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Slice of God is a Master Stroke at The Open

21st July 202421st July 2024 funtime65

And because you need a thick wedge for the merch anything that’s free is welcome, which is why a slice of God is a Master Stroke at The Open.

Golf fans rolling off the train to Royal Troon all week have been greeted by the Almighty’s Army handing out free tote bags.

With a sacred message on the bags, a John’s Gospel with ‘God’s Word for you’ and God loves Ayrshire scrolled on it.

God loves Bandanaman, of course, and you too obviously, but mostly Bandanaman!

Hilton Head of the table

First course: The Visit Hilton Head table, Troon

As do Visit Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah/Hilton Head International in Georgia.

As they host me, with a little help from golfing knight Sir Nick Faldo, in the Engravers suite (£1,175pp).

The First Reading: What the Good Book says

Now by the end of play today this year’s Champion Golfer may very well credit God for His part in their success.

Of course, God is a handy ally to have on the bag, to use golfing parlance.

Stay the course

The evidence is all there in the booklet you’ve just been given with passages from The Bible.

With its headlines The Master Stroke, Timing is Right, Following Through, Taking Part and True Victory.

And this is the bit that will drive on whoever wins today to become Champion Golfer of the Year.

‘Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Now God as you can see is everywhere but perhaps more visible in The Vatican, the Holywood of Lourdes and Marian sites Fatima, Knock and Medjugorje.

And on pilgrimages such as a Camino or Via Francigena.

God is all around us

But I always also like to seek him out wherever I go.

On the premise that you find the locals where they play and pray.

And so I’ve joined in evangelical Sunday Service in Tobago and praised Allah in mosques from Morocco to Sarajevo, Istanbul and Jordan.

The Man in the Middle: With Phil, Faldo and Funtime Jimmy

I’ve often felt too the Hand of God on my shoulder to keep me on the right path as I’ve wandered off course.

All of which the missionaries on the road to Troon are championing.

So though it may be tempting don’t just walk past the bag-carriers.

Because a slice of God is a Master Stroke at The Open.

America, Countries, Sport, UK

Hilton Head and troosers, knees and Faldo’s

20th July 202420th July 2024 funtime65

When you’re in the presence of a golfing knight it does well to bow down, which is how Hilton Head and troosers knees and Faldo’s all came about.

Picture the scene, a mini-stage on the Engravers suite on the top floor of the Origins building.

At Royal Troon golf course at the 152nd Open Golf Championship.

And the six-time major golf champion has just taken a question from me from the floor.

He asks for a glass of water while the microphone comes my way.

Earning our stripes: Phil, Sir Nick and Myself

And in the interim I move forward, bend down and move my phone by his feet to pick up his pronouncements.

When the Great Man startled by the intrusion asks in front of the packed gallery?

‘What are you doin’? You trying to get up ma troosers?’

When I explained I was merely capturing his words for posterity it broke the ice.

Kneeling at the feet of a great

Sir Nick was good enough to share with us his fond memories of winning his first Open in ‘the pea-green soup’ of my local course, Muirfield back in 1987.

And following another Open again at St Andrews, the home of golf, returning to do it all again at Muirfield.

And his last four holes to win the Claret Jug being the best he has ever played.

Jacket required: Ben Crenshaw helps Nick Faldo on with his Masters green jacket

The Engravers experience (£1,175pp) for day ticket, all-inclusive food and drink, access to the course.

And the chance to ask a question of a golfing great… and even kneel at their feet.

Sir Nick is, of course, a giant now of the game so the chance to hear him exclusively in an intimate setting is a treat.

Troon the houses

The Englishman, still looking like a matinee idol at 67, recalled his earliest days, camping and playing the 1973 Open.

While Tony Jacklin gave eventual winner Tom Weiskopf a lift in his Rolls-Royce.

That for us was the year the family drove down to South Ayrshire from Glasgow.

Only for my Dear Old Dad to decide not to brave out the traffic.

But rather turn the car around and drive us all back to watch it on TV.

Sir Nick also shared his memories of one of the breakthrough moments of his career.

Prompted by our table and the Hilton Head community, Savannah/Hilton Head International and their friends and promoters.

Hilton Head for the top

It was the then plain Nick’s first tourney win on American soil, the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

And Sir Nick admitted he approached the event in a Monte Carlo or Bust fashion but came through the woods and the trees to deliver.

And it piques this social golfer but gallery fan to look to plan my visit out there.

The ripples of laughter long subsided from my bold introduction from earlier.

And having soaked in Sir Nick’s views on everything from today’s tech to Pringle jumpers and the taxman to LIV golf (not a big fan).

Sir Nick wraps it all up by giving seemingly everyone in the room a photo with him and signing autographs.

I wish him well and tell him he will be very welcome back at Muirfield, where hopefully The Open will return soon.

And when he does he may very well be looking out for me… the eager fan with a phone and I know I’d be recalling Hilton Head and troosers, knees and Faldo’s.

America, Countries, Deals, Europe, Ireland, Sport, UK

Hilton Head of the pack at the golf in Troon

20th July 202420th July 2024 funtime65

Somewhere on a heavenly practice green my Dear Old Dad is bestowing unasked for advice on a major champion.. me, I’m Hilton Head of the pack at the golf in Troon.

The famous golfer was Aussie David Graham, the ‘expert coach’Glasgow Hilton Park’s very own James G Murty and the year 1982.

Tiger on the prowl: Channeling his inner Woods

When club hacker Jimmy G tut-tutted at the US Open and USPGA champ’s missed putt and opined: ‘Never up, never in.’

The good doctor had decamped from Glasgow to Ayrshire with his youngest son for practice day at the Open Golf Championship.

And a sit-down meal in a hospitality tent courtesy of a drug company,

For a 16-year-old sports mad lad this was luxury and my Dad was the most important man in the world, which, of course, he was.

Troon with the cool kids

But, in truth, the hospitality was nothing like what we have today in Troon… we didn’t have to put up the tentpoles or anything!

We are at The Engravers suite (£1,175pp) today by the 15th fairway of the famous old course.

Where we are perusing the tee-off times while imbibing of something a little stronger than tea at the complimentary bar.

And as a 16-year-old back in 1982 my Dad insured that I got nothing stronger than a Coca-Cola.

Written in stars at Engravers

Rock on Tommy: Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood

You can, of course, salve your thirst at the Engravers with the leaf and fill your bellies with a hearty breakfast.

Because you’ll be needing a full tank to negotiate those undulating bumps and gorges of this coastal course.

As you follow the game’s best players around the Championship course.

And see them tackle and, in the cases of superstars like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, fail at the iconic Postage Stamp and Railway Holes.

Back here at base at the Engravers you can hear too from a selected golfer first-hand.

How to play the course, in an exclusive Q&A slot… in this case six-time major winner and a Hilton Head Island winner too, Nick Faldo.

S0uth Carolina on my mind

Of course, all of us who sit (did I say we also have reserved seats in the 18th greenside grandstand?) are masters of the game.

Only we’re not, but the men draining the 40ft putts are.

Days like today and past evenings in Dublin are the closest I have come to visiting this corner of America in South Carolina.

But, of course, they merely heighten my longing to visit.

When I do I know I will be in the best of hands with my friends at Hilton Head.

All through the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport which itself is in Georgia.

Home and dry

I feel the hand of my Dear Old Dad beckoning me that it is time to leave ‘to beat the traffic’ his constant fear.

I feel though that he has extra super powers where he is now.

And he has sent dry weather down for our day at the Open, after the rainstorms that taunted the players the previous day.

An Open invitation

We will be back, both here, and another old stomping ground and family connection, Ireland.

Where the Open returns next year to Royal Portrush.

Where we are guaranteed a party at least on par with the Antrim course’s reunion with the Open after nearly 60 years.

When not even the legendary Ulster rain could dampen the spirits of the raucous golf fans cheering Irishman Shane Lowry to victory.

Even if for many that was from the apron of the Guinness Bar.

Me? I’ll figure out the waterproofs then.

For today, I’m with the cool crowd at The Engravers.

Dry, well catered for, and in the best company… Hilton Head of the pack at the golf in Troon.