- Admin
- #11
Yep. Just as Tiger is going to hit a 30 foot putt, you're going to get Northhants Grecian shout, "Get in there Harley"!
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Ryder Cup
- Thread starter grecian greg
- Start date
Sounds alright to me....
Northants Grecian
Well-known Exeweb poster
Northhants?
who he?
It will likely be one of those ones that wrap onto your ear ... you seem at the cricket a lot ... but i make no promises if listening to the footy on the saturday ...
grecian greg
Well-known Exeweb poster
LOL
this sounds like me at the Pro 40 semi final sat at Somerset (11th Sept) just as the bowler is running up, its dead quiet ........i get a text saying city was 1-0 up naturally shouted for joy "get in there..."and the whole of the county ground wondered what i was on! the chauffuer said everyone looked at me! I made the woman sat near me jump out of her skin!
I was worried the Unpire or staff may come and have a word - i didnt get kicked out!
Egg
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Having attended yesterday's first practice day thought I'd share a few thoughts with those of you lucky enough to be heading to Celtic Manor later in the week.
Firstly, I was hugely impressed by the course and, if anything, even more so by the infrastructure - the scale of which really has to be seen to be believed.
We had a bit of a panic last week when one of my mates read that you could only gain admission to the course via the official car parks/park & ride service for which tickets had to be purchased in advance. Fortunately, on examining the package containing our tickets, it transpired that I had had the foresight to buy one, when I ordered the tickets more than a year ago, though I had absolutely no recollection of having done so.
The car parks and the park & ride service to the course are a model of efficiency (despite Stagecoach's involvement in the later); you even get an airport-style bus to whisk you from one end of the car park to the other. However, before you can board the bus to the course you have to go through a body scanner and be frisked so I'd forget any hope of smuggling phones, radios or cameras - once, that is, the proper action starts - in with you.
You are, however, allowed to take in a pair of binoculars and, having done so myself, this is something I'd heartily recommend.
With regard to keeping track of City's fortunes against Rochdale, there are big 30ft-plus Sky screens all over the course and an even bigger one fronting the Sky HQ alongside the 18th green. Yesterday, these were showing a mixture of Ryder Cup highlights and, later in the day, Sky Sports News so they might, if you're lucky, keep you in touch with goings-on at the Park.
There were people with bags bigger than the 8" x 8" x8" referred to in the official guide - though most of these had clearly made an effort to to find as small a bag as possible - so I'd suggest there's probably a little bit of flexibility over this, ie attempt to take in a rucksack designed for hiking on Dartmoor and you won't get much joy, go, for instance, with a child's rucksack which is a bit bigger than 8" x 8" x 8" and you'll probably be okay.
It's a 10-minute ride to Celtic Manor where you'll be deposited at a huge bus terminus from where it's a 10 or 15 minute walk to the course proper. Once here, I'd suggest your best starting point is to walk alongside the 16th, 17th and 18th holes from where you can look over the rest of the course and get your bearings.
As an aside, the map of Celtic Manor contained in the official guide you get with your tickets is one of the few things which, IMO, comes up a long way short. It's so small as to be next to useless, especially if you're interested in the intricacies of the course itself. For instance, as I recall, it doesn't reveal the par of each hole let alone any yardages, which would be useful when you're sitting in the grandstand speculating whether, for instance, Tiger's likely to lay up short of the 18th in two or go for broke and reach the green.
Did see one or two people with yardage charts but think they may have been connected to the two teams and not sure that they were available to the public. That being the case, if I was going along again I think I'd try and equip myself with something from somewhere, be it a print-out from the web or, maybe, the 20-page supplement in today's Racing Post which will, I'm sure, offer rather more useful detail than the official guide does.
The tented village is very impressive and, like everything else, the height of efficiency - there's even a chemist's with a pharmacy for anyone who might have brought their prescription along with them! That said, the food and beverages aren't cheap. I paid £4 for an espresso and a piece of cake which was, I thought, eminently reasonable but a pie and chips won't leave you much change from a tenner and a pint of beer from the main bar is a fiver, though it does come in a special Ryder Cup plastic glass!
In terms of watching the golf, if you want to get really close to the players - and, perhaps, get some pictures - I'd suggest the putting green alongside the first tee is worth checking out; I managed to get within a couple of feet of Tiger who, incidentally, seemed incredibly relaxed and at ease with the world, much more so than I would have anticipated.
Firstly, I was hugely impressed by the course and, if anything, even more so by the infrastructure - the scale of which really has to be seen to be believed.
We had a bit of a panic last week when one of my mates read that you could only gain admission to the course via the official car parks/park & ride service for which tickets had to be purchased in advance. Fortunately, on examining the package containing our tickets, it transpired that I had had the foresight to buy one, when I ordered the tickets more than a year ago, though I had absolutely no recollection of having done so.
The car parks and the park & ride service to the course are a model of efficiency (despite Stagecoach's involvement in the later); you even get an airport-style bus to whisk you from one end of the car park to the other. However, before you can board the bus to the course you have to go through a body scanner and be frisked so I'd forget any hope of smuggling phones, radios or cameras - once, that is, the proper action starts - in with you.
You are, however, allowed to take in a pair of binoculars and, having done so myself, this is something I'd heartily recommend.
With regard to keeping track of City's fortunes against Rochdale, there are big 30ft-plus Sky screens all over the course and an even bigger one fronting the Sky HQ alongside the 18th green. Yesterday, these were showing a mixture of Ryder Cup highlights and, later in the day, Sky Sports News so they might, if you're lucky, keep you in touch with goings-on at the Park.
There were people with bags bigger than the 8" x 8" x8" referred to in the official guide - though most of these had clearly made an effort to to find as small a bag as possible - so I'd suggest there's probably a little bit of flexibility over this, ie attempt to take in a rucksack designed for hiking on Dartmoor and you won't get much joy, go, for instance, with a child's rucksack which is a bit bigger than 8" x 8" x 8" and you'll probably be okay.
It's a 10-minute ride to Celtic Manor where you'll be deposited at a huge bus terminus from where it's a 10 or 15 minute walk to the course proper. Once here, I'd suggest your best starting point is to walk alongside the 16th, 17th and 18th holes from where you can look over the rest of the course and get your bearings.
As an aside, the map of Celtic Manor contained in the official guide you get with your tickets is one of the few things which, IMO, comes up a long way short. It's so small as to be next to useless, especially if you're interested in the intricacies of the course itself. For instance, as I recall, it doesn't reveal the par of each hole let alone any yardages, which would be useful when you're sitting in the grandstand speculating whether, for instance, Tiger's likely to lay up short of the 18th in two or go for broke and reach the green.
Did see one or two people with yardage charts but think they may have been connected to the two teams and not sure that they were available to the public. That being the case, if I was going along again I think I'd try and equip myself with something from somewhere, be it a print-out from the web or, maybe, the 20-page supplement in today's Racing Post which will, I'm sure, offer rather more useful detail than the official guide does.
The tented village is very impressive and, like everything else, the height of efficiency - there's even a chemist's with a pharmacy for anyone who might have brought their prescription along with them! That said, the food and beverages aren't cheap. I paid £4 for an espresso and a piece of cake which was, I thought, eminently reasonable but a pie and chips won't leave you much change from a tenner and a pint of beer from the main bar is a fiver, though it does come in a special Ryder Cup plastic glass!
In terms of watching the golf, if you want to get really close to the players - and, perhaps, get some pictures - I'd suggest the putting green alongside the first tee is worth checking out; I managed to get within a couple of feet of Tiger who, incidentally, seemed incredibly relaxed and at ease with the world, much more so than I would have anticipated.
- Admin
- #17
zyderman
Active member
We're going to absolutely d*ck on the seppos.
18-10
18-10
Egg
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*Sorry, previous post omitted some of my posting*
Otherwise, there's a grandstand, if not two, on almost every hole and, while this might change when the action proper gets under way, it wasn't at all difficult to get a seat in any of them - even the one overlooking the 18th which I'd thought might quickly fill up. We spent an enjoyable half hour in the grandstand behind the sixth green, from where you can watch players approach that hole over water and also see them play the par three seventh. Another good spot is the natural amphitheatre surrounding the par three 10th from where you can also see players' approach to the par five ninth. Otherwise, I'd recommend locating yourself in the vicinity of the par three 17th, from where you can follow any matches that progress that far to the spectacular par five 18th.
Anyway, more than enough from me, hope that this is of some interest to those of you lucky enough to be heading to Celtic Manor later in the week. Enjoy.
Otherwise, there's a grandstand, if not two, on almost every hole and, while this might change when the action proper gets under way, it wasn't at all difficult to get a seat in any of them - even the one overlooking the 18th which I'd thought might quickly fill up. We spent an enjoyable half hour in the grandstand behind the sixth green, from where you can watch players approach that hole over water and also see them play the par three seventh. Another good spot is the natural amphitheatre surrounding the par three 10th from where you can also see players' approach to the par five ninth. Otherwise, I'd recommend locating yourself in the vicinity of the par three 17th, from where you can follow any matches that progress that far to the spectacular par five 18th.
Anyway, more than enough from me, hope that this is of some interest to those of you lucky enough to be heading to Celtic Manor later in the week. Enjoy.
Last edited:
Egg
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I'm less convinced of that now than I was 24 hours ago. Appreciate it was only the first day of practice but yesterday the Americans looked much more like they meant business than the Europeans did.
For instance, when the Europeans descended on a green there would be 20-plus people on there, to the extent that on more than one occasion I saw a player practising a putt only for it to hit someone absentmindedly looking in the opposite direction. Moreover, wasn't entirely convinced of the need for some of the European vice-captains to be, apparently, texting on their mobiles as they went along, for Sergio to be driving a buggy with two people I can only assume where his mother and father, or for Lee Westwood to send his caddy off for a portion of chips - yes, seriously - on route to the third tee.