Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it ?

[Deke]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

No,it may be an anti Scottish thing though.:mmm:

I must admit,I get a lot of anti Scottish vibes from this thread too! To imply that SW Scotland would be nothing without the Open being staged there is absurd!

 

[USER1999]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Yeah why not play it on the moon - good joke

Why? It's the open, so why does it need to be in the uk? If trumps course happened to be in Mexico, but was deemed the best links course ever, why not hold it?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

A couple of points.........

1) The Open is ONLY played on traditional links courses so anyone that thinks Wentworth, the Belfry or anywhere else inland is way off the mark.

2) IF another course is added to the list, I think the most likely venues would be Portrush (apparently already being considered) and the new Trump course, which just so happens to be in.......Scotland!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

There certainly is some drivel on here.
Non more so than the deluded fools who keep referring to St Andrews as 'the home of golf'.

Sadly it does not surprise me that posters who have clearly never been to Scotland making comments that are, to put it politely, 'not properly researched'
Prestwick for The Open rota being a good example.

 

[dog377]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Why? It's the open, so why does it need to be in the uk? If trumps course happened to be in Mexico, but was deemed the best links course ever, why not hold it?

I presume this is just a wind up. If you play golf and you don't get this then you're missing out on a whole lot of stuff that makes the game so much richer.

 

[Scadge]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

I must admit,I get a lot of anti Scottish vibes from this thread too! To imply that SW Scotland would be nothing without the Open being staged there is absurd!

This is just nonsense, nothing anti-Scottish in the slightest - positive about increasing the fairness and accessibility of the Open championship, whereas you might want it to be more of a Scottish Open I happen to disagree. If you want to interpret it as anti-Scottish it says more about you than it does about the reason I started the thread.

The simple fact is that when the Open was last staged in Turnberry (for all the so-called infrastructure arguments) 123,000 people attended. When it was in Birkdale more than 200,000 attended and for all the difficulty of getting to St Georges ca 180,000 showed up - so accessability by definition means nearer to population centres (and by the way I do of course understand that Glasgow is a major city - your earlier note refers).

I love most of the Scottish venues I just think you can add new venues nearer the mass population the Open serves (I don't see the difference between money being spend on Carnoustie or Turnberry to bring them up to scratch and money being spent in Wales, England or Ireland for the same purpose). The R&A can rebalance the rota to better reflect both the demography and all corners of the UK and this will do more to bring the game to the people.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

It's the size of the event now, even if you just take the crowds alone which mean venues like Portrush etc will struggle to break onto the rota without significant investment in infrastructure, hotel accommodation etc. As a course it surely ticks all the boxes but without everything else it won't feature

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Scadge

Have you ever been to Saunton? Getting 200,000 people there in a year would be an achievement never mind in a week. Great course(s) that it is, it quite simply couldn't cope with the numbers. Most of the other venues have either good rail or road (or both) links and I'm sure the R&A have explored all the other potential venues in full but they simply can't cope with such a major event.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

I have been attending Opens since 1959 and the one point that no one has mentioned is that quite a lot of UK golfers take a weeks holiday to attend the event. Many return year on year.
I think the OP was thinking about 'day trippers' which I believe are roughly 40% of total spectators.

 

[Scadge]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Yes I have been to Saunton a couple of times (was supposed to be going this weekend too - doh !) and I accept that it is difficult to get to now and even given enough time/notice the infrastructure may not be possible but thought it might be worthy of debate in the general sense if not specifically with Saunton in mind.

It seems to me though that a number of people who cite tradition fall back on simple anti-Scottish accusations (which had that been my intention I would have simply joined the independence thread) rather than perhaps explore the possibilities.

So, I understand that Prestwick isn't now on the rota, but if there had never been any change this is the only course the Open would be played on because it was the first. Similarly Turnberry wasn't introduced until 1977, more than 100 years after the first Open, so I don't see how adding another course to the rota now is any different - the Open moves on and Saunton is a wonderful golf course, that a dual carriageway or two, elaborate park and ride and a few hotels (Trump or others) could turn into a stunning Open venue (with at least as many paying guests as Turnberry)

 

[Deke]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

The simple fact is that there are more quality links courses north of the border.Is it really that hard or expensive to travel up to Scotland from London? There are probably more good links courses in Ireland than England,I think Portrush would be a great choice but then again that would be way more expensive than travelling up north.At the end of the day the quality of course should be the deciding factor,not how near London it is! Who cares how many people turned up at Turnberry,it was a great open with moments of high drama!

 

[Scadge]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

The simple fact is that there are more quality links courses north of the border.Is it really that hard or expensive to travel up to Scotland from London?

yes

There are probably more good links courses in Ireland than England,I think Portrush would be a great choice but then again that would be way more expensive than travelling up north.

Agreed

At the end of the day the quality of course should be the deciding factor,not how near London it is! Who cares how many people turned up at Turnberry,it was a great open with moments of high drama!

It was a great Open for sure we are agreed about that. But I don't know whether you are saying I'm alright Jack so sod everyone else, or if the point is more general if attendance is unimportant and we can ignore the obvious financial consequences of this then it doesn't matter if it goes to a great course somewhere else that is hard to get to or can't hold the numbers like Deal or Princes which both have been taken off the rota for these reasons.

Also with respect to the point made earlier about week's holiday versus day trippers there is a cause and effect argument here. Of course if you are making a long journey from SE England to Scotland or vice versa you aren't going to do this as a day trip - the week long holiday is a tradition of necessity caused by poor accessibility

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Scadge
We are talking about 10,000 rooms within 30 miles for the best part of 20 days. Turnberry Hotel has about 100. Hotels are booked up years in advance.

It is a fairly massive operation where the likes of Dornoch and Portrush would not reach the criteria.
This is not something that can just be put up and closed down.

 

[JustOne]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Stupid question (having never attended The Open) but was the entry cost the same for Royal St Georges as an event held in Scotland?

 

[Scadge]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

Scadge
We are talking about 10,000 rooms within 30 miles for the best part of 20 days. Turnberry Hotel has about 100. Hotels are booked up years in advance.

It is a fairly massive operation where the likes of Dornoch and Portrush would not reach the criteria.
This is not something that can just be put up and closed down.

It's a really fair point, and I accept that the infrastructure is huge (but are you saying Turnberry isn't up to it through lack of rooms?).

I don't know Dornoch and my own favourite Saunton would really struggle with getting in and out, though the second course means the actual site is quite big.

I think however you will be proved wrong regarding Portrush. I'm betting that the Irish Open this year will be a big success, well attended, will get rave player reviews and heap enormous pressure on the R&A to get it back on the list. The fact that it can't be before 2017 will provide the necesary time to do whatever tweaking is required.

 

[Deke]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

It was a great Open for sure we are agreed about that. But I don't know whether you are saying I'm alright Jack so sod everyone else, or if the point is more general if attendance is unimportant and we can ignore the obvious financial consequences of this then it doesn't matter if it goes to a great course somewhere else that is hard to get to or can't hold the numbers like Deal or Princes which both have been taken off the rota for these reasons.

Also with respect to the point made earlier about week's holiday versus day trippers there is a cause and effect argument here. Of course if you are making a long journey from SE England to Scotland or vice versa you aren't going to do this as a day trip - the week long holiday is a tradition of necessity caused by poor accessibility

What negative effect did Turnberry's attendance have on the state of British golf? It has already been said that aside from St Andrews,there is an equal amount of opens held in England and Scotland! If I fancied attending an open I wouldn't give a damn where it was in the British Isles.

 

[Deke]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

To end on my main point before I go to bed,the Open is all about high quality links courses with good facilities, that the best players want to play.There are already quite a few in Scotland,and not so many in England.I cannot see how anything else matters! It's all about the courses! Good night! Rant over!

 

[Scadge]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

For me it's all about the people. Good rant - good night ! Cheers !

 

[richart]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

The simple fact is that there are more quality links courses north of the border.Is it really that hard or expensive to travel up to Scotland from London? There are probably more good links courses in Ireland than England,I think Portrush would be a great choice but then again that would be way more expensive than travelling up north.At the end of the day the quality of course should be the deciding factor,not how near London it is! Who cares how many people turned up at Turnberry,it was a great open with moments of high drama!

Don't discount English links courses. There are 20 in the Golf Monthly top 100 courses.

 

[JezzE]

Re: Why the R&A need to look at their Open venue bias and how should they do it

The opening post and many thereafter have to be the most stupid posts ever posted on here.

Disagree with this - a perfectly valid well-argued point which thus far only seems to have upset those who live north of the border (where most Opens are played)...