St. Andrews decides to remove new stone patio at Swilcan Bridge after social media uproar

“We are conscious of our role in preserving this heritage” read a statement from the St. Andrews Links Trust.

It didn’t take long for St. Andrews Links Trust to reverse course. The stonework that was recently added to the famed Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course will be removed in the coming days. The pivot comes after golf fans took to social media with an avalanche of criticism.

St. Andrews officials said the move to add the stone “patios” at both ends of the bridge was done to mitigate the wear and tear of the turf from tens of thousands of visitors each year.

“The stonework at the approach and exit of the bridge was identified as one possible long-term solution,” the statement read. “However while this installation would have provided some protection, in this instance we believe we are unable to create a look which is in keeping with its iconic setting and have taken the decision to remove it.

“We have also taken on feedback from many partners and stakeholders as well as the golfing public and we would like to thank everyone who has been in touch for their contribution to the issue.”

The decision comes one day after St. Andrews released a statement explaining the decision to add the stones.

The iconic bridge is believed to be 700 to 800 years old.

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According to recent photos, changes have been made to the Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course

What are your thoughts on the changes?

The Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course is believed to be 700 to 800 years old. Originally a passageway for livestock to make its way over the burn, the Swilcan has often been used by the game’s greatest players to say their goodbyes. Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and most recently, Tiger Woods —only time will tell if it was Woods’ final curtain call at St. Andrews.

It’s a landmark of the game that should be left untouched — or at least we thought.

According to recent photos, a garden patio has been added to its entrance.

What are your thoughts on the changes? Should it have been left alone?

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Golf travel: Bounding across Scotland, from Royal Dornoch around to St. Andrews with stops all along the way

From the Scottish Highlands around to St. Andrews, a series of true links astonish with variety, playability and charm.

Where to begin? 

That is not a rhetorical question. When laying out a bucket-list golf trip to Scotland, it’s a very serious query, part of a series of such questions that will follow you around the country. Where to begin? Which course next? Toughest of all: Which courses can I bear to skip? 

Headed to St. Andrews? There’s a lot more on tap than the famed Old Course, 30 times the site of the British Open – ahem, Open Championship, thank you very much. Will you play the New Course, which seems a misnomer, seeing how it was built by Old Tom Morris in 1895? How about the Jubilee? The Castle, which having opened outside town in 2008 is the newest of the seven courses managed by the St. Andrews Links Trust? Maybe sample a handful of the other layouts not far from the Home of Golf?

Headed into the Highlands for a dream round at Royal Dornoch? Everyone on other courses, on the way and on social media will tell you that you can’t skip nearby Brora (I didn’t) or Tain or Golspie (I missed both, but I already am planning to return). Scouting a classic links trip to Aberdeen? You can’t miss classic links such as Royal Aberdeen, or Murcar Links or Cruden Bay or a handful of others. The options are lined up along the coast. All the coasts of Scotland, actually.

Scotland
Cabot Highlands, formerly known as Castle Stuart, in Scotland (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Headed east? You’ll be told not to miss the courses to the west. Looking north? Don’t miss those gems to the south. Whichever point of the compass you choose and whatever address you plug into Google Maps, there will be dozens of opportunity costs – all those suggestions are correct, even if they create a totally unmanageable itinerary for a traveling golfer on a weeklong holiday. 

Weeks after my recent trip, when playing with a group of Golfweek’s Best course raters in California, I barely could finish a sentence about where I played before the questions poured in: Did you play this one, and what about that one? We all process the world through the lenses of our own experiences, and that’s especially true when judging the courses somebody else is, or is not, playing.

Scotland
The 18th green of the Old Course at St. Andrews sits close enough to the street and town that the afternoon shadows of old buildings stretch across the putting surface. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Such was the quandary when I started planning this trip to Scotland. I was lucky, because I knew where I would begin. American course designer Tom Doak is building a new course at Castle Stuart near Inverness, which is being rebranded as Cabot Highlands after its recent acquisition by Canadian company Cabot. I would begin there to hear Doak discuss his plans as well as to sample the original course at the resort. 

But from there? I had options. Too many options. The names of famous Scottish links courses roll on and on, and it would take months to see even half of what I had in mind. I had only 12 days on the ground, so I enlisted the help of course booking provider Golfbreaks and the local experts at VisitScotland.com to help set up a trip that would venture high into the Highlands before swinging back down the coast, east to Aberdeen and eventually into St. Andrews. 

Scotland, of course, is where the game as we know it was invented, and the best of it is all about links golf in particular. Firm, fast and sometimes almost entirely natural – I coveted the links experience. Of the 550 or so total golf courses in Scotland, fewer than 90 might be classified as true links, depending on one’s given definition – there is great debate among academics and clubhouse drunks about what constitutes a proper links. On this trip I was lucky enough to experience 11 examples. Each was distinctive, and don’t dare think of links golf as some uniform game, because it is the definitive opposite of that. The conditions might be similar, but each layout shines on its own, each bouncy shot promising something unexpected.

Scotland
Street view in St. Andrews (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

I played courses that are famed worldwide, and several that are less known outside Scotland. I played in sunshine and rain, wind and calm. I played well, and I played poorly. The only constants were the courses, the terrain and coastlines flashing through my exhausted head each night in whatever accommodations I had scheduled. The trip included planes, trains, buses, shuttles and a blue Skoda SUV – “Keep left, keep left, keep left,” I had to remind myself at the start of each drive on skinny, winding roads, because I couldn’t bear the thought of missing my next round of golf due to something so mundane as a car crash.

There were a lot of miles, a lot of different beds, a lot of nerves in the car. So many good courses, too many bad swings. And it was all perfect. 

[afflinkbutton text=”Book your golf trip to Scotland today” link=”https://www.golfbreaks.com/en-us/vacations/scotland/#overview”]

My year in golf travel: Big resorts, short munis and a competitive dream that lives on for 2023

Our travel writer has played 79 golf courses so far in 2022. Here’s what stood out.

I have one of the best jobs in the world, but don’t tell my boss that I acknowledged such. Truth is, plenty of people would line up to do this travel job for free. Play golf around the world and write about it – just about a perfect gig.

There are some downsides. The 3 a.m. wakeup calls, the flight delays, the time away from family, the late nights staring at the keyboard, not to mention all the bogeys. But these are niggles, easily dismissed.

I played 79 golf courses so far in 2022, and I am likely to add at least one or two more before the calendar flips. There were affordable munis, high-end private clubs and plenty of top-dollar resorts. I see the full spectrum of golf in my travels, from dirt fairways to perfect putting surfaces. They all were among the 250-plus stories I filed in 2022, and I remember just about every shot from each round – my wife calls this ability to recall and fret about shots I struck months ago a major character flaw.

The author hits a tee shot on the Castle Stuart Course at Cabot Highlands on his trip around Scotland in October. (Courtesy of Cabot Highlands)

With the year wrapping up soon, it’s time to take a look back at several of my favorite experiences of 2022. I played from California to Scotland, and some days, courses and golf holes just stood out.

Colin Montgomerie says Tiger Woods should have retired after playing St. Andrews

Did Tiger Woods miss an epic chance to say goodbye to competitive golf?

Did Tiger Woods miss an epic chance to say goodbye to competitive golf?

Colin Montgomerie seems to think so.

After making the cut in the first two majors of 2022, Woods took the U.S. Open off to make sure he was ready for St. Andrews and the 150th playing of the Open Championship.

Woods won two of his 15 majors at the Old Course and provided golf fans with one of the major subplots in the final major of the year.

Montgomerie certainly wasn’t alone in his thoughts that perhaps there’d be no better place for Woods to say farewell. Speaking on the Bunkered podcast, Montgomerie said:

“That was the time. Stand on that bridge, start waving, and everyone goes, ‘So, is that it?’ Yeah, it is. It would have been a glorious way to go. The stands were full, the world’s TV cameras—from all continents—were on him, he’s walking up there on his own, tears were in his eyes obviously You can’t beat that walk. I’ve done it myself. When the stands are full, you cannot beat that walk.”

Montgomerie also said he doesn’t see Woods winning any more tournaments.

“I can’t see that happening. I’d love it to happen because it’s great for the game. I would love him to win. But I just can’t see it happening.”

Woods did return to semi-competition at The Match, playing alongside Rory McIlroy. He’ll team up with his son Charlie at the 2022 PNC Championship.

At the Hero World Challenge eight days ago, Woods indicated he will definitely have a limited playing schedule in 2023.

“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more. That’s it,” he said. “Physically, that’s all I can do. I told you that, guys, you know, the beginning of this year, too. I mean, I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that.”

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R&A CEO on LIV Golf members and the Open: ‘We’re not banning anyone. We are not going to betray 150 years of history and have the Open not be open’

“If the game is not played with high value and respect, I have no chance to grow the game.”

The 151st Open Championship is in 264 days. We’re a long way from the opening tee shot at Royal Liverpool, a venue last visited in 2014 where now world No. 1 Rory McIlroy captured his Claret Jug.

However, we won’t have to wait that long to hear the R&A’s plans for LIV Golf members.

Back in July, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said they had no plans to ban LIV players saying: “Let me be very clear. That’s not on our agenda.”

Fast forward three months and his message remains the same.

“We’ll go public in January/February with what we are going to do with regard to LIV golfers. But if you want a guide, go back to what I said in July. We’re not banning anyone. We are not going to betray 150 years of history and have the Open not be open,” Slumbers told Golf Digest this week at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship hosted by the R&A, the Asia-Pacific Golf Federation and the Masters.

“What we will do is ensure that there are appropriate pathways and ways to qualify. I’m looking forward to seeing Cam Smith tee up around 9:40 a.m. on the first day of the Open next year. The Open needs to set itself aside from what’s going in terms of disagreements and make sure we stay true to our principle, which is to have the best players in the world competing.”

2022 Open Championship
Martin Slumbers, the CEO of The R&A and Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, speaks to the media during his pre-tournament news conference ahead of the 150th Open at St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

Smith, the current Champion Golfer of the Year, is now a member of the Greg Norman-led circuit backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.

At St. Andrews earlier this year, Norman was excluded from the Champions Challenge and Champions dinner.

“With everything that was going on, it was clear to me that there was a reason why he wanted to be there this year,” Slumbers said. “If he had been there, it would have been about noise. The Open has to be distinct from all that. I didn’t want to have noise between two rival tours and two big personalities. It would have overshadowed what was happening that week.

“I wanted the 150th Open to be special and perfect. I didn’t want other issues going on around it, ones that would have undermined it in the eyes of the public. I was very polite and very deferential to Greg. I asked him to understand my perspective. And I did so privately. I did not make it public. I never said anything and never commented on it.

“That week was supposed to be about the first event in our game’s history reaching its 150th playing. On arguably the greatest course in the world. I was never going to lose focus on that.”

In regards to our fractured game, Slumbers understands the consequences of splitting the talent pool.

“To me, this is not about ‘them and us.’ I have no issue with the players. People play for a living. I note that Saudi Arabia wants to invest a lot of money in the game I love and care about,” he said. “That’s a good thing. But I want to preserve the pathways and meritocracy on which our game is built. Sport without that isn’t sport. So I want to make sure we have the best players competing week in and week out.

“If the game is not played with high value and respect, I have no chance to grow the game. Maybe the consequence of where we are is that we only get to see all of the very best players together four times a year. So we’ll enjoy it four times a year.”

Looking ahead to 2023, just to make you feel a bit better about how far we are from meaningful golf, the Masters begins in 158 days.

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Picture of golf bags piled up in a Scotland airport is a sad sight to see

If you’re traveling internationally and looking to get in a round abroad, you may want to consider a rental set.

You thought the British Open ending the men’s major championship season was a bummer? Wait until you see this.

Domestic travel is bad enough these days in the United States with severely understaffed airlines leading to frequent flight delays, cancellations and of course, lost luggage. On the international scale it’s even worse, and one picture showed just how backed up high-traffic airports can be.

Just days after Cameron Smith won the British Open in epic fashion at the Old Course at St. Andrews, a pile of golf bags currently sits in the Edinburgh Airport, which is just 50 miles from the Home of Golf.

There’s a comfort that comes with playing with your own clubs, but if you’re traveling internationally this year and looking to get a round or two in abroad, you may want to consider a rental set.

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What the Pros Play: Cameron Smith

Cameron Smith, the winner of the 150th British Open, has a bag filled with gear designed for versatility and control.

After winning the 2022 Players Championship, Australia’s Cameron Smith moved from No. 11 to No. 6 on the Official World Golf Ranking. Simply winning that event against the strongest field in golf would have made for a great year, but on Sunday, his win at the 150th British Open at St. Andrews made his season historically significant. He woke up Monday morning ranked No. 2 in the world, a major winner and only the second golfer in history to win the Players Championship and British Open in the same year, joining Jack Nicklaus.

Golfweek talked with PGA Tour reps from Titleist to learn about the gear that Cameron Smith used at St. Andrews, what he looks for in his clubs and to discover any changes he made in preparation for this season’s final major. Here’s what we learned.

Cameron Smith earns $2.5 million and the full prize money payouts for each player at the 2022 British Open at St. Andrews

It pays to play well in major championships, just ask Cameron Smith.

It pays to play well in professional golf tournaments, especially at major championships. Just ask this week’s winner, Cameron Smith.

The 28-year-old Aussie shot an 8-under 64 at the Old Course at St. Andrews in the final round of the 150th playing of the Open Championship to overcome a four-shot deficit and earn a one-shot win over Cameron Young to claim his first major title. Smith finished at 20 under to earn the top prize of $2.5 million, with Young taking home $1.46 million. Not a bad consolation prize.

Check out how much money each professional player made this week at the Open at St. Andrews (remember, no cash for the amateurs).

British Open: Winner’s bag | Cam to party with Claret Jug
Cashing in: Players to earn most money in a single PGA Tour season

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Cameron Smith -20 $2,500,000
2 Cameron Young -19 $1,455,000
3 Rory McIlroy -18 $933,000
T4 Tommy Fleetwood -14 $654,000
T4 Viktor Hovland -14 $654,000
T6 Brian Harman -13 $469,500
T6 Dustin Johnson -13 $469,500
T8 Bryson DeChambeau -12 $325,667
T8 Jordan Spieth -12 $325,667
T8 Patrick Cantlay -12 $325,667
T11 Sadom Kaewkanjana -11 $231,000
T11 Abraham Ancer -11 $231,000
T11 Dean Burmester -11 $231,000
T11 Tyrrell Hatton -11 $231,000
T15 Lucas Herbert -10 $165,583
T15 Xander Schauffele -10 $165,583
T15 Anthony Quayle -10 $165,583
T15 Francesco Molinari -10 $165,583
T15 Adam Scott -10 $165,583
T15 Si Woo Kim -10 $165,583
T21 Billy Horschel -9 $120,286
T21 Min Woo Lee -9 $120,286
T21 Trey Mullinax -9 $120,286
T21 Shane Lowry -9 $120,286
T21 Kevin Kisner -9 $120,286
T21 Matt Fitzpatrick -9 $120,286
T21 Scottie Scheffler -9 $120,286
T28 Tony Finau -8 $90,917
T28 Corey Conners -8 $90,917
T28 Harold Varner III -8 $90,917
T28 Will Zalatoris -8 $90,917
T28 Dylan Frittelli -8 $90,917
T28 Thomas Pieters -8 $90,917
T34 Thomas Detry -7 $68,906
T34 Robert MacIntyre -7 $68,906
T34 Talor Gooch -7 $68,906
T34 Lee Westwood -7 $68,906
T34 Sahith Theegala -7 $68,906
T34 Victor Perez -7 $68,906
T34 Jon Rahm -7 $68,906
T34 Aaron Wise -7 $68,906
T42 Sam Burns -6 $51,000
T42 Jason Kokrak -6 $51,000
T42 Thriston Lawrence -6 $51,000
T42 Adrian Meronk -6 $51,000
T42 Chris Kirk -6 $51,000
T47 Garrick Higgo -5 $40,600
T47 Patrick Reed -5 $40,600
T47 Jordan Smith -5 $40,600
T47 Yuto Katsuragawa -5 $40,600
T47 Joohyung Kim -5 $40,600
T47 Filippo Celli (a) -5 $0
T53 Joaquin Niemann -4 $35,656
T53 Danny Willett -4 $35,656
T53 Robert Dinwiddie -4 $35,656
T53 Lars Van Meijel -4 $35,656
T53 Justin Thomas -4 $35,656
T53 Paul Casey -4 $35,656
T53 Jason Scrivener -4 $35,656
T53 Brad Kennedy -4 $35,656
T53 Nicolai Højgaard -4 $35,656
T62 Cameron Tringale -3 $33,625
T62 Sebastián Muñoz -3 $33,625
T62 John Parry -3 $33,625
T62 David Carey -3 $33,625
T62 Ian Poulter -3 $33,625
T62 Russell Henley -3 $33,625
T68 Hideki Matsuyama -2 $32,525
T68 Sergio Garcia -2 $32,525
T68 Richard Mansell -2 $32,525
T68 Christiaan Bezuidenhout -2 $32,525
T72 David Law -1 $32,012
T72 Kurt Kitayama -1 $32,012
T74 Marcus Armitage E $31,762
T74 Justin De Los Santos E $31,762
T76 Wyndham Clark 1 $31,512
T76 Adri Arnaus 1 $31,512
T76 Aaron Jarvis (a) 1 $0
T79 Laurie Canter 2 $31,325
T79 Barclay Brown (a) 2 $0
T81 Sam Bairstow (a) 4 $0
T81 Sungjae Im 4 $31,200
83 Jamie Rutherford 8 $31,075

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Winner’s Bag: Cameron Smith, 2022 British Open at St. Andrews

Check out the clubs that won the Claret Jug.

The golf equipment Cameron Smith used to win at St. Andrews during the 2022 British Open:

DRIVER: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Cam Smith’s fairway wood – $299″ link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/P0q5qQ”]

IRONS: Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (3-4), Titleist T100 (5-9), with KBS Tour 130 Custom Matte Black X shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Cam Smith’s irons – $1,299″ link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/oearam”]

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46, 52, 56, 60 degrees), with KBS Tour 130 Custom Matte Black X shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Cam Smith’s wedges – $179 each” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/GjY7qm”]

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron 009M Tour prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

[afflinkbutton text=”Cam Smith’s golf ball – $49.99 per dozen” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/b3gnrk”]

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet SuperTack

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