IT COMMANDS the most prized view in the world of golf. Since 1895, Hamilton Hall – now empty and neglected – has overlooked the hallowed surface of the final green at the Old Course at St Andrews and back down the fairway to the most famous hole in the royal and ancient game – the notoriously difficult 17th "Road" hole.

Yesterday it was revealed that the imposing four-storey building is finally to be restored to its former glory by Herb Kohler, a plumbing magnate who is one of the United States' richest tycoons and owner of the nearby Old Course Hotel. Hamilton Hall, a former halls of residence originally opened as the Grand Hotel 104 years ago, has been slowly deteriorating since 2004 when St Andrews University sold the building to a US real estate company.