Practical · 5 min read
What actually happens in the Old Course ballot?
How the daily draw works, when it doesn't, and the four other ways onto the first tee.
The ballot is a daily lottery. You enter two days ahead with two to four players and handicaps, and by four in the afternoon you know whether you have a time.
It is not the only route. Advance tee times are released roughly a year ahead. There are packages tied to certain hotels. There is the single queue at first light, which works more often than people expect. And there is Sunday, when the Old Course closes and becomes a public park.
Our approach is to build a Fife itinerary that is excellent regardless of the ballot, then treat the Old Course as the bonus it actually is. Nobody has ever come home upset about playing Kingsbarns instead.
