St Andrews Links Metapuzzle

by David Poland, Tracy Yonemoto, Andrew Thomas, Seth Kleinerman, and Aaron Dinkin

The technologies that feed this Wonder are, in reverse alphabetical order, Stoneware, Social Clubs, Private Property, Oratory, Legal System, Gladiatorial Combat, Doors, ...and Literature. The puzzle answers corresponding thereto are MALTESE FALCON, SCOUT, BURDEN, CONRAD, BADMINTON, AMERICAN, COLONEL, and WANDERING.

Each puzzle answer clues a term for a type of golf score: bogey (one over par), birdie (one under par), eagle (two under par), or albatross (three under par):

MALTESE FALCON: bogey (i.e., Humphrey Bogart)
SCOUT: eagle
BURDEN: albatross
CONRAD: birdie (as in Bye Bye Birdie)
BADMINTON: birdie
AMERICAN: eagle
COLONEL: bogey (as in the "Colonel Bogey March")
WANDERING: albatross

Since the meta associates each tech name (and therefore each puzzle answer) with a par score, we can determine an "actual" score for each based on the combination of the par plus or minus the difference clued by the answer:

bogey on par 7 = 8: malteseFalcon
eagle on par 5 = 3: scOut
albatross on par 5 = 2: bUrden
birdie on par 5 = 4: conRad
birdie on par 6 = 5: badmInton
eagle on par 6 = 4: ameRican
bogey on par 3 = 4: colOnel
albatross on par 6 = 3: waNdering

Using the "actual" scores as an index into the puzzle answers spells FOUR IRON, the metapuzzle answer.