St Andrews Links Blog

New road on the Old Course pt.1

What a start to this winter’s maintenance programme. The weather has been mild so far, albeit a bit wet, and things have been very productive indeed out on the courses.

As part of our programme this year, we are undertaking a large project of re-routing our maintenance buggy road slightly further away from the boundary of the Old Course. This is to allow spectator routing nearer the course during tournaments and keep buggy traffic away.

New road layout between 6^th and 7^th tees of the Old Course

Plans were drawn up and presented to our committees for approval where we were able to show exactly where the new road would run in relation to the courses.

New road layout between 5^th fairway and 6^th tees of the Old Course 

New road layout between 3^rd tee of the New Course to 5^th fairway of the Old Course

Various site meetings involving Course Managers from both the Old and New courses took place finalising routes and the desired finish to the road. One of the problems with the existing road is the shell/hardcore surface. It requires considerable maintenance and can be affected by heavy rainfall that causes pot holes. These require filling for the safety of walkers and to protect our vehicles.

Another issue with the current surface is during dry and windy conditions dust is kicked up affecting anyone nearby. With that in mind and to reduce maintenance costs in the future we proposed to tarmac the surface which would be more golfer friendly as well as being easier on our vehicles.

With planning in place and committee approval given, we started the work and prepared for the hard landscaping that would be required.

Work started at the 7^th tee of the Old Course excavating the new road layout and transferring material from the old road over to the new. We then turned our attention to landscaping the old road to prepare for turfing.

The new road running along the 6^th fairway of the Old Course

New mounding created beside the 7^th tees of the Old Course offering a larger vantage point for spectators during tournaments

New road layout to the right with a spectator viewing area being created for better views over the 5^th and 13^th green

Old road layout (left) with single bunker right of it. The new road (right) now puts the bunker back on the golf course side.

After six weeks of construction, we are progressing well and now find ourselves down towards the 5^th tee of the Old Course. We’re hoping the mild weather continues so we can maintain this good progress and carry on through to the Christmas break.

An interesting project and we are far from finished so look out for our blog on phase two of the work in the New Year!

Words by Gordon McKie, Course Manager ‑ Old Course