Forums

Help › Forums

Forums » Welcome to WGT » Community Help » St. Andrews... 5th fairway

St. Andrews... 5th fairway

rated by 0 users

Tue, Nov 22 2011 4:17 AM (21 replies)

PAGES
1
2
3

Richard1969

34 Posts

Thu, Dec 2 2010 2:41 PM

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. So it is NOT a burial marker? I had heard that from somewhere but found it hard to believe, because we would have heard all about that sort of thing during the British Open. But I would also think something as out of the ordinary as a border marker marking where to golf and to shoot rabbits would be something to be talked about during the British Open. I can't find anything about it by googling it. Very strange indeed.

oneputtdavid

1,337 Posts

Thu, Dec 2 2010 5:48 PM

shawlandsbear:
it is an old marker defining the boundary of the course.One side is marked G to represent golf,other side is marked R to represent where is it permitted to shoot rabbits.

YankeeJim=actually its an ancient burial marker

You both are wrong, the "marker" that the poster is referring to, is a figment or your imagination. Its not there, there is nothing there, its a mirage!!!!

I know this for a fact, for I have had drives which have landed, right behind it, on top of it, and right in front of it. So you would think that (1) get a drop for unplayable lie or obstruction (2) could not take a full swing without hitting it right? Wrong!!! no interference what so ever.

So thats how I know that there is nothing there. LOL

shawlandsbear

26 Posts

Mon, Nov 21 2011 5:33 AM

Received the following information to an enquiry sent to the R & A

Ian, thanks for your email. It has been passed to me by the R&A. I represent St Andrews Links Trust, which manages and maintains the seven public courses in St Andrews including the Old Course.

The stone on the 5th fairway of the Old Course is a boundary marker or March Stone. It dates back to the purchase of the Links by James Cheape, the Laird of Strathtyrum, in 1821. It was one of several stones delineating the then boundary of the land he had purchased. The stone is engraved with “G” on what was the golf course side which was much narrower at that time. Tom Morris significantly widened the fairways by clearing gorse from the eastern flank of the Old Course later in the 19th Century.

I hope that helps.

Regards,

luckysump

638 Posts

Mon, Nov 21 2011 9:02 AM

Well i never, they are right, you do learn something new every day.

DannyPhan

1,013 Posts

Mon, Nov 21 2011 11:30 AM

shawlandsbear:

Received the following information to an enquiry sent to the R & A

Ian, thanks for your email. It has been passed to me by the R&A. I represent St Andrews Links Trust, which manages and maintains the seven public courses in St Andrews including the Old Course.

The stone on the 5th fairway of the Old Course is a boundary marker or March Stone. It dates back to the purchase of the Links by James Cheape, the Laird of Strathtyrum, in 1821. It was one of several stones delineating the then boundary of the land he had purchased. The stone is engraved with “G” on what was the golf course side which was much narrower at that time. Tom Morris significantly widened the fairways by clearing gorse from the eastern flank of the Old Course later in the 19th Century.

I hope that helps.

Regards,

From T&L Golf

The March Stones

Visitors may notice another distinct Old Course oddity in the form of the small markers—they look much like gravestones—in the middle of fairways (such as the fifth and seventh) and near teeing grounds (such as the second and eleventh). I was puzzled by their presence until I found a second copy of the Plan of Pilmoor Links in the National Archives of Scotland. More legible than the first one I’d encountered, which hangs in the office of the Secretary of the R&A, I discerned from it that “the March Stones with the letter G on the side next to the Golf Course . . . defined the outside limits of the course.” (“March” is an archaic term for “boundary.”) As the layout widened, features that were once at the margins moved closer to the middle. Almost all the stones marked on the plan can still be located, giving an indication of how much the area of the Old Course has increased. My calculations suggest it was just over fifty acres in 1821. It is now over ninety.