The Old Course is public. Anyone can play it. That single fact is what makes St Andrews different from every other famous course on earth — and it's also what makes getting a tee time a process rather than a phone call.
There are four routes on. Most visitors know about one, try it, fail, and go home having played the New Course and told everyone it was basically the same thing. It isn't. Here's the whole system.
Two things to know before anything else
The Old Course is closed on Sundays. Always. It becomes public parkland and locals walk their dogs down the 18th fairway. Build your trip around that, because a Sunday tee time does not exist at any price.
You need a handicap certificate. St Andrews Links Trust states a maximum of 36 to play the Old Course, and you can be asked to prove it — a club card, your WHS record, a letter on club letterhead. It applies to the Old Course specifically, not the other Links courses. Sort this before you fly. People genuinely get turned away.
Route one: the daily ballot
This is the one everybody's heard of, and it's the best odds most visitors will get.
You enter two days before you want to play, with entries closing at 2pm. You need a group of two, three or four — singles aren't eligible, that's a separate system. You submit each player's name, home club and handicap. Results come out the same afternoon, around four o'clock.
The quirk worth knowing: because the course is shut on Sundays, no ballot is drawn on Fridays. So a Sunday arrival can't enter for Tuesday until Sunday itself.
The practical approach is to be in St Andrews for several days and enter every single day you're there. One entry is a lottery ticket. Five entries is a plan.
Route two: apply a year ahead
The advance route is now packaged — recently branded the Swilcan Package, a two-round bundle including the Old Course, with the application window opening around September for the following year.
Two things people get wrong about it. It is allocated by draw, not first-come, so refreshing the page at midnight achieves nothing. And you have to apply directly — tour operators can't submit on your behalf.
The window is narrow, usually a couple of weeks. Miss it and you've missed the year. Put a reminder in your phone for late August.
Route three: the singles draw (this is the one that changed)
If you've read an older article about queueing overnight by the first tee in the rain, throw it away. That's gone. The Trust replaced it in March 2024 with a Singles Daily Draw, and their own annual report describes the old queue as "outdated."
How it works now: you register in person the day before, between 9am and 5pm, at the Old Pavilion beside the first tee or at the Links Clubhouse. It's done on a tablet and they take your photo to stop people entering twice. One entry per person per day, and you have to physically be in St Andrews to do it.
The draw runs at 5pm and you're notified by text and email. Turning up at 9am doesn't improve your odds over turning up at 4:30pm — it's random. Unsuccessful entrants get a waiting-list number and can still get called in on cancellations.
In its first year, more than 14,500 people entered and over 3,600 got on. Those aren't bad odds for a solo golfer, and they're vastly better than they used to be — you're just slotted into an existing group of two or three.
Route four: pay for it
Authorised providers and tour operators hold guaranteed times, bundled into packages with hotels and other courses. It works, and it costs considerably more than the green fee. If your trip is once in a lifetime and you cannot risk not playing, this is what that certainty costs. Just know you're buying certainty, not access — the course is the same either way.
The practical bit
- Green fee
- The Old Course sits at the top of the British range — around £340–£355 in high season, dropping to roughly £240 shoulder and £170 in winter. Confirm current rates with the Trust
- Caddie
- Not compulsory, but buggies need proof of permanent disability, so almost everyone walks. Budget somewhere north of £110 with gratuity, in cash, paid at the end
- Handicap
- 36 maximum, certificate required
- Closed
- Every Sunday. Also parts of September for the Autumn Meeting
- Winter
- Plays off mats in the fairway roughly November to March, at a much lower rate
- Other courses
- New, Jubilee, Eden, Castle and Strathtyrum are a fraction of the price and take no ballot. The Jubilee is a proper test
One scheduling landmine
The Open returns to St Andrews in July 2027, and the Old Course closes for an extended stretch around it — expect roughly mid-June through late July to be unavailable. If you're planning a 2027 trip, plan it for spring or autumn.
What to actually do
Book four or five nights in St Andrews rather than two. Enter the ballot every day. If you're solo, enter the singles draw every day as well. Book the New or the Jubilee as your guaranteed golf so the trip works even if the Old doesn't come through — and be aware they're excellent courses that would be famous anywhere else.
Then take the handicap certificate, walk it, and take a caddie if the budget stretches. The caddies at St Andrews are not there to read putts. They're there because the Old Course hides its trouble from you and they know where all of it is.