I always feel the nerves on the 1st tee of the Old Course at St Andrews. I’ve played it countless times, both as a student in the town and through my years working for Golf Monthly, but the trepidation remains. I feel the gravity and history, the shade of Old Tom Morris chiselled on the wall of the clubhouse behind me. I fear the simplicity of the tee shot – It’s the widest fairway in golf and missing it should be inconceivable. But it is conceivable. In short, I fear it.
Yesterday though, anxiety levels on the opening hole of golf’s Grand Old Lady were ramped up a notch for the BOSS pre-Open golf day. An Official Patron of The Open Championship, BOSS will provide the apparel for tournament officials at St Andrews as well as delivering a range of looks featuring Open detailing, available through The Open shop.
The Claret Jug and Sandy Lyle wait on the 1st tee
(Image credit: Golf Monthly)
1985 Open Champion Sandy Lyle is a BOSS ambassador, and he was on hand at the first tee on the day to add a little extra pressure for the opening drive. He was standing behind the tee and beside a plinthed Claret Jug. Are you feeling it yet?
OK, well also adding to the tension were the already erected grandstands lining the right side of the fairway. They may provide something of a buffer, but to me they just emphasised the risk of leaking the opening shot right.
The final nail in my coffin of nerves was delivered by the sheer number of people who were gathered to watch. BOSS had invited a number of leading influencers to experience playing the Old Course, and others to experience golf for the first time via a clinic put on by the St Andrews Links professionals… The group had attracted quite a crowd. One chap in a woollen vest was doing incredible backflips on the first tee – a new one for The Old Course I reckon… but it was mightily impressive and even more passers-by than usual had stopped to see what was going on.
I closed my eyes and somehow got one heading roughly down the middle. As we walked down the fairway, one of my playing partners and I…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…