St Andrews - Golf's capital city

GM's Neil Tappin has arrived in St Andrews ahead of the 150th Open Championship. It may be early but there's still plenty going on ahead of the start of play on Thursday and Neil's been out and about

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The Claret Jug, St Andrews
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Neil Tappin
By Neil Tappin
published

The Open Championship might not start until Thursday but for the town of St Andrews, the event is well and truly under way. Players, caddies, marshals, spectators, media - you name it, they are all here transforming this coastal town into a sea of white tents, shiney black courtesy cars and vast but empty yellow scoreboards.

There are two reasons why the Open at St Andrews is a uniquely special occasion coming as it does smack bang in the middle of a tournament schedule filled with impressive events. The first is obviously the golf course and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you all about it. So I'll move on to the second one - the town. St Andrews is essentially made up of three roads, North Street, Market Street and South Street. These lie within two minutes walk of the 18th green meaning that anyone staying in town has no need to drive to any of the courses. Seeing people walking through the streets here with golf shoes on their feet and clubs strapped to their backs is not unusual. And for all those in attendance this week, the buzz created on the course during the day makes it's way into the bars in the evening.

Last night, the Golf Monthly team (consisting of one - me...) decided to sample the off course atmosphere by watching the World Cup final in one of the many pubs in town. As is often the case, there was no shortage of caddies doing the same thing, including Tiger's very own bag man Stevie Williams. Whether it was down to the football or the golf, I'm not sure but St Andrews was already buzzing.

The point of all this is that unlike some Open venues where all those in attendance disappear off to different towns at the end of the day, at St Andrews nobody leaves. Most of the players competing for the 150th Open Championship, are also staying in town so off course, they too mingle with the fans. Whether they like this or not, I'm not sure but for those of us with a watching brief, it brings us closer to tournament golf than anywhere else.

Where next?

News: Open golf news Archives: Open golf history and records Course guide: St Andrews hole-by-hole Pictures: Open Championship golf pictures

Neil Tappin
Neil Tappin
Editor

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he has also presented many Golf Monthly videos looking at all areas of the game from Tour player interviews to the rules of golf. 

Throughout his time with the brand he has also covered equipment launches that date back well over a decade. He clearly remembers the launch of the Callaway and Nike square drivers as well as the white TaylorMade driver families, such as the RocketBallz! If you take a look at the Golf Monthly YouTube channel, you'll see his equipment videos dating back over a decade! He has also conducted 'What's In The Bag' interviews with many of the game's best players like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. Over the years, Neil has tested a vast array of products in each category and at drastically different price-points. 


Neil is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Wood: Titleist TSR2 Hybrid: Titleist TS3 Irons: PING Blueprint S (4&5), PING Blueprint T (6-PW) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 50˚, 54˚, 60˚ Putter: Odyssey Triple Track Ten Ball: Titleist Pro V1X

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