Ulrich, I can't help much although I was in Scotland during the 2005 Open with my wife and another couple.
We worked our way up to Edinburgh and North Berwick on Monday, played there Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning and drove on to St Andrews.
On Wednesday we played Crail Balcomie, Thursday morning we played Lundin Links, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday we were at the Open. I don't know which of the Eden, New or Jubilee might have been available, thought they'd be tied up I guess. There are so many other good links and parkland courses to play in the area that it was easy to set up a nice stay before and during the Open. Leven, Elie, Ladybank, Balbirnie Park, Crail Craighead, Dundee, Carnoustie.......lots of choices.
The Old is not the best place to be in the gallery (not a lot of elevation change for vantage points), but the bleachers are really a good place to watch. The bleachers at 13, 14, 15 and 16 give you great views of play on both halves of the double greens. It's pretty crowded out in the loop. You need special tickets to get into the bleachers at 17 and 18. The tented village has huge TV screens so you can hang out at a table and quaff Belhaven's Best.
