[Adrian_Stiff]

Blimey I am miles out, I was thinking TB might be worth £50M... It was sold in 2005 for £186M. In 2009 they Quinn Group shelved a £200M planned investnment into a hotel expansion because of the economic climate.

[Ulrich Mayring]

Well, you valued only the golf course, but the Belfry is much more than that, the hotel for starters and other facilities as well. What strikes me about these numbers is that the new owners apparently felt the need to invest the whole purchasing price again, just to bring it up to a standard, where the Ryder Cup would return.

In any event, with that kind of cost structure it's going to be difficult to make ends meet. We'll see, I wish them all the best to lure golfers away from the Algarve...

Ulrich

[Adrian_Stiff]

Ulrich- I was including 3 golf courses plus the hotel and all when I was thinking £50M, but it was a very quick tot up and still is a crazy amount. Take a £200,000,000 investment via a newspaper read with a pinch of salt though, they often exaggerate, but I agree these are crazy figures.

[Sean_A]

The problem with The Belfry is it relies heavily on corporate play.  I don't think I have met anyone who paid anything close to the full whack to play The Belfry.  With this economic climate it is understandable why they could be struggling.  I remember loads of people getting freebies on one of the other courses then upgrading on the day for a tenner to play The Brab.  Jeepers, if TB can't make a a good go of it with a great location and loads of Ryder Cup history, I don't envy other operations based on this model.

Ciao   

[Ross Tuddenham]

Has the USGA decided that in a world of golf that is increasingly abandoned it’s traditional roots they are going to market themselves as the “traditional” tournaments.  What with the race to Dubai, WGC in china and WGC on less than inspiring courses in the US it is now the case that traditional is in fact the new perspective.

Can the Ryder Cup maintain any air of class when it never graces any of the truly great courses.  I have read that the belfry provides risk reward but only in a very limited and unsubtle manner.  The masses love the open and it is played over the old classics, or what about Augusta and Amen corner which is also full of risk reward.  I think the general golfing public will pick on the great architecture of they get to see it.

I will admit to having little interest in the Ryder cup which I think is due to the overly hyped media frenzy that it created here in the UK.  I often get the feeling it is so because the European cannot hack it in the majors so cling to it for success.  I am sure Lucas Glover will care very little about a Ryder Cup win now, if only a few more Europeans could say the same.

The USGA may well be onto something by not resorting to new fads but relying on traditional good quality designed courses with history to sell.

[Mark Pearce]

Adrian,

Having read your posts on this thread, can I ask you a question or two?  Is it your view that the golfing public is not interested and does not enjoy the Open?  Do the traditional Open courses fail to provide exciting viewing and would the golfing public and television viewers prefer it if the Open were to be played at, say, Celtic Manor?  Why don't events such as the Wales Open attract more viewers and bigger crowds than the Open?

Thanks,

Mark

[Adrian_Stiff]

Adrian,

Having read your posts on this thread, can I ask you a question or two?  Is it your view that the golfing public is not interested and does not enjoy the Open?  Do the traditional Open courses fail to provide exciting viewing and would the golfing public and television viewers prefer it if the Open were to be played at, say, Celtic Manor?  Why don't events such as the Wales Open attract more viewers and bigger crowds than the Open?

Thanks,

Mark

The Open has the most interest of all screened golf events.

The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Events like the Welsh Open dont attract bigger crowds because of two reasons; The Open is special and more people want special, events like the Welsh Open happen every week, additionallly professional golfers play say 3 out of 4 weeks and the better professionals fill their schedues around the majors and the Welsh Open can infringe on the setting up for the US Open, hence its one of the reasons why it gets an indifferent field of pro's and you get great crowds with the right names.

[Mark Pearce]

[
The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Even if that offerred the possibility of the added excitement of lakes fronting the 17th and 18th greens?

[Adrian_Stiff]

[
The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Even if that offerred the possibility of the added excitement of lakes fronting the 17th and 18th greens?

No

[Ben Stephens]

[
The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Even if that offerred the possibility of the added excitement of lakes fronting the 17th and 18th greens?

No

Adi if you take 'water hazards' as opposed to ponds how about 17 and 18 at Carnoustie, the proof is in the previous 2 Opens there had drama involving water and also it has a hotel!

[Mark Pearce]

[
The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Even if that offerred the possibility of the added excitement of lakes fronting the 17th and 18th greens?

No

Adi if you take 'water hazards' as opposed to ponds how about 17 and 18 at Carnoustie, the proof is in the previous 2 Opens there had drama involving water and also it has a hotel!

No such excitement at Turnberry or Birkdale, sadly, which probably explains why interest in those tournaments was so low.

[Adrian_Stiff]

[
The Open championship has always been played on linksand, people would not prefer to see the event go inland.

Even if that offerred the possibility of the added excitement of lakes fronting the 17th and 18th greens?

No

Adi if you take 'water hazards' as opposed to ponds how about 17 and 18 at Carnoustie, the proof is in the previous 2 Opens there had drama involving water and also it has a hotel!

The Open has its own thrills athough I do agree that those two holes at Carnoustie are dramatic.

[Tim Leahy]

The Ryder Cup will be going to Sweden and it will be at Bro Hof.

The perfect golf course for the perfect commercial event.

http://www.brohofslott.se/en/show.php

The web site calls Bro Hof "the best course in Europe"! Sounds like they have Trump doing their marketing!

[Mark McKeever]

I would love to see Saucon Valley CC in Allentown, PA hold it.  It would be a great boost for the area and I think they have the proper facilities to handle such an event.  The back tees make it a great test and it would be an awesome finish on some of those late holes!

Mark

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