Our recent trip to The Open - St Andrews, Scotland

Monday 11th July 2022
Our trip to Scotland started early in the morning on Monday the 11th with our first stop being Carnoustie - which is one of The Open venues and an impressive
golf course. With the new clubhouse built and good vibes around the place, we stopped off and went to look around the clubhouse and shop.
After we visited Carnoustie, we hopped back in the car and then drove to Montrose. If you don’t know about Montrose then the must things you need to know are:

• It's the 5th oldest golf course in the world
• They are now GEO Certified which means they are making changes to become more sustainable in the future
• There are 2 courses and a pitch and putt

We played the original golf course, I shot 105 around Montrose - The course was in great condition. The views were incredible and the wind coming in from the sea was tough to deal with. This is a course you should play if you visit Scotland.
I can't forget to mention the tuna sandwich and bowl of chips from the traditional Scottish clubhouse. DELICIOUS!

On Monday night we travelled to St Andrews where we were met with a busy and buzzing town, because of this one event that is happening all week...THE OPEN!

We then headed into the Dungevan, a famous pub in St Andrews, especially amongst the Golfing community. More recently it was the place where Random Golf Club hit the 19th hole shot from the road.

We caught up with Jay from Amateur Golf Collective, Craig and Marcus from Zen Golf Studios and our old friend James Robinson Golf who we partnered with back when we first started. It was great to catch up with old friends and was also great to meet a few new people.

Tuesday 12th July 2022
Our experience at The Open started with us bumping into Tiger Woods who was out for his practice game and was already playing on the 16th Hole. We stayed to watch him play holes 16, 17 and then 18.

As we stood in awe of the greatness of the open grandstands behind him it was great to watch Tiger Woods in maybe his last Open (We hope not).

Throughout the day we spent time watching masters of the game practice on the Old Course; something we will remember for a lifetime. We managed to see some of the players practising from the road hole bunker which was also very impressive.

It was then time to drive home, which got us thinking more about more sustainable travel methods. Three of us shared a car to the event and we encourage more to do the same. We originally planned to travel by train, but rail strikes were that difficult for us.

The Open and The R&A is very conscious about the environment and sustainability. Around the course there are various water filling stations and single-use plastic was banned, even in the hospitality tents patrons ate with porcelain plates and recycled cutlery. Lawn mowers were electric and were powered by electricity from local sources such as wind or solar.

If you ever get the chance to attend The Open or any golfing event where the top players are playing, then we suggest you do so. This was a great experience which embraced all the things we love about Golf.

In 2023 The Open will be held at Royal Birkdale near Liverpool. Please click the link below to enter the ballot, fingers are crossed we get tickets!
https://www.theopen.com/ticket-ballot

Please take a look at some of the photos from our trip below and please follow our social pages.

Niall