The Spirit of St. Andrews
The Spirit of St. Andrews
A few days floating at the Home of Golf
When I first walked the streets of St. Andrews, I felt a certain sense of familiarity.
There’s just something about the ridiculously old stone buildings and the historic golf shops, bars, and apartments that inhabit them that make you feel like you’ve visited a thousand times, even if it’s your maiden pilgrimage to the “Auld Grey Toon.”
You can eerily feel the power demonstrated in the spires of the ancient churches, centuries after the town was the center of Catholic Scotland and then the catalyst for the Scottish Reformation.
From the vista of the town’s religious martyrs’ memorial, you can see the West Sands beach and picture the runners in “Chariots of Fire” pounding the sand as if the movie were filmed there yesterday.
And then, just adjacent to the historic beach, there’s the St. Andrews Links. The first and eighteenth holes of the Old Course, on land where golf was first played in the 15th century, are laid out in front of the imposing edifice of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews’ clubhouse.
I may have felt this sense of familiarity because these two holes may be the most photographed in golf, with their famous Swilcan Bridge and R&A Clubhouse, all framed by the town. It could have been because I religiously watch The Open Championship and have seen the majesty in living color each time The Open returns. Whatever it was, this immense feeling of familiarity and the corresponding surreality of it all never left me during my three full days at the Home of Golf.
History galore
In the US, we think that buildings from the 1800’s are historic. They are, but it doesn’t compare to my Thursday morning in St. Andrews. I got to climb St. Rule’s Tower, standing 108-feet tall and constructed in 1123. It was hard for me to comprehend that something built in the 12th century is still standing and is structurally stable enough for thousands of people to walk up each year.
The cathedrals and the historic buildings in the town intersect with modern history. For example, the café I ate breakfast at on the morning I climbed St. Rule’s Tower happens to be the place that William and Kate, of British royal fame, frequently met for coffee when they first started dating at the University of St. Andrews.
This intersection of the modern day and our not-so-distant past shows up time and time again with the town’s golf culture. For example, Old Tom Morris, an 1800s superstar known as the “Grand Old Man of Golf” and the person with perhaps the most influential legacy on the game, owned a golf shop that borders the Old Course.
Today, that shop sells Open Championship merchandise and uses one of Old Tom’s workbenches as a clothing display table. The store’s original flooring is still in place, with marks in the stone where Old Tom built and repaired golf clubs.
Old Tom’s last living relative, an older woman named Sheila, lives in an apartment above the store and walked up the outside stairs while I was browsing the shop’s wares.
For me, this was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. For the people of St. Andrews, it was just another Tuesday.
The people make the place
I can’t even describe how kind and generous everyone in the town was, even the fellow tourists. There’s a special attitude that envelops the town, one in which people are consistently friendly and appreciate the history and honor that comes with being considered the “home of golf.”
And, unlike 99% of international destinations, I discovered that the people of St. Andrews love American tourists and our specific culture. One employee in Old Tom Morris’ old shop cheerfully asked me if I said “y’all” and “ma’am” when she found out that I was from North Carolina.
On my Wednesday night in town, after I finished my round at St. Andrews’ Jubilee Course, I patronized The Dunvegan, one of the most famous pubs in St. Andrews. I sat down at the bar and ended up chatting for almost three hours with a Scottish man named Chris.
We talked about everything under the sun and were able to have a respectful and reasonable discussion about politics in the US and the United Kingdom. We learned more about each other’s countries; we didn’t just talk past one another trying to prove a point.
Chris and I became genuine friends in those few short hours at the bar. He even invited me to play on his golf course this week, and while I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fit it into my schedule, his willingness to move his busy work calendar to bring me onto a very nice course is something I’ll never forget.
The hospitality and kindness of people like Chris, which I’ve seen in too many people here to count, has been breathtaking.
All of this is outside of the actual golf
To me, this goes to show how much of golf isn’t about the shots that you hit on the course, it’s about the experience around those shots.
The museums and the streets and the buildings, really the entire town, had a golf-centric spirit that enhanced every nook and cranny.
This atmosphere gave the people, both residents and tourists, something to bond over no matter where they came from.
That same spirit of camaraderie, competition, and fun is found at every golf course you visit. It follows you to the bar for post-round libations. It’s with you every time you talk golf with a coworker or neighbor.
It draws people to the home of golf and is carried forth from St. Andrews to any place you can possibly think of.
The spirit of the game is what makes golf the greatest sport in the world.
And it all started in an unfarmable field beside the sea in Scotland. It’s funny how things work.
Questions, comments, ideas, and feedback can be directed to jpatterson@unc.edu. You can find me on Twitter @JakeWPatt or my Instagram @Loopers_Line. If you really want to get to know me, check out my LinkedIn.
Special thanks to Bethany Phillis for serving as my creative project mentor. Additional thanks to Caroline Maness for designing Looper’s Line’s logo.