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— Center of the Golfing Universe —

 — St. Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa —

Two upstart resort courses in the Home of Golf.

ST. ANDREWS BAY GOLF
RESORT & SPA
St. Andrews, Fife,
Eastern Central Scotland KY16 8PN
Tel: +44 (0)1334 837000
E-mail: info@standrewsbay.com
Web Site: www.standrewsbay.com



                                                Photos from St. Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa

        Imagine the Japanese opening a new ball yard across the street from Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, or Yankee Stadium. Well, multi-millionaire American resort developer and sportsman Donald Panoz has done something akin to just that within 3 miles of golf’s ultimate shrine and (along with Centre Court at Wimbledon) one of Britain’s two greatest sports attractions. Panoz has built not one but two new courses within 5 minutes of the Old Course at St. Andrews. To do the job Panoz put together a design team with three great names from the world of golf: America’s Gene Sarazen, Australia’s Bruce Devlin, and Britain’s Sam Torrance. Audacious Americans!

LENGTH & PAR:
    Devlin Course:
        Championship Tees: Par 72, 7,049 yards
   Torrance Course:
        Championship Tees: Par 72, 7,037 yards
        Red Tees: Par 72, 5,441 yards

FACILITIES:
    Pull Cart (Trolley) Rental
    Motorized Golf Cart (Buggy): Devlin Course only
    Club Rental
    Fully Stocked Pro Shop
    Clubhouse with bar & restaurant
    Practice area with driving range
    Resort Hotel & Spa

GREENS FEES (both courses):
    Winter (Nov.—Mar.): £45
   Spring & Fall (April—May & October): £70
   Summer (June—Sept.): £95

Open to Visitors Year Round.

RESERVATIONS: Tee Times Required. Bookings should be made at least 14 days in advance.

LET HOME AT FIRST BOOK YOUR TEE-TIME AT ST. ANDREWS BAY as part of your Scotland travel plans. There is no service charge for making your booking.

LOCATION: St Andrews Bay is approximately 2.5 miles from St Andrews town.

Nearest Home at First Lodgings are Kingdom of Fife Cottages, about 5 miles west of St. Andrews, and about 8 miles from St. Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa. Other nearby Home at First lodgings are in Central Scotland approximately 90-120 minutes west of St. Andrews.
More information on travel with Home at First to: CENTRAL SCOTLAND

DIRECTIONS: from Home at First’s Kingdom of Fife cottages near St. Andrews, take the A91 to St Andrews, continue east and follow the signs for Crail A917 and the St Andrews Bay Resort is situated about 2.5 miles SE of St Andrews.

THE COURSES AT ST. ANDREWS BAY GOLF RESORT AND SPA: Leave it to a group of brash Yanks to decide to build a new golf resort in the home of golf, where the capitalized adjectives Royal and Ancient carry a wee bit more weight than New! And Improved! Still, there it is playing Universal Theme Park to golfdom’s Disney World, the St. Andrews Old Course.
        New since 2001 (Torrance Course) and 2002 (Devlin Course), the St. Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa is a latecomer to this part of Fife, where golf has been played since before Columbus sailed west thinking China must be just over the horizon. And, of course, we Americans do things in a big way. St. Andrews Bay is more than a golf course. It’s two courses, and a giant resort hotel and spa sprawling across 540 acres on the low cliffs along the North Seas just southeast of St. Andrews. The resort is a link(s) in the top scale Atlanta-based Chateau Elan resort hotel chain, and its first development outside of the U.S. It is not the first experience the chain has had with sport, as Elan’s founder Donald Panoz is a major force in American motor sports (owner of road racing tracks at Sebring, Road Atlanta, as well as Panoz Motor Sports).
        Panoz is used to moving fast and thinking big. St. Andrews Bay is the result. With his friend, golf legend Gene Sarazan, Panoz grabbed the site and hired two top golfers to make the most of it. Sarazen worked with a team including American builders Denis Griffiths & Associates and two architects to construct the courses over a couple of years. First, Europe’s popular Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance was hired to design the links-style Torrance Course. Australia’s Bruce Devlin, another legendary golfer turned course designer, was brought on to design the second track, the more world resort style Devlin Course.
        The Old Course, like Rome, wasn’t built in a day, but St. Andrews Bay’s two courses were. And though reputations are hard earned and slow to change over long periods in Scotland, Panoz and his team haven’t that sort of patience. St. Andrews Bay golf pro John Kerr states on the company web site his belief that both Torrance & Devlin "will become as famous in time as the area’s historic tracks. With the designers involved and the setting, they’re great courses," he says, adding, "There aren’t many courses with a better view, and they’re challenging."
        Maybe. Certainly the location is Scottish. The sea’s in sight, there are old stone fences meandering along some fairways, and the gorse, bracken and broom are right enough to make the setting appear natural and timeless. Still, a couple of things have been engineered to improve the way things have been done on golf courses in and around St. Andrews for the last 500 years. The design team has added eye candy by keeping dunes land low and the sea in view from as many holes as possible. And, the traditional out-and-back Scottish links design has been scrapped in favor of the out-&-back-then-out-&-back-again strategy that gives golfers a convenient mid-round clubhouse turn. Finally, in another consideration to visitors (read "American visitors") the Devlin Course permits golf carts. Now, were it not for a healthy Scottish respect for capitalist enterprise, this would decried as heresy.
        Never mind the hype. With this much talent assembled to develop a prime site, some things must have gone right. No matter how much Panoz and his team may have wished otherwise, the weather over St. Andrews Bay is still Scottish. The sea smells and the chill wind, and the horizontal rain all tell you this is the Fife Coast. Even if the landscape has been tweaked in ways that would be sacrilege elsewhere on this coastline, even Scottish golfers will recognize Devlin & Torrance as golf courses, and pretty good ones. They’re long enough not to be overmatched by today’s clubs and balls. They’ve got real rough, and troublesome bunkers, and some rolling fairways and greens. Yes, water on the course and holes with doglegs may be more than a little unusual in this part of the world, but even the staunchest traditionalist will admit that they have earned acceptance in golf.
        It would have been wrong to try to duplicate the Old Course, or Musselburgh, or Prestwick, or any of the ancient (and royal) courses of Scotland. And it would have been equally wrong to try to reinvent golf on this hallowed coast as it has been reinvented in the deserts of Arizona and the Emirates. Maybe Kerr is right, and St. Andrews Bay will become famous in time. But time moves slowly in these parts. And that’s a big part of the reason to come to St. Andrews to play.

THE REGION: There’s plenty of golf and lots more to do in and around St. Andrews. There are, of course, the greater and lesser links courses of the Fife coast. Fishing, touring, exploring castles, strolling through charming villages, and shopping for Scottish woolens and other crafts are excellent in this region. West of St. Andrews in Central Scotland there are excellent inland golf courses Taymouth Castle, Crieff, Gleneagles, Callander, and others.  Walkers will enjoy walking in great scenery along the lochs and glens, and climbing up numerous high mountains in the area.

Home at First offers independent, flexible, fly/drive travel
to Central Scotland. Plan your own trip, with our expert help.
For information on Home at First travel to Scotland, see:
CENTRAL SCOTLAND

Want to learn about other courses throughout the British Isles
including some of the greatest tests of golf in the world?
See our SCOTLAND, IRELAND, ENGLAND, and WALES Course Guides for more information.