The Open

[communistworkethic]

don't know what I'm talking about? Rich from someone with difficulty reading......

" why should it remain so?"

why should it be on a links forever?


I'm not talking about weather affecting attendance - I'd have said that if i did. You moan that hoyalke is too small (it coped with a bigger attendance) and that Tiger took a wood off the tee once, so it's not as good a test of golf - that was down to the weather, the ball ran and ran. As it would at Carnoustie. I've suggested that if it's solely down to "test of golf" that a course gets picked then there are lots of other candidates - yes some that aren't a links,I don't see why it shouldbe given the variety of golf in the UK. Things can and do change.

There's a links course that gets the Open more than the others and it's also been the easiest for about the last 20 years. Why not drop that if it's a "test of golf" alone that you want to judge the courses credentials on?

[fatshaft]

So the tradition, values and history of golf should be blown away?

[communistworkethic]

times change.
The "values" of the game have nothing to do with it, otherwise it wouldn't always be a links or are you referring to the misplaced superiority complex some golfers seem to get by being members at certain places and thriving on the exclusion of others?.
Those traditions you speak of dictated women being excluded from st andrews, they changed. Tradition was that Ryder Cup was GB & Ireland vs USA, it changed.
the history is that- the past. Or perhaps you play with hickory shafts and a guttie? I doubt it.
If the "that's the way it's always been" is the best argument you've got then it's not a very good one. Golf's moved on, no reason it can't move on a bit further.

you don't "blow away" these things through moving forward, or else it has already happen. Or have I missed it and the game hasn't changed in the last 200 years??

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Ah gotcha. No Hoylake is very very tight, they did very well to get as many grandstands in there. I think Carnoustie would cope with considerably more, but location and this year's weather meant it was never tested.

Nevertheless, the point is irrelevant, my complaint around Hoylake is that it's a poor venue relative to many courses that would like to host the Open, and even many that don't. It was a great Open to be at, but the weather was superb and made opinions skewed purely because of that. Tiger won the OPen by hitting one wood from the tee all week, not an all round test in my view. Garcia tried the same trick this year, but Carnoustie demands more than safety first.

The option was open to everyone else in the field to attack the course with a driver in order to shoot a better score than Woods. The exceptionally dry conditions played a part too: would you pull your driver out if you could hit a 290-yard stinger with a 2-iron? I wouldn't.

In the era of distance achievable with drivers going off the scale, and a lot of rumbling about good courses being overpowered, and to the effect that there's no finesse, placement or strategy in the game anymore, watching Woods plot his way to victory around Hoylake was an absolute joy. Do we want all tournaments and courses to be the same? Wasn't it nice to have a change from the driver-wedge-putt monotony of many US and European tour events?

Commie, I'm not sure why you're trying to argue for arguments sake, you seem to have missed the whole point, I'm talking about the fact that Hoylake seems to have gotten onto the Open roster simply by shouting loudest, while venues such as Portrush and RCD continue to be overlooked. If you have comment to make on that, rather than parkland courses that are irrelevant, or spectating figures then I'm all ears.

You've really got me tearing my hair out!

Hoylake didn't 'shout the loudest' - it's had a lot of backing for a very long time to get back on the rota because of its role in the history of the game, and because it's a great layout that provides a very fair test for the players. All of the top players, even those who didn't fare so well, praised it as being a great Open venue, and an important place in the game of golf.

For me, it's everything the open venue should be - and yes, that definitely includes being a seaside links. It's a different kind of golf and it's very important that the Open preserves that tradition, different from the target golf played on the American-style courses. Links courses are where the game was born and for me, they are by the far the best courses in terms of looks, interest and even fun! I did it every weekend through the winter term-time, and at the very real risk of sounding a bit queer, teeing it up by the sea in the wind is just about the purest thing in life! Playing the Open round a different kind of layout is a bit like suggesting that we move Wimbledon to a synthetic hard-court surface. And yes Bruce, the R&A Championship Committee did decide in 1922 that the championship can only be played on seaside links courses.

Anyway, back to Hoylake. It's pretty much the home of the history of the amateur game, which has always had a certain non-commercialised romance to it, very much like the Open itself. It's where Bobby Jones won the Open as part of his 'grand slam' in 1930 (US Open, Britisih Open, US Amateur, British Amateur). Walter Hagen won there too in 1924 - it certainly has a good record for identifying true champions. Inside the clubhouse, there's so much history on display it's almost like a museum. And yes, they even have a separate ladies' entrance!

I'm sure you'll change your mind if you play it and go in the clubhouse etc. It'll take a while, but I'll definitely take you once I've got in!

http://www.royal-liverpool-golf.com/history.htm

And I've found the photo I've got on my wall:

[TANGODANCER]

Can see a few pro's and con's here all round: Golf itself can't be restricted to links courses or half of us wouldn't get to play at all. On the other hand, a specific tournament, particularly the most important event in the golf calender, The Open Chamionship of the R & A, is a tournament with strict rules. One of these (as has been stated) is that it's played on a links course bside the sea. The R & A have thus the right to decide which courses fit this description for their tournament. To take away the tradition of such a tournament would be self-defeating in my eyes. Too many things in the modern world decry the value of history and tradition in many areas. This is mainly to suit the ever-growing monetary aspects that rule all professional sport today and deface the aims of the original sport. I expect disagreement and this is just a personal view.

Another aspect I disagree with is the fact that golf clubs are being tailored to suit the games of individuals instead of all using a standard set of similar clubs where everyone would be equal. The Hybrid wood and the variety of chipping clubs and wedges and the massive variety of putters are clasic examples. In the early days of the sport this would never have happened. Again I expect disagreement, but golf has become as much about technology as about individual skills in hitting a ball around a set course. I still own a "brassie" (a no 2 wood) which at one time was a standard club and is now almost a dinosour in the game.

Everything changes and evolves, (the likes of Tom Morris and co didn't have to contend with aeroplanes passing over them so low from Prestwick Airport that you can count the rivets in the fuesalage on Troon Golf Course) but some things should remain as per the original rules and tradition matters in the game of golf. In America, and other countries, they make the rules but the accepted home of modern golf as we know it is a hallowed ground and its rules should be adhered to when playing there.

Just my opinions.