Sport and Recreation
St Andrews is known widely as the "home of golf". According to the earliest surviving document from 1552, the "playing at golf" on the links adjacent to the "water of eden" was granted permission by Archbishop Hamilton. The most famous golf course in the town is the Old Course, purchased by the town council in 1894. The course which dates back to medieval times, is an Open Championship course - which was first staged in 1873. Famous winners at St Andrews have included: Old Tom Morris (1861, 1862, 1867 and 1874), Bobby Jones (1927 and 1930 British Amateur), Jack Nicklaus (1970 and 1978) and Tiger Woods (2000 and 2005). According to Jack Nicklaus, "if a golfer is going to be remembered, he must win at St Andrews". There are seven golf courses in total - Old, New, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove and the Castle - surrounding the western approaches of the town. The seventh golf course (the Castle) was added in 2007 at Kinkell Braes, designed by David McLay Kidd.
Other leisure facilities in the town include a canoe club; junior football team; rugby club (known as Madras Rugby Club); tennis club; university sports centre and a links golf driving range. The East Sands Leisure Centre, which opened in 1988, sits on the outskirts of the town as the town's swimming pool with gym facilities. The University of St Andrews have expressed plans to provide a new multi-million pound leisure centre to replace East Sands.
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