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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - Every golfer I was paired up with in the Home of Golf had the same goal: To get on the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Only one captured golf's version of the golden ticket.
If you come to Scotland without an advanced, secured tee time on the Old Course at St. Andrews, you have to be prepared to go home without having played the course you made the trip for in the first place. That's just the reality these days with the combination of the popularity of golf and the rise in bucket-list travel following the pandemic.
A record 283,082 rounds were played on the seven courses of the St. Andrews Links Trust in 2023. Despite the Old Course losing rounds to the AIG Women's Open this year, it's likely another record will be set in 2024, according to David Connor, the St. Andrews Links Trust's marketing manager. The Links Trust doesn't release statistics specific to rounds on the Old Course.
I learned the hard way how difficult it is to land that coveted tee time. I spent five days in St. Andrews in early September and went home empty-handed. I still had a spectacular time playing eight of the top-ranked courses in and around St. Andrews. Turns out I was naive in believing that between the singles daily draw, the ballot and my connections in the industry, one of them would hit.
“Anybody who thinks that they have a secret way of getting on the Old Course, it’s just not true," Connor said. "If you speak to any locals or anybody in town who has a sure-fire way of getting on the Old Course, [they don’t]. They come through the same system.”
The Links Trust reported in April 2025 that 14,489 golfers applied to play the Old Course through the new system with 3,677 able to secure a tee time. That's a 25 percent success rate. Of those, 6,592 Americans signed up with 2,966 being successful, a much higher success rate at 45 percent.
“We are delighted that so many people have been able to enjoy playing the iconic Old Course as a result of the new, simplified and fair sign-up process," said Laurie Watson, Director of Engagement at St Andrews Links Trust.
Hopefully my failure will lead to your success. Here are some mistakes I made and some observations I gathered that might help you land that tee time of a lifetime.
The most effective ways to secure a tee time on The Old Course at St. Andrews
Of course, if you're willing to pay extra or plan ahead of time to land your tee time on the Old Course, that's obviously the best way to go. You can book through one of the 72 authorized golf tour operators or sign up for the following year's Private Advanced Tee Time Ballot. Find out more about those guaranteed ways (and others) to book an Old Course tee time in the story below.
Still, many golfers - like me - visit St. Andrews without a guaranteed time for all sorts of reasons. Their trip might come up last-minute (like mine did) or they're too cheap to book through a tour operator, too unorganized to plan so far in advance or willing to try their luck with an adventurous, gambling spirit.
One group of Americans I met made the mistake of not making advanced tee times anywhere most days, so they would not have to eat the costs of those bookings if they won the daily ballot. They, unfortunately, were shutout on the ballot, and sometimes had to split up by booking whatever last-minute tee times they could find.
I made some mistakes, too:
* I played Dumbarnie Links on the day I landed, thinking I was maximizing my time since the course is halfway between the Edinburgh airport and St. Andrews. What I should have done was driven straight from Edinburgh to St. Andrews, entered the singles daily draw for the following day and played one of the Links Trust courses as a warm-up. The Eden is a perfect first-day course. Dumbarnie is only 30 minutes outside of town. I could have easily driven there another day.
* I also forgot to enter the singles draw on my first full day. I guess I can blame the jet lag. I slept in and worked all morning. When I checked in for my afternoon tee time on the New Course, the starter gave me the opportunity to head out earlier. I jumped at it and completely forgot to enter the Old Course ballot. Big whoops!
* I also visited St. Andrews starting Aug. 30, five days after the AIG Women's Open. That major had a two-fold impact. First, many fans who came to watch the ladies play stuck around to play themselves. Second, the championship squeezed availability this summer, giving visitors fewer days to play. There were simply too many golfers trying to get on via the ballot or the draw, so my odds were significantly diminished. Connor wouldn't share any statistics on how many enter the ballot, other than to note that it has increased the past few years.
If you want to visit St. Andrews without a guaranteed tee time, you should try to plan it either several weeks away from a major or the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship every fall, or avoid major years and the following year altogether. Connor said that ballot entries tend to spike the year after hosting a men's Open Championship. After a run of events, the Old Course drops off the major championship schedule for the next couple of years. A men's Open will likely return in 2027 although the R&A hasn't announced anything official yet. If you're following my advice about avoiding the two-year window around a men's major, both next year and 2026 could increase your chances. It's hard to say for sure, though, with the popularity of golf at an all-time high.
How to enter the daily ballot at the Old Course
The one thing I did right regarding the trip was where I stayed: three nights at the Old Course Hotel along the Road Hole and two nights at Rusacks St Andrews along the 18th. Both had golf concierge services that signed me up for the ballot even before I was in town and alerted me with an e-mail right away when I didn't make it. Remember: when you sign up for the ballot with two, three or four players, you're trying to win a tee time two days in advance.
Since I was a single, the hotel staff just paired me up with another application. That made things super simple. I didn't have to log into the St. Andrews website daily to sign up and verify who won or lost. It took that responsibility off my plate, so I could focus on the other courses I was playing and the singles daily draw.
Since there are two daily ballots - one for ticketholders (i.e. members) and an open ballot for everybody else - you're more likely to hit ballot success during shoulder and off-peak seasons.
How to enter the singles daily draw at the Old Course
For the record, I was impressed with the new changes regarding the singles daily draw, which is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily to sign up for golf the following day. I've read that some golfers lament the loss of the old system where prospective players would show up at 2 a.m. or earlier to get in line at the Old Course pavilion for a tee time. That might have gotten the first five or 10 participants on the Old Course - and perhaps more on bad weather days - but it also was a safety and logistics issue. I liked the ease with which I could enter the draw. The technology was seamless.
Golfers use an iPad to take a picture and add their contact details by 5 p.m. each day. I signed up at both available locations - the old pavilion and the St. Andrews Links Trust clubhouse - and checked a box that I would play with or without a caddie just to mix things up. A text after 5 p.m. lets golfers know their fates. I ended up anywhere between numbers 32 and 108 on the waiting list, proving just how many golfers I was up against each day.
There's a chance if you land high up on the waiting list for the singles draw, you could still get on. People get sick or have work or personal emergencies all the time. Maybe you'll get lucky.
“Generally the staff at the old pavilion will let you know if you are positioned, let’s say 1 through 10, we’d recommend maybe you show up the next day at the old pavilion because there is a reasonable chance you could get out," Connor said.
The other piece of advice I can give is to definitely sign up for the ballot or singles daily draw when there's bad weather in the forecast. Some fair-weather golfers and local ticket holders will likely drop out, opening up extra day-of spots. My one rainy day ended up canceling my tee time at Dukes St. Andrews, but a last-minute round on the Eden Course was perfectly pleasant. I barely got wet. If anybody bailed on the Old Course that day, they blew it.
Back to the lucky son of a gun who did get on. I was paired with him at Dumbarnie. He and his traveling companion were checking their phones constantly in anticipation, knowing the following day was their last in Scotland. When the confirmation text arrived, he was so excited that he abandoned his buddy and their prepaid round at Kingsbarns. Turns out, I was about to get lucky, too.
They generously offered the spot to me at no cost. A free round at Kingsbarns? Some would say that's better than winning the ballot. I would be second off at 7 a.m., which forced me to get up super early. The reward was a dawn selfie on the Swilcan bridge and the 17th green watching the sun rise over St. Andrews without another person in sight. Wowza.
In retrospect, knowing that Kingsbarns normally costs £448 (nearly $600) to play, I had won my own version of golf's greatest lottery. That Old Course sunrise and sun-splashed, wind-free round at Kingsbarns made my St. Andrews trip feel extra special - Old Course or otherwise.
Do you have any advice or stories to tell regarding tee times or rounds at the Old Course? Let us know in the comments below.
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