#st andrews

My Marcello

My Marcello

On May 14th 1754 golf was formalised at St Andrews with the foundation of the St Andrews Society of Golfers.

To a lot of people, St Andrews is synonymous with golf.  Every year tourists from around the globe come to admire the ‘Home of Golf’ and arguably the most famous 18^th hole in the world. This tradition of golf can be traced back to the formalisation of the sport with the foundation of the Society of St Andrews Golfers on this day in 1754.

The Royal & Ancient as it is now known was formed by 22 noblemen, professors and landowners, he Old Course originally consisted of twenty-two holes, eleven out and eleven back. On completing a hole, the player teed up his ball within two club lengths of the previous hole, using a handful of sand scooped out from the hole to form a tee.

In 1764, the Society of St Andrews Golfers decided that some holes were too short and combined them. This reduced the course to eighteen holes and created what became the standard round of golf throughout the world.

It could have all ended in St Andrews for golf In 1797, due to ‘temporary impecuniosity,’ that is to say bankruptcy, St Andrews Town Council lost total control of the Links, allowing rabbit farming to challenge golf for pre-eminence. Twenty years of legal and physical war between golfers and the rabbit farmers concluded in 1821 when James Cheape of Strathtyrum, a local landowner and keen golfer, bought the land and, in his own estimation, ‘saved the Links for golf.’

The Open Championship was first played on the Old Course at St Andrews in 1873. With the 29th staging of the world’s premier golf event taking place again on the Old Course in 2015, it will return in 2021, St Andrews has held the event more often than anywhere else. In modern times, the Dunhill Cup and the subsequent Dunhill Links Championship have been played at St Andrews since 1985, while the Walker Cup, the Amateur Championship and a host of other professional and amateur competitions for men and women have been held over the fabled links at the Home of Golf.

St Andrews now has no less than seven golf courses around the town.

Much more history can be found here https://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/

Male and female House sparrow (Passer domesticus) in St Andrews, Scotland

Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) of St Andrews and Ayr, Scotland

One of many amazing bookshops we came across whilst on our trip to Scotland, great selection of highlands history books and fiction

Went to the most beautiful wedding last weekend, our best friends tied the knot (literally, as in Scottish tradition) in an old byre facing out onto the sea. They told me each couple bring a candle and leave it there, and that is the reason there are all these candles burning at different levels. Still thinking about it

Built 1849 St. Andrews church is the oldest Presbyterian Church in the City of Toronto, and the oldest congregation in Scarborough.  

The first thing they tell you when you come to St Andrews is that “IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY, don’t step on the PH!!!”
So you jump, and reach even higher.

no matter where i go today,
a st andrews girl I always stay.

First Snow in St Andrews

Was lucky enough to talk to Matthew Goode today.
He is playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews and tool a little time to talk to me and some of the other spectators. Matthew is really sweet and quite a good golfer.

The Pier Walk is an ancient tradition at the University of St Andrews. Students wear their academic gowns and walk down the St Andrews Pier to commemorate a peer that saved foure sailors when they were almost drowning.
We walk the walk every sunday around 12 midday after church. Under Graduates (Bachelor) Students wear red while Postgradtuates (Matster) Students (such as me) wear black/crimson.
My first Pier Walk last Sunday was one of the happiest days in my life. I bought my gown in the morning, standing in line for more than an hour with two friends before we walked over to the pier. The walk made me realize again how much the St Andrews traditions are enriching my life - I am so happy to have chosen this place for my PG study!

krautandkilts:

Yes, the gowns are too expensive. And you don’t really need them. I know, poshness is taking over. However, the gowns are awesome, and give you a sense of belonging to the student community.

Every Sunday, after the service, St Andrews students take a walk to the pier, walking down, up the ladder, and back on the wall.

First challenge of the academic year - climbing up the ladder and walking in strong wind with a gown, managed with bravura. The rest will follow, I guess.

St Andrews, Scotland

Visited the home of golf after visiting a wedding in Blair Atholl. Met up with a friend of mine from exchange who was staying there for a month. Such a beautiful, peaceful place to be. 
St Andrews Castle in the background