The Open Should come back home ....

[colintrav]

St Andrews may be the home of Golf But it most certainly isn't the home of the OPEN Championship ..
Royal Prestwick was where it all started and i feel the course has been neglected more than enough times already , And get the course back on the Map

Like every Major Sporting event or something of a similar scale there will always be Traffic problems , and there is plenty of Hotels /BB's Within driving distance of the Course , I firmly believe the Prestwick Committee will rise to the occasion and put on a event that will be remembered for all the best reasons .

And put the Course back on the Golfing Map .

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think that apart from the transportation issues there would be concerns about whether Prestwick would have the infrastructure within the confines of the course to deal with the crowds etc.

 

[DCB]

Didn't know Prestwick had been accorded the "Royal" tag recently

I think Prestwick was outgrown at a very early stage, remember when the last of the Opens was won by Young Tom it was played over 12 holes if I remember right. The current 18 hole layout just wouldn't cope with todays game IMO.

When Young Tom Morris won the Belt for the third time and therefore kept it, Prestwick didn't replace the trophy with something else. Instead they clubbed together with the R&A and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (I think) to provide a new trophy. Hence the Claret Jug.

Obviously Politics played a part in those days as well.

By the time the next Open was played ( they did miss a year 1871 I think) Prestwick, The R & A and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (then at Musselburgh and later Muirfield)agreed to share the playing of The Open and in 1872 it was indeed played at Prestwick as the first venue on the rota. Young Tom Morris was again the winner and his name is the first inscribed upon the Claret Jug.

Here endeth the lesson

 

[SS2]

The course is not long enough and is not up to the task. There is not enough space for spectators/tented village.

Having said that, the course is a decent challenge (apart from a dubious blind par 3) and if you ever get a chance to eat a meal in the clubhouse you'll have a meal to remember.

But, no, it's not an Open course.

 

[krokodil]

It does my head in when St Andrews is described as the Home of Golf, when patently it's not. Shame Prestwick isn't of the stature to hold the Open any more but in my mind it should be described as such, not St Andrews.

 

[Herbie]

It would take a huge effort and funding to bring it up to scratch to host again.

 

[Dodger]

It does my head in when St Andrews is described as the Home of Golf, when patently it's not. Shame Prestwick isn't of the stature to hold the Open any more but in my mind it should be described as such, not St Andrews.

???? St Andrews patently not the home of golf???

 

[krokodil]

It does my head in when St Andrews is described as the Home of Golf, when patently it's not. Shame Prestwick isn't of the stature to hold the Open any more but in my mind it should be described as such, not St Andrews.

???? St Andrews patently not the home of golf???

Yep.

 

[Dodger]

explain?

 

[krokodil]

If St Andrews is the Home, then what's Prestwick?
People will have it that the Open started at St Andrews and Paw Morris was the champion supreme,and golf took off from there, I would suggest that the home is where the original Open was played and I would say Willie Park should get a great more recognition than whatever, if any, he gets now.

 

[Dodger]

St Andrews is the home of golf,it has nothing to do with The Open....slight backtrack there Krokodil?

The origin of golf is unclear and open to debate however the most accepted golf history theory is that golf (as practiced today) originated from Scotland in the 12th century, with shepherds knocking stones into rabbit holes in the place where the famous Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews now sits.

Scholars have claimed references to a form of golf from hieroglyphs found on stone tablets dating to ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. Chuiwan ("ch'ui" means hitting and "wan" means small ball in Chinese), a game consisting of driving a ball with a stick into holes in the ground, was first mentioned in Dōngxuān Records (Chinese), a Chinese book of 11th century, and Chinese professor Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University claims that the game was brought to Europe by the Mongols in the 12th and 13th centuries A Dutch game was mentioned on 26 February 1297 in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht. Here they played a game with a stick and leather ball. Whomever hit the ball into a target several hundreds of meters away the most number of times, won. The Scottish game of goulf (variously spelled) was mentioned in two 15th century laws prohibiting its play. Some scholars have suggested that this refers to another game, which is more akin to bandy, shinty or hurling than golf. There are also reports of even earlier accounts of a golf like game from continental Europe.


The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St AndrewsHowever, these earlier games are more accurately viewed as ancestors of golf, and the modern game as we understand it today originated and developed in Scotland: The earliest permanent golf course originated there, as did the very first written rules, the establishment of the 18-hole course, and the first golf club memberships. The first formalized tournament structures also emerged there and competitions were arranged between different Scottish cities. Over time, the modern game spread to England and the rest of the world. The oldest playing golf course in the world is The Musselburgh Old Links Golf Course. Evidence has shown that golf was played here in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567. In 1646 King Charles I of England, whilst held captive by the Scots in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was reported to entertain himself by playing golf in Shieldfield.

As stated, golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews, in Fife, established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes. In 1764, several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a complete round of the links comprised 18 holes. Due to the status of St Andrews as the golf capital, all other courses chose to follow suit and the 18-hole course remains the standard today.

AND

St.Andrews is known widely as the "home of golf". According to the earliest surviving document from 1552, the "playing at golf" on the links adjacent to the "water of eden" was granted permission by Archbishop Hamilton. The most famous golf course in the town is the Old Course, purchased by the town council in 1894. The course which dates back to medieval times, is an Open Championship course - which was first staged in 1873 and will return to the town in 2010.

 

[colintrav]

Anyhow it would be nice for the Open to come back to Prestwick ...

Look at those that wanted Muirfield back on the Roster


Anything is Possible !!!.

 

[DCB]

Prestwick was actually laid out by Tom Morris after he had been enticed to move there from St Andrews. So St Andrews had been on the go for some time before Prestwick was inaugurated as a club and then their course built. Prestwick wanteed Tom Morris to lay out their course based on his reputation at St Andrews. It has to be remembered that Tom Morris took his whole family back to St Andrews later on to reshape and restore the ailing links at St Andrews.

So St Andrews is the home of golf. Prestwick, although still an old club and course, was built by a native St Andrean who later returned to The Home of Golf.

If the Prestwick Club had called an extraordinary general Meeting after Tommy Morris won the belt outright, things might have been so different. They didn't and the three clubs ended up sharing the costs of the new trophy. The rest is history as they say!

 

[Dodger]

Never going to happen and to suggest St.Andrews is not the home of golf is utterly ridiculous.

 

[DCB]

Muirfield is the home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, just one of several clubs who wandered from Leith Links to Musselburgh and eventually to their home down the coast at Gullane. The Royal Burgess is another who came out of that original pool of golfers and clubs who outgrew their original surroundings.

Musselburgh, (Musselburgh Old Course) the small course inside the race track was the where several Opens were played. So a natural progression would be to take The Open to Muirfield after all it is the home of one of the founding clubs of what is now known as The Open.

If you think there is a lot of politics involved in Tour golf nowadays have a good lok back at where the professional game came from!

 

[DCB]

Okay gents, can anyone tell me how much the first winner won at Prestwick ?

Remember, these were guys who were looked on as drunkards and crooks. Many a bet or wager was made as to who would win what. But what was the official prizemoney ?

 

[Dodger]

Nada.

 

[DCB]

Correct.

It actually cost him a considerable deposit to be able to take The Belt home for the year. £25 which would have been an enourmous sum for most people of that time.

 

[Dodger]

Nowt but the belt for first 3 years then £6 in 1863.....slightly different to today DCB eh?!

 

[DCB]

The actual engraving on the front of the original belt had a flaw in that the club the golfer was supposed to be swinging didn't actually have a head to it! Ooops.

Imagine the Claret Jug with no handle