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

[JezzE]

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

One other thing with regard to all the London-related nonsense on this thread... if you live in or around London you get one Open every ten years within a two-hour drive; if you live in Glasgow or Edinburgh you get six every ten years...

Whatever the reasons for that- history, tradition, quality of courses - I think the OP is perfectly within his rights to describe that as a 'bias'

(and I know there are three other English venues but they are almost as close to the Scottish border as they are to London)

 

[bobmac]

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

I suggest you write to the R&A and ask thm to look at adding more courses from down south.
I'm sure they've never even thought about it.

 

[chrisd]

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

So Scotland vote for independance - do we want the Open to be played in a foriegn country?

 

[Ethan]

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

I was again depressed by the choice of yet another Scottish venue for the 2016 Open. I love playing there and the courses are great but 92/140 (66%) have to date been played in Scotland which has only (8.6%) of the population of the UK. It's a long way for most of the people to go to and clearly not a day trip for most (remember 15m live in London and SE).

So my view (although you may say its contentious, refer to home of golf, the courses etc) is that clearly the R&A are biased and not so concerned with the popularity and accessibility of the game as they should be and declining popularity will not be good for clubs or bringing on the next Faldo's, Monty's, Woosies or Clarke's.

So what should we do about it ?

First off we need to even the balance by hosting the Open at Portrush and developing a venue in Wales (Royal Porthcawl or Royal St Davids) capable of hosting an Open. In addition we need to develop more venues in England to reflect the 84% population weighting.

How about the R&A spending some money on Deal or Princes, Saunton, Hillside or somewhere in East Anglia (would/could Hunstanton be big enough) rather than developing the game in China or Outer Mongolia.

Or how about we just continue the endless St Andrews, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Troon, Turnberry until the game becomes something kids once saw on the BBC

I think this is a slightly confused rant, even if it touches on a legitimate frustration.

The problem is that the distribution of suitable venues favours Scotland and the Lancashire coast. There is no easy solution to this, and glibly saying 'we' need to develop more venues elsewhere does not help. Who is this 'we'?

Now, you can argue that The Open needs not be played at a links, and that opens up Sunningdale, Wentworth, The Grove and a bunch of other courses near London, as well as The Belfry (just kidding!), Woodhall Spa, Lydd, Royal Ascot and other fine courses elsewhere.

The economic case for more Open venues is not very good though. The Open as currently organised gets pretty good crowds who like to go to Scotland to see golf. New venues would have to show an uplift in numbers that would justify the cost of developing them. Is the R&A going to underwrite dozens of hotels and new rail links being built just to support a 4 day golf event once a decade?

As much as a fan of Royal Portrush hosting an Open (I am from NI), I think it is not even close to a 50/50 chance of happening.

 

[Fraz]

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

I can't wait to re-visit this thread when the next new course added to the rota is Trumps...

Remember, us northerners have the Ryder Cup in 2014 too, I think that there is a great time ahead for Scottish golf

 

[HughJars]

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

I was again depressed by the choice of yet another Scottish venue for the 2016 Open. I love playing there and the courses are great but 92/140 (66%) have to date been played in Scotland which has only (8.6%) of the population of the UK. It's a long way for most of the people to go to and clearly not a day trip for most (remember 15m live in London and SE).

Doesn't Scotland have as many active golfers as England? So your population figure is fairly meaningless.

Secondly, I always laugh when you see a Londoner/SE Englander moaning about stuff being too far away, nearly everything is London centric, TV, media, national stadiums, need I mention the Olympics? Yet when something isn't right on their doorstep, whinging and wailing like they're expected to travel to the ends of the earth.

Not everything has to be in London!

 

[joma1108]

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

History and tradition is something that is getting swept away in this new age that we are living.
i for one believe that the british open has to stay on a links course, the spiritual home is St Andrews and many a pro will tell you playing the Open there is something that they aspire too.
i am pretty certain that should you ask pro's where would you want to see the british open played the vast majority would mention St Andrews or Turnberry (not that i am saying these are the best) but its just they get the most exposure.

Porridge put Birkdale on the map for his 5 wood shot at the 18th to retain his crown, but i dont hear anyone wanting to go back there, most people were stating how bad it was (the conditions mostly)

Royal St George again the weather horrendous, Darren wins it (and good on him) but no one saying what a great competition it was.

Turnberry Weather horendous, everyone saying what a competition it was as tom watson almost won a major at 59, and talking about the duel in the sun from 1977!!

Tiger has been quoted as saying the open should never leave St Andrews, Now im not in favour of that as it is somewhere that it should be aspired to play.

Muirfield however i could take it or leave it not a course i am fond of.

I dont believe that the open should only be played in scotland, however it does need to go around the country and i want to see the pro's tested in all conditions and Links is the way to do it with the ever changing conditions with tight lies and fast running fairways and greens.

I think the 4 home and 4 away with two at St andrews is just about right. imho

 

[munro007]

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

All i can say, its about time Scotland gets what it deserves. Its not all about england for a change. I think you get your fair share when it comes to everything else. So put back your dummy, and bring all your money, we will gladly take it off you. :thup:

 

[HughJars]

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

One other thing with regard to all the London-related nonsense on this thread... if you live in or around London you get one Open every ten years within a two-hour drive; if you live in Glasgow or Edinburgh you get six every ten years...

Whatever the reasons for that- history, tradition, quality of courses - I think the OP is perfectly within his rights to describe that as a 'bias'

(and I know there are three other English venues but they are almost as close to the Scottish border as they are to London)

He didn't though, he described the R&A as "biased".

Clearly there is a bias towards Scottish courses, equally clearly there are very good reasons for this, none of whcih include actual bias, especially when you take in how many Englishmen are involved with the R&A.

 

[patricks148]

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

Golf is prob one of the few un-London Bias sports around.

 

[chrisd]

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

All i can say, its about time Scotland gets what it deserves.

Yes - independance!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

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

Re Turnberry accomodation....It has the Clyde coastal resort towns of Ayr, Troon and Prestwick 30 mins up the road.
Many English golf fans find it easier to get to Scottish courses than RSG.
Muirfield is a two hour drive from Newcastle, Turnberry likewise from Carlisle, Lancaster.

London folk can be so arrogant when it comes to this sort of comment. They think that they should get everything.
Would it not have been a real breakthrough for the Queens Jubilee Pagent to have been staged at Birmingham or Manchester. I don't suppose anyone gave that a thought.

 

[JezzE]

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

He didn't though, he described the R&A as "biased".

Clearly there is a bias towards Scottish courses, equally clearly there are very good reasons for this, none of whcih include actual bias, especially when you take in how many Englishmen are involved with the R&A.

Fair point, and I was thinking more of the overall sentiment of the spread of Open courses more than anything else, but if he said 'biased' rather than just 'bias' than I have misread slightly

 

[Snelly]

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

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)...

Well said.

This is a really interesting thread which provokes some original thought. And I love the irony of those stating this is an inane debate - check out their other riveting posts and topics! 352 replies on Rangers FC for example! A team of cloggers in basically a pub league! Fascinating!

Anyway, the joys of irrelevant, minor league football aside.......... Personally, I would like to see a course or two added to the Open rota, particularly if they swapped them for a couple of the weaker venues.

My other observation would be in response to those who state that infrastructure and logistics are an issue. Whilst I accept that a venue like Saunton would be more problematic than some of the current established courses, that does not mean that it should be precluded.

Where there is a will, there is a way. At some point in time, the same arguments over large numbers of people going to a golf course (Troon for example) will have taken place and the issues were looked at and addressed. The same could be done at Saunton very easily. It is just as easy to get to as Royal St Georges.

If you disagree with this then you are wrong I am afraid. I work in the supply chain and logistics industry and can tell you now that this could be done without much fuss. Far more complex operations than this are looked at and successfully addressed all over the world, all the time. The local population would benefit hugely in economic terms from hosting an Open there and would accept the disruption. It could be done very easily.

Saunton is just one example. Royal County Down is another. Perfect for the Open.


Good thread and some good replies.

 

[Snelly]

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

It would have been brilliant yes, but I would think when the organisers assessed this, the cost of diverting the Thames for 200 miles outweighed the potential gains.

 

[chrisd]

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

It would have been brilliant yes, but I would think when the organisers assessed this, the cost of diverting the Thames for 200 miles outweighed the potential gains.

Love that Snelly ......... just love it :whoo:

 

[Doon frae Troon]

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

I was thinking of the canals at the time!
More than Venice I have been told.

If they had done the Boring Boats bit on the Clyde at least they would have had a nice sunny day for it.

 

[JezzE]

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?

Mexico, ironically, is the one place it couldn't be as it's the only other country under USGA rather than R&A jurisdiction.

But given how adamant they are that it's The Open Championship rather than the British Open, there's no logical reason why it couldn't be taken to any country under R&A jurisdiction. How about taking the 2017 Open to Royal Melbourne?

Never going to happen of course, but in theory...

 

[the_scrambler]

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

Heard nothing but good things about the Saunton course. Hope I get the opportunity to play it some day.

Would hate to see the R&A take its flagship event to an inland course. The spectating public is offered few enough opportunities to view the links game and makes for a refreshing change from the bomb and gouge style of game we usually see on our screens.

There's no doubt Royal Portrush is right up there with the best of them but I think part of the problem the R&A may have in taking The Open there centres of the siting of stands. The cost of a ticket costs a great deal of money these days and no-one's going to pay for something they can't see!

Of course, it could just be the R&A just doesn't want the extra grief of taking its flagship event to another male only club!

 

[DaveM]

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

First and foremost I was not going to comment on this thread. As I have no problem with how the open is at present. But the more I thought about it. The more it sounded like. "yet another who thinks england ends at Watford Gap". The more comment by the op the more it shows.

Tell you what lets just have the open in the north west every year. Southerners can have a day out, most further north can have a day out. As it is about equal distance from both. All the infrastructure is in place. So nothing to do there either.

Cannot see any drawbacks at all. Oh except all those foreigners south of Watford coming here.