St Andrews in Numbers -

St Andrews in Numbers is a short golf blog post that looks at various facts and figures at the ‘Home of Golf’

I will start with a short history of the town and golf before hitting the numbers.

Town History in Brief

Since around 10,000 BCE, there have been inhabitants on the shore of the Eden River.
Nomads started building here around 4,500 BCE.
In AD 877 The first church was built.

In 1123 the Links were classed as common land and were given to the townspeople of St Andrews
The town of St Andrews, as we know it, was established around 1140.
There are 16,900 residents in the town.
Today, the town of St Andrews has 7,600 people employed in various jobs.
37% of those work in the Education Sector and 29% in the Tourism Sector.

Golfing History in St Andrews

Throughout the 1400s, people have been playing golf on the Links at St Andrews. Possibly even earlier, but the earliest official records are from 1552.
In 1865, Tom Morris became the first official ‘Keeper of the Green’
In 1927, Bobby Jones, the most famous amateur golfer won the Open Championship at St Andrews.
Due to their success, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus are the only 2 Golfers presented with the Keys to St Andrews.

St Andrews Tourism

Around 700,000 visitors per year flock to St Andrews.
37% visit from July – September
25% visit from April – June
20% visit from October – December
18% visit from January – March

41% of all visitors are from overseas.
50% of all visitors are over the age of 50

How Visitors Spend Their Money

Each year, visitors spend 98 million GBPs in the town of St Andrews
45% is on accommodation
23% is on eating out
13% is on non-food shopping
7% is on food shopping
4% is on golf-related items
3% is on entertaining
2% is on travel/fuel
3% is on other items

St Andrews Links Trust

There are 6 courses on the St Andrews Links. The Old Course, New Course, Jubilee Course, Strathtyrum Course, Eden Course and the Balgove Course.
The 6 courses are spread over 300 hectares and because of that, it makes it Europe’s largest public golf complex.
Since 1974, the St Andrews Links Trust has controlled the golf courses on behalf of the town council.
Due to demand, a 7th course was added in 2007 on the other side of town. This is known as the Castle Course.

Today, more than 230,000 rounds of golf are played over the links each year.
Due to its popularity, over 45,000 rounds are played on the Old Course alone.

Other Golf in St Andrews

Other than the Links courses, run by the Trust, there are another 3 golf courses within St Andrews.
2 great courses are located at the Fairmont Resort which are the Torrance Course and the Kittocks Course.
These are the 2 most Instagrammable courses because they are situated on the cliffs of St Andrews Bay.
The Duke’s Course is one of the longest courses in Scotland due to its length of 7,512 yards.

The Golf Course Green Fees in GBPs during the main 2024 season

Old Course – 320
The Duke’s Course – 200
Castle Course – 170
Torrance Course – 160
Kittocks Course – 160
New Course – 140
Jubilee Course – 140
Eden Course – 70
Strathtyrum Course – 50
Balgove Course – 15

Golf Tourism in St Andrews

35% are from the USA
30% are from the UK
22% are from Europe
13% are from the rest of the world