There is no richer or more hallowed golfing ground than the Old Course at St. Andrews, and playing here, if only once, is practically a requirement for a Scotland golf vacation.

The championship tees have been lengthened, although most players on a Scotland golf vacation play it as a 6,566-yard, par-72 or shorter when the tee markers are "up."

St. Andrew's Links Trust

The Old Course takes a bit of getting used to, beginning with the crowds around the first tee as you tee off in the center of town. On the links, the vast double greens are maddeningly ill-defined.

Shared fairways are double wide, but only for the player who hits it left. Heavy turf produces whimsical lies, stances and bounces. Bunkers ensnare tee shots placed perfectly on the fairway.

Don't let any of that ruin the enjoyment of your Scotland golf vacation. So idiosyncratic is the Old Course that many golfers lose sight of a fundamental truth: it possesses several unassailably great golf holes.

All the great holes are on the back nine. The 172-yard 11th has bunkers as deep as 10 feet. The 523-yard 14th, which offers three separate routes to the green, may well be the single best par-5 you'll ever play on your Scotland golf vacation

And shooting par on the 17th, the infamous Road Hole, may be the crowning achievement of your Scotland golf vacation.

With its blind and doglegging drive, paved road, attendant wall hugging the right side of the green, and calamitous pot bunker, the Road Hole must be, at 461 yards, the cruelest and most difficult two-shotter on the planet. Just ask Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Tommy Nakajima, each of whom lost an Open Championship on this hole.

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