Thoughts on Royal St Georges

I attended yesterday and had a great day.
The showers although heavy at times all passed over quite quickly and didn't pose too many problems.
The park and ride system worked well although one or two of the buses struggled in the mud at the end of the day! Was pleased that the security check was smooth and moved quickly too.
Good viewing positions on most holes and was able to see all the major names close up.
Following Darren Clarke through the last few holes was fantastic !

a couple of negatives:
did anyone try to get out of the course before the presentation ceremony and found themselves caught in a crush as they wouldnt let anyone out down the left hand side of the 18th green? That was a complete shambles.
did anyone else buy a £4 bacon roll and realise that it was cold and barely cooked? There were some furious people around where I was sitting.

Just for future reference, what was the situation with mobile phones like? Was it a case of them trying to scare people into not bringing them at all and then not worrying about the few that did or did they back up their policies and take them off people?

Good venue, great course. I guess the catering is all done by external people so it's hard for the R&A to control the quality. The weather was obviously disappointing from a spectators point of view but maybe it did a good job in finding a worthy champion, someone that can handle all conditions.

Overall, a very good event with plenty of excitement.

sharrison01 wrote:Just for future reference, what was the situation with mobile phones like? Was it a case of them trying to scare people into not bringing them at all and then not worrying about the few that did or did they back up their policies and take them off people?

There were signs all the way up to the entry, and everyone going through the gates had their bags searched and a quick pat-down from a security guy. Didn't see anyone get their phone taken off them, but didn't see anyone inside with one either.

drive4show wrote:Good venue, great course. I guess the catering is all done by external people so it's hard for the R&A to control the quality. The weather was obviously disappointing from a spectators point of view but maybe it did a good job in finding a worthy champion, someone that can handle all conditions.

Overall, a very good event with plenty of excitement.

They can do something about the wildly inflated prices though. I know it's fairly standard at sporting events now, but these were the worst I've seen anywhere. And for some reason I thought the R&A might not be as bad for that sort of thing. Obviously not...

considering the size of the queue to get mobile phones reclaimed at the end of the day I don't think hardly any got in at all. the guy in front of me got his taken off him straight after his bag had gone through the scanner.

I made the decision not to take one at the last minute and it proved to be the right one!

on the pricing for food/drinks yes it was ridiculous. I attended Wimbledon a couple of weeks ago and prices there were even slightly lower. However the big difference here at the golf was that the quality of the food was so poor.

steveo77 wrote: the quality of the food was so poor.

I had fish and chips and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food, especially the fish. At £7.50 (I think) this is only slightly more expensive than a typical chippy. Teas / coffees again were no different in price to a central London Starbucks, Pret etc. Agreed it is expensive, but then everything in this country is expensive!!!

I didn't see anyone have their phone confiscated, but the checks were very thorough and I didn't see anyone using a phone on the course.

From a spectator's point of view, I found RSG a much better venue than TOC, due to the mounding and the ability to walk down both sides of each hole. The only difficulty was the road network getting in and out of Sandwich, which is unable to cope with buses, coaches and thousands of fans. Unfortunaltely it seems every great golf course is located in the middle of nowhere down tiny winding country lanes, and one week of golf every 10 years doesn't justify spending millions on transport infrastructure.

Having said on a different article that i intended on sneaking my phone in, after seeing the level of security i decided not to and walked back to the car. Glad i did too as everyone was thoroughly checked over this year.

I agree with everyone who has said the food was (ridiculously) over priced. But then i kind of expected that as it's the norm for sporting events.

I've not been to as many Opens as some i'm sure but i thought RSG wasn't as well set up as Turnberry or Hoylake. Plenty of the greens and tees could be accessed only from one side which was a shame as it means the crowds are so dense you can't see anything.

I have to say i found the drive to and from no trouble whatsoever. Not a single traffic jam to speak of

Food doesn't sound that over priced? £7.50 for fish and chips and £4 for a bacon roll is reasonable. I think that people do like to live in a world where days gone by were better as everything was cheap. You get the same complaints at Wembley with £8 for a burger but I'm sure McDonalds must be charging more than half that now so how much would you expect them to be?

Average wages have gone up between something like 2-5% a year for the past 10 years or so with house prices doubling and people expect food to stay the same?!?

I was there on Thurs. One member of our party tried to sneak their iPhone in. It was discovered by the body scanners on a quick sweep, so had to be left at the gate.

I thought the merchandise was on the steep side of pricing, but was happy to buy a couple of souvenirs for the sake of such a big event. They ran out of bucket hats though (or at least I couldn't find them on a mad rush around the merchandise tent just before we had to leave)...

sharrison01

on the whole the experience yesterday was a positive, enjoyable one, and yes £4 for a well cooked, decent sized bacon roll is probably about right.

However for a decent sized bacon baguette you had to pay £5.60 which is crazy! The £4 roll was small and with 1 stone cold rasher of bacon which had barely been cooked. A number of people were trying to get another one and then realising that they were all as bad and that we had all been ripped off. I attend numerous, varied sporting events and can definitely say that some of the catering yesterday was the worst I have experienced.

£4 for a bacon roll is extortionate by any measurement!
If McDonalds are charging £3 or even £4 for a burger, what's the justification for the Open venues charging £8 again??

I do think those prices have to be accepted as it's always the same at these things but that doesn't mean it's not a rip off!

Can't you take your own sarnies?

You can indeed, if you're organised, Super

Then why are people moaning about the price? Whenever you are a captive audience such as on a plane, in a service station or at a cinema you always pay extra.

super_realist wrote:Can't you take your own sarnies?

Spot the jock.........

sharrison01 wrote:Food doesn't sound that over priced? £7.50 for fish and chips and £4 for a bacon roll is reasonable. I think that people do like to live in a world where days gone by were better as everything was cheap. You get the same complaints at Wembley with £8 for a burger but I'm sure McDonalds must be charging more than half that now so how much would you expect them to be?

Average wages have gone up between something like 2-5% a year for the past 10 years or so with house prices doubling and people expect food to stay the same?!?

A pint in the beer tent was £4.20, I'd usually expect to pay £2.80-£3.30 for that. I paid £2.10 for a small bottle of coke which usually costs about a quid. And £4 for a tuna sandwich, the two-triangle sort in a cardboard packet you usually pay about £2 for. It was definitely overpriced, not sure where you live if you happily pay £8 for a burger?

2:80-3:30 for a pint? That would be cheap anywhere. A £4 pint is pretty norm in a lot of places these days, unless you drink in a pikey Weatherspoons.

MustPuttBetter wrote:£4 for a bacon roll is extortionate by any measurement!
If McDonalds are charging £3 or even £4 for a burger, what's the justification for the Open venues charging £8 again??

I do think those prices have to be accepted as it's always the same at these things but that doesn't mean it's not a rip off!

How is £4 expensive for a bacon roll - the caterers have to make a profit as well?!?! If the quality is as poor as was experienced then there is something wrong but by and large the food at sporting events is of better quality than it used to be and the prices reflect that.

And McDonalds is the lowest of the low food-wise. The food At Wembley is actually okay and I'd rather pay £8 for that than half that for an awful McDonalds.

I just think that people have expectations of everything staying the same in price when their personal income has gone up over the years - it might work for £4 jeans at Tesco but food has a demand world wide and cannot be reduced through more slave labour...

Did anyone see any golf or were you all too busy on the food and drink.
All too often the case at Sporting events .Usual routine is that caterers tender for their spots at outdoor events like this hence the high price ,low standard.And they have to pay serious money to be there!

My local golf club charges £1.50 for a bottle of coke and £2 is for a sandwich in a supermarket made in a factory somewhere so they have a massive advantage in economies of scale.

I can't remember the last time I payed less than £4 for a pint and as for £8 for a burger, that comes with chips and a drink at Wembley so is hardly a shocking cost.

The UK is now relatively cheap compared with the rest of Europe - 7 Euros for a beer in Paris, 5 Euros for a coffee in Rome and 20 Euros for a cheap plastic bucket and spade in Turkey are some of the prices that I've paid in the last couple of years in normal places outside of the UK.

sharrison01 wrote: How is £4 expensive for a bacon roll - the caterers have to make a profit as well?!?! If the quality is as poor as was experienced then there is something wrong but by and large the food at sporting events is of better quality than it used to be and the prices reflect that.

And McDonalds is the lowest of the low food-wise. The food At Wembley is actually okay and I'd rather pay £8 for that than half that for an awful McDonalds.

I just think that people have expectations of everything staying the same in price when their personal income has gone up over the years - it might work for £4 jeans at Tesco but food has a demand world wide and cannot be reduced through more slave labour...

I'm not actually complaining about the price. Yes they have to make a profit and, as i said, you know it's going to be like that and if you don't like it you can do as Super suggests and take a picnic.
However that doesn't mean we have to pretend £4 for a bacon roll isn't extortionate because it is. Inflation is nothing to do with it. I had a bacon roll this morning with a client from a cafe and it was £2.50. From the garage it's £2.
£4 is over priced mate however you look at it. But that's the way it is at these things!

Captive audience. If it was too expensive then people wouldn't buy, but th ey do.

MustPuttBetter wrote:

sharrison01 wrote: How is £4 expensive for a bacon roll - the caterers have to make a profit as well?!?! If the quality is as poor as was experienced then there is something wrong but by and large the food at sporting events is of better quality than it used to be and the prices reflect that.

And McDonalds is the lowest of the low food-wise. The food At Wembley is actually okay and I'd rather pay £8 for that than half that for an awful McDonalds.

I just think that people have expectations of everything staying the same in price when their personal income has gone up over the years - it might work for £4 jeans at Tesco but food has a demand world wide and cannot be reduced through more slave labour...

I'm not actually complaining about the price. Yes they have to make a profit and, as i said, you know it's going to be like that and if you don't like it you can do as Super suggests and take a picnic.
However that doesn't mean we have to pretend £4 for a bacon roll isn't extortionate because it is. Inflation is nothing to do with it. I had a bacon roll this morning with a client from a cafe and it was £2.50. From the garage it's £2.
£4 is over priced mate however you look at it. But that's the way it is at these things!

I'm pretty sure that inflation does play a part. £4 is at the top end but certainly not over priced - if a garage is charging £2 for a bacon roll that has been mass produced in a factory and then slung in the microwave then £4 is not unreasonable. There is a big difference between cost and value - is a microwaved bacon sandwich good value at £2, no but it has a low cost. A bacon roll made on site and freshly cooked provides far better value than this, assuming that it is of high quality, which by and large at events they are.

super_realist wrote:Captive audience. If it was too expensive then people wouldn't buy, but th ey do.

Exactly.
The ease of just buying something coupled with it being part of the 'exprience' outweighs the inflated cost so people do it. No qualms

sharrison01 wrote: I'm pretty sure that inflation does play a part. £4 is at the top end but certainly not over priced - if a garage is charging £2 for a bacon roll that has been mass produced in a factory and then slung in the microwave then £4 is not unreasonable. There is a big difference between cost and value - is a microwaved bacon sandwich good value at £2, no but it has a low cost. A bacon roll made on site and freshly cooked provides far better value than this, assuming that it is of high quality, which by and large at events they are.

I can't see how almost double is not overpriced.
You don't think the suppliers to the Open caterers are getting mass produced bacon rolls the same as the cafe i went to?? They're hardly slaughtering the pigs out the back of the 18th hole are they!

If it's inflation is it only affecting sporting outlets?
For what it's worth most people i know haven't had much of a pay rise, if any, for a good 3 years. And i don't live in a cheap area of the country!

Anyway, this thread doesn't need to be all about the price of a bacon roll so let's leave it there

£4 for a pint, where do you drink spearmint rhino?

Beer prices have gone up this is true, but i have not seen many more then £3.30 for a pint of lager. But £4 sounds like club prices.

Cost of food at any sporting event is always going to be over the top, sames as services on the motorway. You just have to bite the bullet, does not make it right though.

Average national pay has constantly gone up so prices will be reflected in this and once they are up, they rarely come back (petrol!?!).

Agreed that it's a bit off topic though...

beninho wrote:£4 for a pint, where do you drink spearmint rhino?

Beer prices have gone up this is true, but i have not seen many more then £3.30 for a pint of lager. But £4 sounds like club prices.

Cost of food at any sporting event is always going to be over the top, sames as services on the motorway. You just have to bite the bullet, does not make it right though.

Where do you drink, the local working men's club?!?

It's prob over £4 for a bottle of beer in the average mediocre chain of restaurants (Pizza Express etc) and they are hardly premium...

Sharrison, of course national pay has gone up but the rate at which it is going up is decreasing
The rate at which these things increase in price however.....

Again, they got to these prices a couple of years ago and these things rarely come back down...

Fair enough but if the Office of National Statistics is to be believed the rate at which earnings have been increasing has been lessening since around 1998.

Anyway.........!

beninho wrote:£4 for a pint, where do you drink spearmint rhino?

Beer prices have gone up this is true, but i have not seen many more then £3.30 for a pint of lager. But £4 sounds like club prices.

Cost of food at any sporting event is always going to be over the top, sames as services on the motorway. You just have to bite the bullet, does not make it right though.

I disagree, I object to being ripped off. If everyone took their own food, the vendors would soon reduce their prices! You can bet your bottom dollar that they are not selling at cost+small markup. They are blatantly cashing in on a captive audience.

MustPuttBetter wrote:Fair enough but if the Office of National Statistics is to be believed the rate at which earnings have been increasing has been lessening since around 1998.

Anyway.........!

And the level of borrowing/house prices/costs of everything else - the petrol that delivered the raw ingredients, the gas that cooked them, the cost of raw ingredients etc etc.

£4 a pint. I wish

yesterday the price of a pint of lager was £4.60!

and the reason I was complaining about a £4 bacon roll was not so much the price but the quality of it. It was practically raw bacon!

super_realist wrote:2:80-3:30 for a pint? That would be cheap anywhere. A £4 pint is pretty norm in a lot of places these days, unless you drink in a pikey Weatherspoons.

eh? I spend half my time in Wales, average price £2.60-£3.00, and half my time in Kent, a fairly pricy part of the country, average price £3.00-£3.30. Don't spend too much time in Wetherspoons in either, but when I do their pints are around £2.20. Where on earth are you drinking?

I was not excited by this course. Too many boring holes IMO.

To be fair all the holes would look the same on dreary grey days through a rain splattered camera.

The course was magnificent. The only problem I had with it though was in trying to orientate my way around it, given its propensity for going off in all directions! And, as someone stated earlier in the thread the mounding made it much easier to see shots especially from behind the players.

I think it's fair to say conditions were 'a bit brisk' but, on the plus side, it forced players to work the ball 'low' which made it much more "fun" to watch.

Incidentally, buying food at The Open has always been comparatively expensive. If you plonk your shop on someone else's land, you can bet your bottom dollar, he's going to want to be handsomely rewarded for the incovenience and of course that overhead would then have to be passed onto the customer.

We were bussed in and out of Sandwich everyday and I was pleasantly surprised that the police were able to keep things moving as well as they did (any hold-ups only occurring in Sandwich itself). Of course, that could have been down to police giving buses priority?

I must admit I detest the pricing of food and beverage at these events (and indeed at Motorway Service Stations). I do end up paying it because I'm not organised enough to arrange alternatives. What I do find really disturbing though is that many people find £4 a pint acceptable!!!! We are in the depths of the biggest recession in living memory yet many of us think it perfectly acceptable to shell out £4 for a (probably watered down) beer while you can go to many a bar on the Costas and the Algarve, Canaries, Cyprus etc and get change out of a 10 Euro note for 4 beers!!!

Nice review btw Gael, wish I'd been able to see it for myself. I did enjoy it on the telly but I just know it wouldn't have done the course justice.

Cheers JAS. The greens themselves were quite intimidating as they tended to be long rather than wide and quite a few of them were raised at the front with bunkers ready to ensnare disobedient balls!

Speaking as someone who is just 5'5", this was the best Open Championship spectating venue I've been to and the whole place just oozed character of the quintessential links type. Magic!

One of the other things I enjoyed immensely was listening to the craic on the local BBC radio coverage. Brilliant!

Ah...them wee radios are essential items, especially on the last couple of days.
I remember Turnberry being good in places (especially around the 5th & 17th).

From the other ones I've played TOC and Carnoustie might have viewing problems due to their flatness, Birkdale is quite duney though and I imagine good viewing, have you spectated there? I must check out RSG's winter green fee and go have a look.

JAS ... Birkdale used to be a great spectator's course because you could sit on the dunes but if the women's event is anything to go by much of it is now roped off and inaccessible.

I would love to play RSG but I suspect I'd be pretty knackered afterwards! Anyway, worth a try. Just make sure you're not playing some horribly shortened version before committing.