A Cranleigh team of 8 Sixth Form and 4 staff had a fantastic week at Royal Troon for the Open Golf Championships at the start of the summer holidays. The R&A (The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews) once again invited Cranleigh to be responsible for the iconic yellow scoreboards on the 18th green, a 30 year tradition. Alongside this, training two local schools who would take a lead in operating the boards as the week progressed. It is an important role with the TV cameras and eyes of all the spectators on these most high profile boards and it requires efficiency, concentration and teamwork to ensure it works seamlessly with zero (or minimal!) mistakes.
Pleasingly, the Cranleigh team showed excellent leadership and teamwork to mentor the pupils and staff from Marr College in Troon and Wellington school in Ayr who were delightful company and quick learners. This meant a decent, professional job was done as well as it being a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all.
Of course there is also plenty of time to be able to enjoy watching the best golfers in the world on a beautiful course and soak up the wonderful atmosphere. The weather was ‘typically scottish’ which made it a real challenge for the players and led to some unpredictable scoring but made it all the more exciting to watch. We were also fortunate our passes got us to the front of queues and also behind the scenes to see players as they warmed up or were relaxing. Some of the boys managed to charm the staff in the manufacturers’ tour trucks to gain some extra “free golf stash” in addition to the excellent smart kit the R&A supplied to all of us volunteers.
The weather meant staying in tents at the Open Camping Village was a challenge at times but to their credit the boys came prepared, were always upbeat and thankfully the rain didn’t prevent the all-important games of beach cricket and campsite football!
The trip really is an unforgettable experience and the boys and staff had a simply brilliant time – roll on Royal Portrush next year!
Mr Charlie Boddington, Assistant Head (Co-Curricular)
