St Andrews Old Course Ballot

Despite its enormous popularity, the Old Course at St Andrews still upholds its longstanding tradition of a daily ballot (Sundays and tournament days exempt) drawn two days prior to the intended play date.

The ballot is designed to give golfers the best opportunity to play the Old Course during their visit to St Andrews and reflects its commitment to making the Old Course as accessible as possible to members of the public. It’s one of the most popular and effective ways to get a tee time for those who fail to secure a tee time, due to budget or availability reasons.

So why not give it a go? It’s called the daily lottery for good reason!

1. To be able to enter the ballot you must be a minimum of two players and no more than a foursome. All names, handicaps and names of the entities/associations where your handicap is kept will be needed.

2. One person can enter the ballot on behalf of their group (maximum four players).

3. There are several ways to enter the ballot:

• Enter online, by clicking here
• Calling the Links Trust and thus providing the information over the phone: +44 1334 466 666
• Doing it in person by visiting the Old Pavilion (Starters Hut next to the 1st tee of the Old Course) or by visiting the St Andrews Links Clubhouse.

4. The ballot always closes at 2 pm, two days before the day you wish to play. Entries for the ballot are accepted on the day the ballot closes and can also be done immediately after the previous ballot has been drawn.

5. A tradition of the Old Course is that the course is closed on Sundays, giving it a chance to recover after all the play during the week. This means that there is no ballot on Fridays.

6. Once the ballot is closed for the day, the results are typically published around 4:30 pm the same day. Results of the ballot can be obtained either online or by calling the Links Trust.

7. If you are unsuccessful in the ballot, you could try your luck at the Singles Daily Draw. This was newly introduced to allow the allocation of last-minute tee times for single players. To enter, you'll need to visit The Old Pavillian or the St Andrews Links Clubhouse between 9am-5pm the day before you wish to play.

1. If you are flexible with when you can play (morning or afternoon) then this will increase your chances of getting a tee time.

2. If you successfully obtain a ballot tee time for the Old Course, then all players will need to provide the starter with a valid handicap certificate from their home club or golf association on the day of play. The handicap limit is 36 for men and ladies.

3. Entering duplicate/multiple ballot entries for the same day will cause your entries to be disqualified. Golfers can however apply for ballot tee times on multiple different days during their trip.

4. Only the named golfers on the ballot will be permitted to play on the day.

5. Thursdays and Saturdays have the most ballot tee times available. Please consider this when planning your golf vacation. It is often a useful idea to keep one or both of these days free and your golf vacation specialist will be able to help you with this.