<P> The Old Course at St Andrews is considered the oldest golf course in the world, a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland . It is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament . The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews club house sits adjacent to the first tee, although it is but one of many clubs (St Andrews Golf Club, New Golf Club, St Regulus Golf Club and St Rules Golf Club are the others) that have playing privileges on the course, along with the general public . </P> <P> The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the "home of golf" because the sport was first played on the Links at St Andrews in the early 15th century . Golf was becoming increasingly popular in Scotland until in 1457, when James II of Scotland banned golf because he felt that young men were playing too much golf instead of practising their archery . The ban was upheld by the following kings of Scotland until 1502, when King James IV became a golfer himself and removed the ban . </P> <P> In 1552, Archbishop John Hamilton gave the townspeople of St. Andrews the right to play on the links . In 1754, 22 noblemen, professors, and landowners founded the Society of St Andrews Golfers . This society would eventually become the precursor to the Royal and Ancient which is the governing body for golf everywhere outside of the United States and Mexico . St Andrews Links had a scare when they went bankrupt in 1797 . The Town Council of St. Andrews decided to allow rabbit farming on the golf course to challenge golf for popularity . Twenty years of legal battling between the golfers and rabbit farmers ended in 1821 when a local landowner and golfer named James Cheape of Strathtyrum bought the land and is credited with saving the links for golf . The course evolved without the help of any one architect for many years, though notable contributions to its design were made by Daw Anderson in the 1850s and Old Tom Morris (1865--1908), who designed the 1st and 18th holes . Originally, it was played over the same set of fairways out and back to the same holes . As interest in the game increased, groups of golfers would often be playing the same hole, but going in different directions . </P> <P> The Old Course was pivotal to the development of how the game is played today . For instance, in 1764, the course had 22 holes . The members would play the same hole going out and in with the exception of the 11th and 22nd holes . The members decided that the first four and last four holes on the course were too short and should be combined into four total holes (two in and two out). St Andrews then had 18 holes and that was how the standard of 18 holes was created . Around 1863, Old Tom Morris had the 1st green separated from the 17th green, producing the current 18 - hole layout with seven double greens and four single greens . The Old Course is home of The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's major championships . The Old Course has hosted this major 29 times since 1873, most recently in 2015 . The 29 Open Championships that the Old Course has hosted is more than any other course, and The Open is currently played there every five years . </P>

Who designed the old course at st. andrews
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