Costa del Carnoustie is winning punter approval
With spectators confined to the course, organisers have given them plenty to enjoy beyond the golf, as Sam Dean discovers
There is nothing quite like the past when it comes to igniting the passions of golf ’s traditionalists, and few tournaments quite so brazen as the Open in luxuriating in that history. Perhaps more than any other, this is the tournament – the oldest professional championship in golf, lest we forget – that views each of its rounds through the prism of the past, and reacts to each swing of the club by drawing painstaking comparisons with shots of yore.
It felt somewhat fitting, then, that a sun-soaked Carnoustie yesterday provided its very own throwback to years gone by. For one day at least, this tiny town was once again the “Brighton of the North”, the nickname it received during its early 20th century heyday, when it was best known as a beach resort. Such was the all-enveloping warmth here that the clock had not even struck 10am when the first eyelids began to grow heavy on the cushions beneath the biggest of Carnoustie’s big screens. A few of the spectators were soon asleep, coaxed into slumber by the combination of a tender breeze and the squawks of distant seagulls, while others had set up camp beneath umbrellas as if they were claiming territory on Bondi Beach.
“Costa del Carnoustie” has an unavoidable ring to it, but the town’s early marketing departments preferred a more earnest title at this time of the year. Between 1900 and the start of the First World War, Carnoustie positioned itself as the “Home of Health and Happiness”, and claimed to be the most popular resort on Scotland’s east coast, which was benefiting from the increased popularity of trips to the seaside.
The Carnoustie Guide and
Gazette once reported that the beach had turned black because of the sheer number of tourists on the coast. This week, the area’s main attraction is instead the golf club, where the walk between the entrance gates and the course has been transformed into the middle-aged equivalent of the Magaluf strip.
Instead of seedy nightclubs and cheap bars, Carnoustie’s “spectator village” presents whisky stores, interactive “golf zones” and a luxury car dealership. A cash machine playfully urges visitors to “take out your wedge”, while there is even a tractor outlet for more agriculturally-minded guests.
Further towards the first tee, “gourmet sausage rolls” are on offer for those who do not fancy the official “Open burger” (best paired with the official “Open mineral water”), and there is even a play area where parents can deposit their precious children for safe-keeping.
Looking at all these attractions, it would be tempting to assume the Open is desperately trying to keep its spectators (and their wallets) on site. But this would imply that the visitors have a choice in the matter. The truth is that once fans leave
the club, they know they cannot come back.
As The Daily Telegraph reported before the tournament, the R&A’S controversial no-readmission policy has caused no shortage of unrest in the town itself, where business owners have found themselves unable to capitalise on the influx of nearly 200,000 visitors this week. The disruption to the area, particularly on the roads, has even prompted Bill Thompson, the Carnoustie captain, to warn that the town may now be too small to host the Open.
The sorry truth for local businesses, though, is that many of the spectators are quite happy to stay on the course and soak up both the attractions and the sport.
“I have come here to see golf,” said one European tourist. “The town does not really bother me.”
All this is not to say there is no economic benefit at all – one Carnoustie shopworker said there has been an increase in business in the early evening – but it is clear that the locals were hoping for more. “It is terrible for the retailers,” said Murray Fender, a spectator who had made the trip from nearby Dundee for the tournament’s opening round. “I just feel sorry for the businesses, and I think it would be nice to have that option, to be able to go into town if I wanted. And the traffic around here is bad enough at normal times.”
Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, responded to questions about the issue by saying the readmissions policy is a response to past difficulties with “unofficial” hospitality. “We have had multiple problems for multiple years with fans buying unofficial hospitality and then not getting the experience they thought they had paid for,” he said.
On the evidence of the first day, the approach is working for both the organisers and for most of the spectators. The big test, though, will be what happens when the sun turns to rain, this beach resort becomes a washout and the fans are told that a trip to the local pub will cost them their ticket.