Johnny Phillips reflects on his first experience of playing at St Andrews

Soccer Saturday reporter Johnny Phillips gratefully accepted the chance to put down his microphone and take on the Old Course at St Andrews - with a little help from Colin Montgomerie. How did he get on?

St Andrews in May. For this Soccer Saturday reporter that would usually mean an end-of-season trip to watch Birmingham City, but on this occasion it was the chance to put a massive tick next to one on the bucket list.

As a keen golfer with a handicap entrenched in the low teens, when the opportunity came about to play the Old Course at the St Andrews, the Home of Golf, and also receive a short-game masterclass from eight-time European Order of Merit winner and Sky Sports golf pundit Colin Montgomerie, before he joined us on the course, it couldn’t be turned down.

Having arrived under a night sky late the previous evening, my first glimpse of the place came out of the window at the breakfast table from the Old Course Hotel on the morning of the big day. The view from the fourth floor restaurant is incredible; look right and you can see the green of the famous 17th Road Hole before the view continues up to the 18th, set parallel to the first.

There was no discernible boundary between those two holes, laid out against the immediate backdrop of the famous clubhouse building and town itself. Looking left, the land stretched out across the peninsula which houses the Old Course and the six other courses that make up St Andrews Links.

We were joined for breakfast by Simon Connah, Deputy Course Manager of the Old Course, whose job is getting busier by the day in the build up to the 2015 Open Championship which takes place here in July. “There are over 30,000 rounds played on the Old Course each year," he said. "But we have 80 greenkeepers on site, 20 of whom work on the Old Course. When it gets to tournament time it can be a 3am to 10pm job each day to get the course ready.”

Just as well, my main fear was the trail of divots I’d be leaving behind less than two months before the third major championship of the season began. “It only takes around seven to 10 days to repair a divot at this time of year”, was the reassuring answer to that concern.

Monty masterclass

The remainder of the morning was spent out on the practice ground with Montgomerie. Fresh from his second successive win in the Senior PGA Championship, Monty gave a masterclass around the greens. I’m always amazed at the photographic memory for certain shots that professionals retain. In explaining the difference between putting with cut across the ball as opposed to a more arcing stroke imparting top spin on the ball Monty recalled the closing stages of the third round of the Open in 2005 when he partnered Tiger Woods in the final pairing of the day.

“We were both around 100 to 120 feet short of the hole, quite a way off the green. I went first and cut across my putt and finished up well short,” he said before replicating the stroke from off the practice green in front of us. "Tiger’s putt was completely different, he rolled across the top of the ball and the top spin he got took it pin high for a tap in.”

We were then shown what difference a putt with top spin can make from such a distance. Putting accurately from off the greens is key to success on the Old Course and it was great to get such coaching. I’d never come across the concept of imparting spin on a putt before. Monty’s advice for bunker play was rather more straight forward: “If you’re in one, just concentrate on getting out first time.”

Our tee time was midday, but I couldn’t have been more nervous were it high noon. The first tee at the Old Course is busier than Piccadilly Circus. Aside from ground staff of the course, there were tourists wandering about the place – it is public land after all – and constructors working on the stands that were being put in place for the Open. It didn’t help that Monty was watching too.

Despite the attention I got a respectable enough drive away; probably a little too much fade but definitely not a slice! It resulted in a bogey start and, when this was followed up with a par and a birdie, I had genuine aspirations of a score. A double-bogey at the fourth did little to dim my hopes.

It was like nothing I’d ever played before. Walking the holes for the first time really brought home the unique layout of the course

Then came the par-five fifth. Oh the fifth ... I’ll never forget the fifth! Finding one of the fairway bunkers with my second I took Monty’s advice when faced with a wall twice my height. I hacked out sideways and was happy enough to take the medicine. Only for my fourth to land in the lip of a greenside bunker. Four strokes later I was still there. I guess that’s what the Old Course can do to you, and I consoled myself with the fact that we were playing Stableford and moved on.

Unique layout

It is a stunning course. The history of the place permeates everywhere. From the grand beginnings, the course bears right at the second hole and stretches out towards the Eden Estuary, a mass of mounds, undulating fairways, deadly bunker traps and pretty - but no less threatening - yellow gorse bushes. The shepherd’s crook layout of the land that incorporates holes seven to 12 is quite unique.

Crisscrossing between fairways, it was like nothing I’d ever played before. I’d heard all about the double greens – only four holes do not share a green – but this was something else. Walking the holes for the first time really brought home the unique layout of the course.

We were joined for holes 10 and 11 by Montgomerie and I took the opportunity to ask him about his role as a player and pundit, something he clearly enjoys. Sky Sports have won the rights to broadcast the Open Championship from 2017 so Monty could soon be fulfilling both roles in the same tournament.

“It’s a different job to the other guys in the commentary box because I’m still involved as a player”, he explained. “In football you’ve got Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher who have finished playing and can see the game purely from that side of the fence. I’m still playing so I see it from both sides. I think it gives me a different outlook.”

One of my playing partners asked who he supported. It was a question met with a grimace from Monty. “I’m a Leeds United fan, do we really need to talk about that?!”

An effortless birdie from the Scot at 10 showed the rest of us that he still has plenty of golf left in him. Rain set in from 12 onwards and it became a battle against the elements - no less enjoyable but far more testing. This was brought home at the Road Hole 17th, where the tee shot involves cutting the corner of the hotel. With the grip on the driver as slippery as an eel I sent a rising slice straight into the slate roof of the top floor. One bounce back onto a balcony and then the ball disappeared onto the hotel gardens. I didn’t bother looking for it.

Dignity was restored at the 18th where I closed the round with a satisfying par and headed back to the historic clubhouse as the rain set in for the day. What a place. It was all I could have imagined and much more. I’ve always thought the mark of a great course is when you want to head straight off the 18th green back to the first tee. It was teeming down by now, but I could have gone straight back out for another round.

The next trip to St Andrews will no doubt be back in the day job covering Birmingham. I just hope I can get back here one day for another crack at the famous links.

Johnny was a guest of Mercedes-Benz, Official Patron and the Official car of The Open Championship