The Open 2023

Awake at 5:45. David had left early in the morning for his flight to Montreal via Brussels then on to Halifax.   Down for breakfast at 7 with Roger and Stephen. It was extensive and very good - 14£. Left for the airport by shuttle at 8am. Dropped us off at Terminal 2.  Had to wait a few minutes for the check in desks to open but from there it went easily. Dropped our golf clubs at the designated oversize baggage carousel and then made our way to the security and then on to the departure zone.  Spent some time looking at the shops and duty free. In the end all I bought was a package of McVities biscuits and some shortbread biscuits for Carol.  Lots of time to kill so had a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.  they announced our gate at 10:50 and it was only an 8 minute walk from the dining area.  Easy check in after a 30 minute wait. Taxied out of the airport at 12:40, 35 minutes late. In the air at 1:00. We are flying with Omni A...

Up at 6am. A good breakfast cleaning up some of the food we had. Car was all packed under Roger's tutelage and ready to go by 9:30. Caroline and Steve's home couldn't be better located for golf, food and sights to see  like Harlec Castle.  I had suggested that we break the 3 hour drive up to Manchester and thought we would stop at Chester.  Our GPS took us through some beautiful country high up in the mountains,  mostly on roads with no centre line which means you have to pull to the side of the road when you meet an oncoming vehicle. We were definitely in sheep country and rarely saw anything else.  Too bad it was rainy and foggy because the countryside would have been beautiful if we could have seen it.  Stopped for gas at a small place for the first time since we took the car. According to the information on the dash it gets about 38mpg which is excellent.  We arrived at the Wrexham Park and Drive station about 11:30. It's a marvelous sy...

Up at 5:45, wrote up a day in this blog. Breakfast with the gang. Dishes all done by 8:30. Roger, David and Brian went into Harlec, about 3 miles and parked at the Pay and Display lot. Walked along the main street past some nice shops but none were open yet. Our purpose for going here was to see the Harlec Castle built in the late 1200s over a period of 7 years. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It is an amazing structure with it's outer walls still intact.  Walking up the 141 steps in an inner turret you can see where the gatehouse apartments and suites are located.  At the top are some of the best views of the town and Royal St David's golf course.  After spending about an hour in the Castle we stopped for refreshments and the hot chocolate was superb. Walked back to the car and drove to pick up Steve. Had a message from the golf course to say that they could get us out early because the weather for the afternoon was looking poo...

Up at 6:30 and downstairs.  Everyone was up by 7:30. I bought some sausages at the local shop and cooked some up for Steve and I. Delicious. I got the Nespresso machine going so had one of those. Roger did the dishes (Refer previous night note about scat.) In the car and on the way to Aberdovey by 9am. Nice drive down, took about an hour. Navigation system took us on one short road that was like a bicycle path; hardly enough room to pass the man with his dog. We avoided that on the way home. Arrived at the golf course about 10:30 after a short stop at a Nature Centre. Confirmed our tee time and cart arrangements. Roger and I used the Moto Caddy and Steve and Dave shared a buggy. Steve stayed at the course while Roger,David and I walked into the town of Aberdovey - 10 minutes at the most. It was a quaint seaside town with a big beach, sailing lessons and swimming. We stopped for lunch at a fish shop I had fish cakes (thai) and a salad and fries. Roger and David had fish and chips....

Up at 6:00, lots early.  Good breakfast and set off for Porthmadog around 8:15. Picked up our Motocaddy trolleys for 12.50£. Tee time is 9:40 so we had time to talk to lots off groups.  Two different 9 holes on this course. First 9 has lots if hazards and water. Second nine is more links style with views of the ocean. Scenery was tremendous. David got another birdie.   Stopped for a ham and Welsh cheese sandwich at the turn that was one of the best I've ever had. Let a twosome go through so we'd know where to go. Had a better back 9 than the front. It was a wonderful day weather wise and played the back in shorts and golf shirt, 17-18c. After the round we stopped into Tesco for some things, most of which we didn't need and then drove home. Rum and cheese and grapes and chips on the back deck. When it became too cool in the shade we moved to the front of the house in the sun. Talked to a neighbour who was renting #5 beside us and got some details on the ro...

Up at 6:30. After breakfast we packed our clubs and drove the small roads to Porthmadog.  15 miles takes about 35 minutes.  At least there was hardly any  traffic. We were early for our game but decided based on the iffy weather forecast for today vs tomorrow that we would delay our game for a day. We bought a couple of buckets of balls and went to the driving range for about half an hour. Roger, David and I reserved an electric trolley for tomorrow and Steve will have a buggy.  After Steve finished hitting more balls we drove back through town and stopped at Tesco. We got extra supplies and then headed for home. It was still only 11 am so we each did our own thing, wandering about the small town of Llanbedr. Roger and I stopped into an old church,  St Peter's. At noon we went to the Victoria Inn, Robinsons and had lunch. I had a roast pork dinner that was excellent.  They also have a wonderful back garden with a covered arbor for ea...

Up at 7:15 and had a breakfast buffet served at the Hotel, included in our stay.  They had a broad selection and I had 75% of what was on offer except the black pudding.  About 9am we started walking the streets of the town, looking at various shops and tourist centre's. I bought a magnet of Llangollen with a picture of the Pontsycillte Aqueduct on it that Carol and I had visited in 2010. So many good memories of this area. We thought we would take the old steam train from Llangollen station but it takes an hour and a half which is too long. So after having misplaced Dave and then found him we decided to take the horse drawn canal boat which takes 45 minutes. We drove to the canal boat site where I dropped the guys off and then drove back to the hotel and I walked back up. Took 5 minutes. A very interesting illustration of how trade worked in the 1700s. Finished about 11:30. Dave and I went to a tea shop where we had a very nice mushroom soup and a tea....

We got to sleep in this morning.  Not up until 7:50. Steve did his usual good job on the boiled eggs, toast and jam and an espresso from a lovely little machine they have there. Dave and I took a cab to the Enterprise location a couple of miles away at 8am. Our pickup time was for 10 but it was good we were there early because the vehicle reserved for us was more like a Ford cargo van. Thankfully the Area Manager was on site that day and he bent over backwards to get a car that would accommodate us. We ended up with a Mazda CR5. Things would be a little tight but I've had my share of driving large vehicles in the UK and didn'twantthat again. The price was the same as quoted and we took full insurance.  Set the navigation system and back to Elm Vale by 10:15, loaded the car and on the road to Llangollen (Clangoclan) as the Welsh say. All hard sounds. Pretty uneventful drive and we landed at The Hand Hotel about 1pm. There's been a hotel on this site for 400 years...

Up at 5:30 Today is the first day of play. A crowd of around 50,000 is expected.  Weather looks good, 15c and dry. Uber was here at 7am. Traffic was extremely busy. Our driver wasn't able to drop us as close to the entrance for security and crowd control reasons so we had to walk for about 10 minutes to the back entrance.  From there we split into 2 groups; Roger and David went to the Shop again. Steve and I walked down to the 1st green and then I parked myself on the side of the fairway by #2. That way I could see the results of the drives on 1 and see them tee off on 2. I watched groups 7 through 17 ending with Tommy Fleetwood.  Here's a picture of Tommy and Adam Scott as well as Padraig Harrington.  After lunch Steve and I went to watch Corey Connors come in on #1 and tee off on 2. We followed him through to hole 3 and Steve and I split up. I continued to follow Corey through to #6. He had some really great drives and was even after 6....

We were up at 5:30 and down for breakfast.  Steve had made some boiled eggs so with toast, jam and coffee we had a satisfying breakfast. All ready to go to Hoylake by 6:45. When I checked at the gate our Uber driver was already there. We had prebooked it at a cost of 43£, definitely the most convenient way to get there. It took 35 minutes to drive through Liverpool , through the tunnel under the Mersey River and dropped us off at the front gate of The Open.  Roger and I walked over the pedway to the entrance and Dave and Steve used the accessible entrance below. Simply opened up our Open Tickets app and the scanned us in. Very slick. The first place we went was to the Shop where we all bought a waterproof jacket with the logo on it for 135£. Various other items were purchased as well.  There was a wifi in place so we could stay in touch. First place we went was to a grandstand at #3 green.  Easy to get a seat. We could see the players 2nd shot come into t...

Our flight takes about 6.5 hours and we arrived about 10:30 Uk time. Cleared customs which was easy, insert passport,  have your picture taken all without talking to a soul. Picked Our golf bags off the luggage carousel and then walked to the arrivals area. Didn't see Our taxi driver so called the head office and she showed up within 5 minutes.  $186 prepaid to take us to our Airbnb at 6 Elm Vale, Fairfield. It took about 35 minutes. A quiet side street where some of the homes have seen better days but our place is nice with a gate closing off the driveway.  This home has 4 bedrooms with two bathrooms/shower. We met Kirsty who was cleaning the place. Brought our luggage in even though we were early and familiarized our selves with the property.  We went to lunch at the Aran Turkish restaurant where I had a nice lamb wrap and a beer from Turkey. Roger and Steve went to get a few groceries.  Dave arrived about 6:30. We promptly left for the Lister Hote...

Packing is complete. We are each taking our golf bag and carry on luggage. Carol advised me to roll up my shirts, sweaters and pants to save space and that has been very efficient. I have some wet weather gear but not much and an umbrella in my golf bag. Steve and Arlene picked me up and we arrived at the airport at 4:15. Checked our clubs and met Roger who had been there for about half an hour.  After clearing security we had supper at the Flying Firken. Notifications were coming through saying that our flight to Toronto was delayed and was a full 2 hours and 40 minutes late departing and there was some concern that we might not make our connecting flight. To Manchester. When we landed in Toronto we had to go from the domestic gate to the international departure gate which I swear were 2km apart. We moved quickly and made it to the gate just as they were boarding. Fortunately they held our flight because they knew many passengers were delayed. Nice size aircraft,  2+6+2. We a...

 

Having been successful in the Lottery for the July 2023 Open. This being played at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake. I invited 3 friends to join me. Roger, Steve and David were happy to sign up. As the organizer I started the preparations for the trip in September of 2022. Most of it I did myself in consultation with the group but I originally used a travel agent who found us accommodation in Liverpool,  car rental and air fares. We booked all 3 but unfortunately in January we received notice that the accommodations were canceled by the operating company.  With the help of my UK friends Caroline and Steve we found a lovely replacement.  We'll spend 3 days in Liverpool during which time we'll watch the last practice day and the opening round on the 20th. Then we'll rent a van and drive to Llangollen just over the Welsh border, play a round of golf and have supper with Caroline and Steve.  We'll be staying at the Hand Hotel. Next morning we'll drive to Llanbed...