I know that this is well over a year in advance, but my wife and I are planning a Europe trip, and I would like to try to work in a stop to see the British Open. I have a few questions:

1) How expensive/hard to stay in that area during that time?

2) How far is it from Ediburgh to St. Andrews?

What is the best route to get to and from the course? Can you get to the course from London?

Sorry if these questions are seem trivial, but any help you guys can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

edinburgh is about an hour drive from st. andrews. i believe its right about 50 miles.

staying in st.andrews will be damn near impossible for the open. heres what i suggest. stay in edinburgh. one of my favorite cities in europe, there is so much to do there. the scottish bus and rail system is pretty good. pick a day you want to go and take the train to leuchars (10 minute cab ride and nearest rail station) or take the bus in (x67 i believe). busses take a bit longer, but itll only cost you a few pounds. there isnt much parking in st. andrews to begin with, and you dont need a car to see the town. its small, and everything you could ever want is accessible by foot.

st andrews is an incredible town. make sure if you go you take the time to walk the ruins and the town. have a pint at the jigger inn if you can, adjacent to the 17th fairway. or have a pint at the central, my favorite pub in town.

the pound kills you, but the exchange rate isnt terrible right now. staying anywhere in the UK will be expensive, but in edinburgh youll have a much broader price range.

I went in 1995 and stayed in Perthshire, Pershire or something like that. Someone here will know. The tickets that I had included a train ride and bus to the course. Not sure if they still have something like that.

Oh and don't refer to it as the "British Open"
It will not go down too well in the home of golf.

very very true. if you do say it in public, you will draw quite a few stares and a stern correction.

It's THE Open.
Edinburgh to St.Andrews in about 50 miles, but it's a winding route that will take about an 1hour and 20mins. It may be easier to get the train from Edinburgh to Leuchars and then get a bus or taxi the 5 miles or so to the course. If you're a friend of a touring pro, he may be able to park his jet at RAF Leuchars during Open week - no? Oh, well.
It may also be possible to get a flight from London to Dundee. St.Andrews in far easier to get to (driving) from here. Flights to Dundee a very limited though and you will have to check what's available.
Staying in St. Andrews - in Open week? All accomodation has probably already been booked months ago - even for the next 10 years I'd expect. Forget it - unless you're still friendly with that pro. No? Oh, well.
St.Andrews is a pretty small place anyway, it's easy to walk around or pick up local transport, there will be numerous park and ride schemes while the Open is being played. It's better to stay somewhere further afield - Dundee, Carnoustie, Arbroath, Perth - something like that.
But it's an experience to be at the "Home of golf", though. Everyone should try it at least once in their life - watching the Open that is. I don't reallly care that much for playing the Old Course. Turnberry is miles better.

Thank you everyone for the lesson.. need to make a mental note " The Open"... not , well you know. I would prefer not to drive at all. I would like to take local transportation. This will be a stop over and honestly, I am only looking to attend practice rounds so I can get pictures. Keep the comments going. It is very helpful.

I have met a former Open champion and know a lot of his good friends, so maybe I can try to pull a couple of strings. Worth a shot

you're going to have a blast!

I was fortunate enough to do the '05 Open and we stayed at Carnoustie (Hogan room.)
We played Carnoustie, Panmure, Crail and Kingsbarns.
If you don't have big time connections dining or staying in St Andrews isn't an option.
My only recommendations would be to play golf in the morning and go to the tourney in the afternoon - the leaders on the weekend don't tee off till 3:30 or so - isn't dark till 10pm in July and they try to accommondate the US TV market. We got in 8 hrs of the tourney even after showing up after lunch.
Fell in love with the 17th (road hole.) watching trainwreck after trainwreck around the green was morbidly enjoyable -
If the weather is warm and sunny, as it was in '05, stay hydrated and protect your skin - there is no shade to speak of.
Hope you like fish & chips!
The people are awesome!
Cheers,

Like people have said before, it is the open. Not "the british open" and especially not "the british"!!!!

Jack

We'll stop calling it the British Open when they stop calling the Masters the US Masters.

just curious, but which course is that second picture taken at?

Sorry, the photos are out of order - the second shot is me at Kingsbarns - I believe it's the 4th hole -can't remember?

I don't know anyone that does.

In fact, over here 'our Masters' is titled 'The British Masters' to differentiate it from the one in Georgia. Well, it was... It's RIP now by the looks of things.

Ditto the comments on St Andrews. I've been lucky enough to attend the last four Open Championships there, plus a few Dunhill Cups many years ago. Whether or not you care for the course, a St Andrews Open always has a slightly special feel to it and it's well worth the effort to attend one just to say you did it.

Finding accomodation in the town is hard enough at the best of times but in Open week it'll be literally impossible, even booking ridiculously far ahead. As has been suggested, my solution would be to stay further afield and then make your way in by public transport and/or the transit schemes that will be running. The town itself is pretty small and can easily be covered on foot. It's a fascinating place and aside from the championship itself there are many sights worth seeing and a lot of interesting watering holes to be taken in. Tom Morris's grave is in St Andrews and any visit really does need to also involve a theatrical sprint along the sands together with a bit of karaoke Vangelis for accompaniment. Doing it in pretend-slow motion whilst a friend sings away never gets old.

It's pushing it a bit, but another solution to the accomodation problem would be to put your papers in for the RAF. With a bit of a rush on you could just about get through your year at Cranwell and then blag a room in the mess over at Leuchars by the time things kick off... I hear they're recruiting again. And they let just about anyone in.

I also don't know anyone who calls it the US Masters. Actually the Masters is my favourite event and so no I wouldn't call it that! Think its people who don't know what they are talking about say US Masters!

Jack

thats actually what i thought. ive played every course at st. andrews dozens of times and was having a hard time recognizing it. given the coastline, i had a sneaky suspicion it was kingsbarn.

Staying in Edinburgh is probably your best choice.
As a previous poster noted, trains leave Haymarket in the center of the town and take about an hour. There will be free shuttle buses from Leuchars to the course.
Way more choice of hotels and other things to do than when staying "in the country".

Had a blast there in '05.

I've heard and seen it called the US Masters a lot over the years. Australian broadcasts seem to us that term quite a bit too. Anyway, it's not a big deal and anybody coming over calling it that won't get any nasty comments or looks.

Yea it isn't a big deal. The bbc like to list it as the US masters and part of me dies every time i read it lol

Jack

Play London Links while you are there. It's about 20 pounds and it is an awesome course...it rivals St. Andrews in my opinion.