By Chris Toll, Ginger Beer Golf Travel

Playing St Andrews Old Course as a single golfer using the Singles Daily Draw – an overview

Simply put then, as a single golfer if you haven’t been lucky enough to get an advance guaranteed Old Course tee time your options are:

The draw option offers the realistic opportunity of getting to play the Old Course since…

So, it’s no surprise then that it’s such a popular option for the single golfer.

TOP TIPS:
#1. As a single golfer you can’t advance book a time on another St Andrews Links Trust course more than 24 hours in advance, so walk round to the starter of either the New or Jubilee Course and ask to fill a slot on a tee time.
#2. Use my date match service Ballot Buddy to find an Old Course ballot partner. If you get a match you and the second golfer are eligible to enter the ballot.
#3. Up to 48 hours prior to play, check the daily ballot results to identify gaps in the draw sheet which may be filled by a single golfer – THAT’S YOU!

Important notes:

The Research: results and analysis for 2019 & 2018

# of available tee times and # single slots

There was a total of 214 days in the period April to October 2019 incl:

Which leaves 154 days when ballot times were available, or 72% of the time:

In 2018, there were 145 days when ballot times were available, or 67.8% of the time:

The greater number of single slots in 2019 than 2018 (4,809 v 3,677) is due in part to the greater number of days when ballot times were available (154 v 145).

Also, ‘Dark times’ were only added onto the ballot sheet in May 2018, so there are no Dark time single slots for April 2018 included in the 2018 total. By way of comparison, there were 472 Dark time single slots in April 2019.

TOP TIPS:
#1. Factors that may improve the number of available slots:
The statistics do not take into account any cancellations that may occur on the day of play.
Players lucky enough to score an Open Ballot tee time only have to pay their green fee to the starter on the day. There is no cancellation fee for a ‘no show’.
So if, for example, they wake up and decide the weather isn’t to their liking they can just scratch their Old Course tee time and not turn up, without penalty. Hence, slots on the draw sheet can appear at the very last minute, especially the early morning ones.
#2. Factors that may reduce the number of available slots:
The number of single slots left for singles includes unallocated slots on ‘Dark times’ which may get filled after the ballot draw sheet is published. (More of this, below.)

What type of tee time provides the most number of single golfer slots?

For 2019, you can see that Dark Times contributed the most potential slots open for singles with over 40% of single slots.

Open Ballot times contributed just under 30%. Local Ballot times and Advance times equally contributed to the final 30% of single slots.

The type of tee time that contributes the single slot is very important in gauging the opportunity for a single golfer to be invited to join the group. See the TOP TIP: directly below.

In 2018, Open Ballot times and Dark times contributed the most single slots open for singles. Each type of tee time contributing approximately one-third of single slots. Dark times were only introduced on the ballot sheet in May 2018 so there fewer in 2018 than in 2019.

TOP TIP: Does a 2 or 3-ball have to accept single golfers to make up a 4-ball?
Generally speaking there is no obligation on existing golfers to make up a 4-ball. But common practice is that single golfers are warmly welcomed.
In more detail:
– Local ticket holders (who may be playing in Local Ballot and Dark times) have the right to refuse to take single golfers with them, especially if they are playing a club tie.
– From 2017, those who are fortunate to secure an Open Ballot tee time (as a 2 or 3-ball) are automatically paired up with single golfers. Those who have a Private Advance Tee Time are expected to take single golfers with them although it is not mandatory.
– Commercial Advance Tee Times are sold in 4-balls. In the event that there are less than 4 golfers in the tee time, there is no expectation that the group take single golfers with them.
– Reserved Tee Times where local golf clubs have made the reservation are generally medals, matches against other clubs or match play ties. Singles would not be paired with any of these tee times. So, in my analysis, Reserved Tee Times have not contributed any single slots.

Which days had the most and least single golfer slots?

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On a cell? Try landscape for a better viewing experience

These tables demonstrate the wide disparity of available single slots over the period. Although we have seen the daily average number of single slots in 2019 was around 31, some days there have been as many as 78, some days as few as 8.

2018 follows a very similar pattern to 2019.

The data sheds some light on the reasons for this huge discrepancy:

If we look now at the availability of single slots on a month by month basis we can better to understand the wide disparity of daily single slots as well as the special impact of the recently introduced ‘Dark times’ category.

Availability of single slots on a month by month basis

An analysis of the data on a month by month basis across the whole shoulder and high season period offers up some interesting comparisons:

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On a cell? Try landscape for a better viewing experience

Observations

# Ballot days

Obviously a major factor in deciding when to visit St Andrews and register for a single slot is the number of days when the ballot is available, as the greater the number of ballot-available days, the more slots available for single golfers, all else being equal.

In both 2019 and 2018, September was the worst month for ballot-available days – just 7 and 13 for the whole month. This is due to the R&A who had their Autumn Meeting in September which made the Old Course unavailable on 11 and 12 days for visitors hoping to get a ballot time. Compounding the problem, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was held in the last week of September in 2019, which blacked out another 7 days. It is normally held in the first week in October each year.

Furthermore, on those 7 ballot-available days in September 2019, there were on average around 28 tee times each day which were Reserved or Advance times yielding almost no singles slots. Likewise for the 13 days in September 2018, there were around 25 tee times each day which yielded almost no single slots.

TOP TIP: The R&A Autumn Meeting is a regular occurrence and unlikely to change in the near future so try to avoid visiting in September or at least avoid dates when there are no or restricted ballot times. Check the list of Busy Dates provided by the St Andrews Links Trust.

# Tee times

The next consideration is how many ballot tee times there are on those days when the ballot is available. In both 2019 and 2018, October stands out as being particularly poor relative to other months.

The average total number of times starts to drop off in September with a big drop in October. This is due to the days getting shorter, exacerbated by the clocks moving back one hour in the middle of the month.

Indeed, by the end of the month there were just 31 tee times in total for the day, with the last tee time around 13:00. As you can imagine, you are taking a chance on the weather if you plan on visiting in October, especially towards the end of the month.

So, generally speaking with more ballot days and more tee times per day, April through August should yield a far higher number of single slots than September and October.

# Single slots and Dark times

For 2019, April through July all show above average total number of single slots, with April showing the most at an average of around 41 slots per day.

For 2018 however, April is a clear anomaly compared with 2019. If you were to base availability of single slots on the number of tee times you would expect April to return a higher number than it does, and more in line with May through August.

It lags behind these other months (a total of 18.7 single slots on average each day in April 2018 versus 25.6 to 35.6 in the other months). This can be explained completely by the absence of any Dark time single slots in April. How come? It’s because Dark times were only introduced on the ballot sheet from May 2018.

What effect has this change in policy had?

The obvious change of including Dark times on the ballot sheet is to increase the number of published available tee times each day, and with it the number of single golfer slots available.

As many as 8 additional tee times each day were available from May 2018. That’s potentially 32 extra slots to be filled firstly by locals, and then by singles.

My analysis is based on the daily published ballot draw sheet. It takes account of local ticket holders who entered the ballot and have been allocated a slot on a Dark time. They show up on the draw sheet. So, the figure for available single slots in Dark times therefore contains only unallocated slots on the draw sheet.

But, as it’s been explained, a local ticket holder could also claim a Dark time slot by approaching the starter before 09:00 on the day of play, thus reducing the actual number of Dark time single slots available.

So, to be more accurate, the # dark time single slots each month reflect the maximum # dark time single slots available. Because we don’t have information from the St Andrews Links Trust on how many locals approached the Starter prior to 09:00, we don’t know exactly how many Dark time single slots there actually were available on any given day.

Owing to this unknown we have to be careful making sweeping observations. But I think it is clear that the introduction of Dark times onto the ballot sheet has had a very positive impact on single golfer slots both in terms of the number and as a %age of total slots available.

Indeed, in August and September of both years, the daily average number of Dark time single slots contributed to a more than doubling of the total daily average number of single slots available. This is so significant, given these are two of the most popular months of the year to visit.

TOP TIP: Now that 2019 data is available, it’s possible to get a true month by month comparison as we have data that includes Dark time single slots data for a whole year.

The R&A Autumn Meeting is a regular occurrence and unlikely to change in the near future so try to avoid visiting in September or at least avoid dates when there are no or restricted ballot times. Check the list of Busy Dates provided by the St Andrews Links Trust.

As we can see when Dark times are taken into account, April is just as favourable a month for single slots as other months, if not more so, with an average of 18 or so additional single slots each day – the most of any month.

Indeed, just as with your chances of scoring an open ballot time, April is a great month to visit because there tend to be fewer golfers in town than in later months. Especially the second half of April when days are getting longer and more tee times are available in the day.

Availability of single slots by day of the week

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On a cell? Try landscape for a better viewing experience

Observations

# Ballot days

Over the period for both years, there are fewer ballot days on Saturdays than the other days of the week (22 v c26 in 2019; 20 v c25 in 2018). This is due mainly to local golf clubs who are given priority access to the Old Course on Saturdays for their seasonal club competitions.

# Tee times and # Slots available

It comes as no surprise that on average, the # tee times each day (and therefore # slots available) are broadly similar for each day of the week.

# Allocated slots and total # single slots

In both years, Saturday and Thursday stand out as the best days of the week for single slots. They are the days with on average the fewest actual player slots allocated (within advance, reserved and ballot tee times), thus offering the most single golfer slots unallocated and available. In 2019, that’s an average 24.3 single slots (ex Dark time slots) each Saturday, and 21.8 on Thursday. In 2018, it’s an average 20.0 each Saturday, and 19.0 on Thursday.

The reason is that unlike other days, on Saturdays and Thursdays every time after 12 noon is a ballot time, alternating between Open Ballot and Local. The greater the number of ballot times, the more spaces tend to be unallocated and available for single golfers. Especially so on Saturdays when there are no Advance tee times available.

In addition, although there are roughly the same number of Dark times available on Saturday and Thursday as other days of the week, locals take up fewer Dark time slots (because there are more Local ballot slots available for them to fill first) which leaves more Dark time slots available for singles to fill (on average 15.5 on Saturday and 18.3 on Thursday in 2019, and on average 12.5 on Saturday and 11.3 on Thursday in 2018).

With more unallocated slots both during the day and in Dark times, it is no surprise then to see Saturday and Thursday being the 2 best days for single slot availability with an average daily total in 2019 of 40.1 slots on Thursday (30.3 in 2018) and 39.7 per day on Saturday (32.5 in 2018).

TOP TIP: If your time is limited and you are only able to spend a few days in St Andrews, and if your objective is to score a single slot then, all else being equal, you are more likely to succeed by registering in the Singles Daily Draw to play at the end of the week – Thursday through Saturday – than the start – Monday through Wednesday.

Make sure you check Busy Dates first to avoid days when ballot times are unavailable or restricted, as that will negatively impact the number of single slots available.

Be mindful though with pinning your hopes on Saturday. Being the weekend, locals who are not working may wish to approach the starter before 09:00 and claim an unallocated slot on a Dark time.

But, of course, what you have going for you is that it’s only Dark times that can be claimed on the day by locals; and on an average Saturday in 2019 you can see there were more non-Dark time single slots available (24.3) than Dark time ones (15.5). In 2018 it’s a similar pattern, with 20.0 non-Dark time single slots available compared with 12.5 Dark time ones.

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Chris Toll

Ginger Beer Golf Travel

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