PLAYING THE OLD COURSE IN REVERSE

For any golfing visitor to Scotland it is surely the greatest thrill of all: a game over the Old Course at St. Andrews, the "Home of Golf" and the world’s most famous venue. Even for Scots born and bred with the intricacies, inconsistencies and inherent frustrations of golf by the seaside, the Old Course is still a links apart, a unique place to play.

Or so I thought. There is, however, one other links that combines the strategic choices and tactics of the Old Course with the peerless charm of the "Auld Grey Toon." It too can be found on the north east tip of Fife. It too has a first tee directly in front of the clubhouse of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. And it too has a Road Hole bunker, a Parson’s Nose, Beardies and a Hell. It is the Old Course with a twist, or rather a reversal: it is, in fact, the Old Course backward.

For the first time since 1989, last April 1st – appropriately enough – I had the opportunity of playing the Old Course as it used to be played. Before the introduction of what is now the first green by Old Tom Morris late in the 19th century, the course was played clockwise rather than counter clockwise as it is now. In other words, the first hole was played from the first tee to what is now the 17th green. The second hole stretched from what is now the last tee to the 16th green. And so on.

It really was the most glorious fun, offering a fresh perspective and, in many cases, answering the question posed by many visitors, "why is that bunker there?"

Back in Old Tom’s day the courses were referred to as the Left Handed (clockwise) and Right Handed (counter-clockwise) layouts. Both were used, usually in alternate weeks as a method of allowing increasingly bare driving areas to heal. The 1896 British Amateur was played on the counter clockwise course, but after World War I, it was used less and less and hardly at all since the 1970s.

Especially for April 1st, a yardage booklet was produced, the numbers and text the work of local caddie Dave Coyne. Even more than usual on a course that golfers the world over know takes some knowing, knowing how far it was to a distant flag perched precariously over a deep bunker was an invaluable aid.

Most of the time anyway. Just to throw in a note of confusion, at the 429-yard 15th (5th tee to 3rd green) Coyne, with a wonderfully perverse phrase, advised players to "aim for maximum distance." You figure it out. Downwind, the opening holes were actually the hardest to play, especially to the sadistic pin positions chosen by head green keeper, Eddie Adams. "Oh really?" was his good-naturedly smiling reply when questioned about the proximity of more than a few holes to deep bunkers.

The best hole was the 7th (13th tee to 11th green), but the back nine provided a succession of tough par-4s into a freshening breeze. The pick of that particular bunch was the aforementioned 15th, which is a much more difficult hole than the normally straightforward 3rd, whose green it used.

All in all, a "left-handed" tour of the Old Course is, as you’d expect, enormous challenging, if more than a little bewildering at times. The good news is that, according to Peter Mason, External Relations Manager of the St. Andrews Links Trust, the opportunity to savor a piece of golf’s distant past – former European Ryder Cup player Ronan Rafferty was one who made the pilgrimage – will become an annual event.

Next year (2003) you’ll have three days to savor one of golf’s rarest treats. On April 4, 5 and 7 the course will be played as Old Tom played it. Try it. You’ll fall in love with the place all over again

John Huggan is one of Scotland’s most well respected golf writers, who is also a frequent contributor to U.S. golf publications Golf World and Golf Digest.