Owned by The Old Course Hotel, The Dukes Course is only about 7 minutes from the Ardgowan Hotel which was our base for our society golf tour in St Andrews. When you enter the gates you’re properly wowed going up the drive to the course. The scenery is beautiful at the Dukes, with the gorse in full bloom and everything about the place being very grand. The course is a great tree lined layout, which can get pretty testing as it’s quite tight at times and there are some long holes with a lot of gorse. All of the guys in our group loved the course even though some found it tough.

I have just one word to say about the golf break, Incredible! The planning of this trip from the start to the finish was first class. The Old Course Hotel was one of the finest I have ever stayed in and our room faced number 1 Tee, what an incredible view! The weather was perfect, we got to play the Old Course and walk it like so many famous golfers of old what an experience!
The Dukes course was really tough and the Spey Valley course was beautiful and long! The Old Course Hotel is unmatched in its customer service, wow, do they make you feel at home and the food at all the restaurants was the best! Thanks again for letting an old Iowa boy accomplish one of his all time dreams of playing where our beloved sport began! Cheers!

The Dukes was incredibly hard - a lot of lost balls even for the single digit handicappers. It was holding up well although we did play a few winter greens.Great big par 4s, with bunkers in the right spots!The views over St Andrews and the North Sea were spectacular. We lucked out with the weather - Saturday was blue sky and sunshine, Sunday was even better - playing in T-shirts!