buy a new phone!

[AltC]

On 1/26/2023 at 7:36 PM, sabram said:

Mine was down the middle. My tee shots were pretty good all round except 17. Unfortunately, my putting sucked. Caddy made fun of my putting throughout the round.

Sabram - I wouldn’t let it get in your head on my first round at the Old - kind of ok weather but a building wind all round and some cold showers (no excuses) had played ok but a couple of bad holes - got to 14 -was up near the green in 4 shots - wasted a shot getting out of hell bunker - the pin was cut far right on a little plateau chip landed on top but rolled off the plateau- took 4 putts from there up then down the other side - I just couldn’t get the ball to stop on the top surface - eventually holed a lucky putt from around ten ft still off the plateau for a splendid 9. Needless to say I was ecstatic! Hehe that’s golf!! I didn’t have a caddie - but the 3 Canuck guys I was playing with did - one caddie was literally rolling laughing out loud - anyway he did come over before 15 tee and say that the green keeper was taking the piss putting the pin there!!