What Makes The Dunhill Links Special in St Andrews

General life in St Andrews is defined by two timetabled events on the calendar; the golf season and the University's term-dates. These contrasting realities overlap by several weeks, but the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship represents the cleanest break, signifying the transition from one into another.

Throughout the summer, the town is a conveyor belt of golfers, many of whom have travelled internationally, coming from afar to experience the iconic courses of the Links Trust and those in the surrounding area. You will see them taking up temporary residence inside the many pubs and restaurants recounting their day and exploring the medieval streets, displaying a wide variety of accents and spoken languages.

But as the peak months gradually slide into autumn, the profile of the people you see in town begins to change. The international, cosmopolitan character remains, but the personalities are considerably younger, as the vast student population has made its way back to add their own sense of colour and vibrancy to the Auld Grey Toun.

The Dunhill Links is played across The Old Course, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, but it's St Andrews that is the centrepiece, the hub that greets many of the world's best players alongside an eclectic gathering of the rich and famous - and it's special within these boundaries for a particular reason.

As the nights draw in and necessary worn layers increase dramatically, it's this week that represents the last hurrah of the golf season before things become comparatively quieter until it all begins again next spring.

You hear many seasonal workers, both in town and from within the expansive operation of the Links Trust, counting down the days (often with relief) to the Dunhill because they know the hustle and bustle that is golf's version of Disneyland is readying itself for winter hibernation.

Golf continues, naturally, but the pace becomes a little slower, more relaxed and less frenetic than what you encounter during those seemingly never-ending hours of daylight in June and July.

While a significant number of the students do play golf (it was likely part of the attraction to come here), most actually don't, meaning that there is a striking disconnect between these two worlds that mutually enliven and fund the town. However, the Dunhill is when that divide is most notably bridged. 

Considering the amateur portion of the field draws on many names from stage, screen and wider sport, there is enough intrigue from the students for them to head down to the links and see what the fuss is all about, offering a glimpse of the ancient game but also the dual-identity of St Andrews that exists away from their academic life.

While the champion is crowned on Sunday, it's the preceding evening that is effectively the main event, when the populace gathers together at The Old Course to witness the typically impressive firework display that serves as a gift from the Dunhill to the town for its hospitality during the week.

It brings together the golfers, students and townsfolk as one community, who will afterwards disperse together into the numerous watering holes or to queue for a chippy tea from Tailend or Cromars.

But once the bagpipes traditionally reverberate around the landscape to conclude play, it's a sign that the focus of the town is about to switch from being the golf capital of the world into its other role as one of the great learning centres in the Northern Hemisphere.

St Andrews is a place of two co-existing identities, but the aftermath of the Dunhill Links is the moment in which one supplants the other to take precedence until the first tee balls are struck once more to welcome back the high season in April.

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