Sport

St Andrews Starter's Box goes under the hammer

Bids for a rather special golf building, will have to be in by midday on Monday next (September 10th)

Sat Sept 08 2001 - 01:00

Bids for a rather special golf building, will have to be in by midday on Monday next (September 10th). Over the years, it has been visited by such notables as Prince Andrew, President Bill Clinton, Clint Eastwood, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Michael Jordan, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg.

We are talking about the brick and slate-roofed Starter's Box on the Old Course at St Andrews which, in case you're not already aware, has been open to e-mail bids over the internet for the last two weeks at www.standrews.org.uk. Dating back to the 1920s, it is to be sold complete with windows, doors, tannoy system and a sign bearing the official St Andrews Links logo.

According to the Links Trust, the purchaser will be responsible for the dismantling and removal of the building and associated costs by the removal deadline. Money raised from the sale will go to the Junior Golf Development Programme run by the Links Trust.

An extension to the practice putting area on the Old Course is among changes planned for this winter, but when the old Starter's Box is removed, a new structure is to be built a few feet away. And next season, no doubt, the great, the good and the modest practitioner will continue to battle against first-tee nerves on hearing from a new tannoy system, the instruction "Play away please".

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