I’ve been to ten Ryder Cups but my experience in Paris was like no other. For starters I wasn’t working. I wasn’t attending as a corporate guest either, but as a diehard, bona fide golf fan, in other words, as a normal punter. And, if Paris is anything to go by, you have to be really resolute and determined, not to mention possessed of infinite patience, to manage one day, never mind three, at a modern-day Ryder Cup.
When I had applied for our tickets back in February the instructions as to how to gain access to Le Golf National had come back loud and clear. You could drive your car to a designated car park from which you could hop on a shuttle bus to be taken to the course. The heavily touted option, though, was to take public transport to one of two railway stations, one on the east side of the course, the other on the west. From there shuttle buses would ferry everyone to the course. The trick for us, therefore, was to stay reasonably close to a direct line in to St Quentin-en-Yvelines railway station, seven kilometres from the course and from which our shuttles would operate.
So, Patricia and I found ourselves a lovely little hotel in Boulogne-Billancourt, a lively, vibrant Parisian suburb not a million miles from Roland Garros. We knew that in all likelihood it would take us about an hour and a half to get to the course but we were OK with that because we also wanted easy access to Paris and all its wonderful sights. Many people were staying much further in than us – right in the heart of the city – but we felt we had the perfect compromise. Early in the week we did a test run to check our timings and an hour and 40 minutes was pretty much par for the course.
Friday dawned and the alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 4.50 am. We had decided to be at the course in loads of time to soak up the legendary atmosphere of a home Ryder Cup. We left the hotel just after 5.30am (the Metro opened at 5.30) and all went well with our four stops on the Metro and then the train journey to St Quentin where we arrived around 6.35ish. We were now only 7km from the course with over 90 minutes till tee-off. We missed the opening shots of the match.
The very first of our early morning, nightmarish queues.
From stepping off the train we were directed out to where the shuttles were parked, but first hundreds and hundreds of spectators had to funnel through an opening between TWO people checking we all had tickets. Talk about a bottleneck! Thinking the worst was over we shuffled on another 50 metres to a security section where four lines of us squeezed through, half-heartedly opening bags as we went. They were just as half-heartedly inspected. Phew! This was all beginning to take a bit too long. Emerging from the seemingly pointless security check we were dismayed to see there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people ahead of us in line for the transport to the course. Time was marching on, but we most certainly weren’t and the ghastly thought occurred that perhaps we wouldn’t get too much opportunity to join in the pre-match singing.
By the end of the week we couldn’t wait to squeeze ourselves on to these travelling sardine tins.
In the cold morning air, with empty tums (no breakfast yet) and a need for that first caffeine shot of the day, we tortuously made our way closer to the nirvana of stepping onto the shuttle transport. We made it! Packed in like sardines, with standing room only, we swayed our way through the early morning traffic for 20 minutes, hanging on to pretty much anything we could and it was with no small measure of delight that we were disgorged at the course. Our spirits lifted momentarily – it was approaching 7.30am, almost two hours since we’d set off, but we were at the course now, (weren’t we,?) and the first tee off was at 8.05am. Once off the bus we joined yet another queue on the pavement, but this one was moving, albeit slowly, along by a hedge. Not long to go now, surely? With a huge degree of expectation we rounded the end of the hedge and couldn’t believe the sight that met our eyes – a car park of NEC proportions with literally hundreds of folk patiently shuffling, shuffling, shuffling to the speck in the distance that was…..the security checkpoint area!! Hmm, thought we’d done that….but no, this journey had turned into a nightmare and we were trapped helplessly in the middle of the most pathetically organised movement of people (or not) that I had witnessed in a long time.
Hours of queuing…………
Thankfully, all things come to an end and eventually we cleared security only to discover we weren’t even yet on golf course property. A fast, 15-minute route march delivered us to the West Village and a huge rectangular seating area bounded on all sides by the merchandise tent, catering outlets and at the far end a huge stage with a monumental screen. A corridor of no more than five strides width had delivered this sea of humanity to this oasis but to find the exit to the course – you know, where the GOLF was being played – was a little more tricky. Lack of signage didn’t help but our recce on Tuesday did. We weaved our way through the plethora of picnic tables to a similar corridor that exited the village diagonally opposite to where we had entered. Ah yes, another bottleneck! We were getting used to these by now. We filed through this narrow passage to be met by a staircase that we traversed and when we crested the top we caught our first sight of the course.
By this stage we were both plugged in to the on-course radios that we’d bought on Tuesday and were aware that the possibility of delaying the start had been mooted due to thousands of fans being trapped in endless queues trying to access the course. The decision was to go ahead on time, so when we finally got our feet on the green, green grass of Le Golf National, the Ryder Cup had already started. What a shambles it had all been!
We golf fans are nothing if not resilient, however, and we set off in pursuit of Justin Rose and Jon Rahm in the top match. The pedometers on our phones were set to go through the roof for this week! The day on the course ended better than it had begun and Europe rebounded from a 3-1 morning deficit to sweep the foursomes by four matches to nil. Hooray!
Delighted that the matches had finished early and in our favour we were keen to get back to our hotel and find a nice little bistro and bottle of red for our post-match ruminations. Hold on – not so fast! We faced the nightmare journey in reverse, starting with the treacherous, and frankly dangerous funneling of everyone down the staircase into the tented village area. An hour later and we hadn’t reached the security checkpoint only to be told over the loudspeaker that it would be another hour before we boarded a bus to the station and why didn’t we enjoy the tented village a little longer? That brought wry smiles – we had been queuing 40 minutes since we had exited said village, locked into an immoveable mass of human beings. Eventually, however, we squeezed onto a bus, standing room only, of course, and lurched our way back to the station. On to one of the fabulous double-decker trains at last – and once again, sardine-like, standing for the 40-minute journey. We made it back to our hotel some fifteen hours after we had left it, a long, long ole day, but fabulous – despite some six of those hours having been spent queuing! And this logisitical movement of people had only been ten years in the planning, I’m told!
More queuing. Patience is a virtue……Thank God the sun shone for three days.
Allow me to finish regaling you with the travel challenges of the Ryder Cup. Saturday was a revelation! Everything ran like clockwork and we whizzed into, and away from, the venue in around an hour and 40 minutes – still sardine packed, but very happy sardines given the experiences of the Friday. On Sunday, lulled by a false feeling of security and the knowledge that the first singles match didn’t tee off until after midday we were confident that THIS would be the day we would get there in time to join in the 1st tee singing. We thought we’d leave the hotel around 8.30 and have breakfast at the course…. but we had not reckoned with the trains running to their normal, once-an-hour, Sunday timetable – and, no long trains, of course, only short ones! Having just missed the 8.30, we didn’t panic and waited patiently for the 9.30. It was like watching a train in India coming into the station – the only place people weren’t hanging off the train was on the roof. The train pulled in……..and pulled out. A couple of folk may have squeezed on, but it was dangerous and hundreds of fans were left standing on the platform. Bearing in mind we were relatively close to the start of the train’s journey and had no hope of boarding, this scenario was repeated all the way down the line.
Stranded!
Of course, there was no information, no help, and we were left to our own devices to find a solution. Banding together with a lovely Italian fan and a couple of American supporters, who were completely bemused by the whole experience, we sorted an alternative route complete with change of line and train to St Quentin-en-Yvelines. Once there we navigated the buses, the security, the bottlenecks and the route march like the old hands we were and arrived at the course with fifteen minutes to spare. A world record of three and a quarter hours to go from A to B. Thank God it wasn’t a four day event – we might not have lasted the pace.
If you are still reading – well done for hanging in there, and you are probably thinking that it was a pity the travel was poor, but everything else was well organised, right? Wrong! In no particular order, these were the other challenges the humble fan faced.
1 Catering – slow, slow, slow service. Unforgiveable in fact. Pleasant staff, but no sense of urgency and manana was a little too immediate for them. More time spent in queues.
2 Cost of food. A cardboard carton of fish and chips was 15 euros. I bought two pork and apple sauce baguettes (very dry despite the sauce) and three small bottles of still water – 34 euros. This was rip-off city – and on the Sunday the catering place behind the 14th tee was sold out of baguettes by the time the FIRST match got there. Underprepared and underwhelming quality.
3 Not nearly enough rubbish bins. A few bin bags tied on to the rope line simply don’t do it. The bins were full to overflowing by 10.00am and although most people piled their rubbish by the base of the bins, by the end of the day those of us behind the ropes were wading through a rubbish tip. It was all cleared up by the next day, but I’ve never seen a golf event looking like that.
4 Not one single, stand-alone scoreboard on the golf course keeping us up-to-date. There were screens showing the Sky Sports coverage and when Sky chose to show a scoreboard you could catch up on the overall situation – but only if you were quick and had your binoculars handy. Suggesting everyone was using the Ryder Cup app is no defence. It isn’t true – and apps chew up your phone battery in no time.
5 We are experienced golf watchers of 50 years so were armed with periscopes as well as binoculars. Patricia’s periscope had been purchased at a previous Ryder Cup. I lost count of the number of times people asked where they could get them and had we got them in the merchandise tent? Despite the stadium-style mounding around the course, when you’re standing ten deep you can’t see anything – unless armed with a periscope.
It seems to me that the ordinary golf fan is endowed with endless patience and good humour. It undoubtedly helped that at the end of each day we were buoyed by our team’s success, but it seems evident to me that the real golf fan is not considered one jot. The powers-that-be must remember that it’s the fans who make the atmosphere and provide the great platform for the Ryder Cup. Where would the tours be without a solid fan base? They’re not asking to be mollycoddled – just to have reasonable and affordable facilities in place and to have well organised movement in and out of the venue. And they are paying through the nose, remember.
One fellow professional, a golf tragic like us, had bought tickets for all three days and attended the match with two others. After Friday’s experience, totally disgruntled, they caught a 3.00am Eurostar home and were in front of their own television sets on Saturday for the TV coverage.
So, to the powers-that-be – please don’t talk to us about “growing the game” if you’re not prepared to address these issues and please, please lift your eye momentarily and occasionally from the profit line.
Now, what do you think the Italian organisation will be like in 2022? Dare you go and find out?
Utterly disgraceful Maureen. It appears the sad fact is that you’re regarded as a moneypit and an atmospheric backdrop for a TV camera. Technically known in the trade as a ‘mug’. Paris was always going to be a challenge with far too many tickets sold – and it’s PARIS – but your fan experience should have been much better than as described. Hopefully, Guy Kinnings will have your post drawn to his attention as he begins to plan Rome.
I hope Maureen you sent this to the governing body of the Ryder cup you are correct in saying it’s the fans that make it , I enjoyed it very much indeed in front of the tv…
Mo that is a good realistic review and U just hope the powers that be take some note
Well done sticking it out
We listened on 5 live in Croatia and Italy and it was gripping
Well done team
It may well find its way there somehow or other! Glad you enjoyed it on TV – a slightly easier commute!
Well Bill, I wonder if anyone from the organising powers-that-be did the journey on a daily basis with the fans? Unlikely.
Oh my word, it sounds worse in the written word!!!
Italy’s turn next – that should be fun!!
It took a fair degree of resilience!
This horrendous account reminds me of the France v England six nations fixture at Stade Francais a few months before the 1998 football World Cup. This was the first event at the stadium. The exit route from the stands at one end (suspect same at other) involved at least 10.000 people going down a short staircase about 20 feet wide. It was, as you might have gathered, frightening and not forgotten. It’s a real shame that you had this experience and your account should most certainly be circulated. Numbers need to respond for real action to take place. They’ve got four years but Rome wasn’t built in a day. My neck hairs are activated knowing Italy and their golf pretty well and think things will be even worse.
I can SO relate to this. Husband and I went to the Gleneagles Ryder cup and although the transport worked well we couldn’t see anything much on the course, the stands were full, the food was an exorbitant price, not enough rubbish bins, we queued, very very slowly, for absolutely everything. Meanwhile missing the action. We ended up in the tented village watching on the big screen which worked ok. But not what we were hoping or expecting to do.
We are glad we went but won’t be doing it again.
Well done and well written Maureen — What an ordeal — TV and sitting in a chair was the ideal scenario I feel – and obviously showed none of the background mess.
Maureen,
You so eloquently drew on your professionalism and disciplined mind to write a justifiably lacerating report on Ryder Cup for the ‘punter’. The fans are dreadfully exploited and the travel and security bureaucracy which has associated itself to Ryder Cup and Opens is out-of-control. The European Tour must address these issues, otherwise the fans will decide it’s an armchair view. Many of these problems are not new and.those of us in the media who have been more regally treated will take note. You and Patricia went as fans, asked no special treatment: ‘punters’ have no better advocate.
I listened on radio 5 live..FABULOUS. Amazing the amount of cooking and housework done during transmission.
I can identify very much with your last sentence, Jenny.
I fear your neck hairs may be correct!
Totally resonate with your experience Maureen. The Friday was shambolic to say the least and even once back at St Quentin the organisation was poor for holding people outside the station on Saturday, which led to a surge and a poor woman ending up under a barrier that a rather impatient idiot had decided to throw to one side! Was home on Sunday to watch on TV. Golf was superb and IMO viewing better than Gleneagles but organisers need to up their game. Still all roads lead to Rome just hopefully quickly!!!
The good humour of the fans was amazing – probably just as well that a) we won and b) the sun shone all week!
The Solheim cup, on the other hand, when it was held in Germany , was a total pleasure to attend. I didn’t enjoy the Ryder Cup when held in Ireland even though it wasn’t half as tough as your experience.
Ah, I remember the weather at the K club – brutal!
Hopefully you will use your contacts to influence change!
It also occurs to me that you may well have a novel in you!!
X
I don’t think I can do either, Chrissie, either influence or produce a novel!!!!
Hazeltine was worse. When you did get in you could not see a thing because of all the corporate structures, At least in Paris the mounds helped the viewing experience. The lack of seating and tables near food concessions was poor as was the lack of toilets. 55000 a day means over 12000 round each of the 4 matches on Fri/Sat – Impossible.
Wow that is unbelievable we had a wonderful time here in Australia watching it on the television thought the coverage was superb.
Couldn’t agree with you more, Maureen. This was the worst of seven Ryder Cups I have been to. Worst logistics, worst catering, worst reaction from the many fans on both sides of the Atlantic. The only positive I can take from it is that you didn’t need photographs on your expensive tickets (hence assignable in the event you weren’t able to make it) and mobile phones (cell phones) were allowed if kept on silent. Organisers have got a lot to answer for!!!
Well done Maureen a great description of the events in Paris. Just to add a couple of comments – my biggest gripe were the amount of golf buggies attempting to gain access among the fans. Most treated the fans disrespectfully forcing there way through the crowds. I personally witnessed a couple of people hit, but not seriously by buggies. Also very annoying were the vast amount of ‘hangers on’ following the players. Having spent a number of hours waiting for matches to come through, when they did your view was blocked by odd officials, family members and dozens of media people. Sorry but not again.
Really sorry to hear about your issues Maureen, Charlotte and I were also at the event and didn’t have anywhere near the problems you faced. We too stayed outside of Paris in a small place called Issy-les-Moulineaux. The hotel wasn’t the Ritz but clean and for how long we were in our room, perfectly adequate. They even put breakfast out at 530 each morning and provided us with a bag of croissants and ham and cheese baguettes and coffee for our early morning journey to the course. We too had to leave the hotel just before 6am for an hour and a half commute. 2 metro lines and a double decker train got us to the Eastern shuttle bus site where each morning we walked straight onto a Ryder Cup bus, one of dozens waiting for us. The first morning like yourselves we arrived at the course at 730 and missed the opening match at 8.10. Security hadn’t woken up to the numbers of people who would be arriving at the same time! We quickly realised that the security queue was because everyone’s rucksack had to be checked so the following 2 days we left them behind and got in much quicker. Food was overpriced but isn’t it the same at most sporting venues! I’ve paid as much at Wembley for sure. Because we had breakfast en route, by the time we needed food the queues had subsided and we found this each day. We didn’t follow a specific match but selected various greens each day from where we had great views and also could see a screen. Sky showed the scoreboard quite frequently and the radio also kept us up to date with the scores. We made the most of every day and it was 9pm each evening when happy, excited and leg weary, we got back to our hotel. We loved our Ryder cup experience, it was everything and more than we expected and we already have Rome on our radar for 2022
We even travelled back to the UK with the amazingly brilliant Mr Molinari on Eurostar and got the selfies as evidence, which topped our week!
#GoEurope
Maureen
I agree with you entirely. Also my 10th Ryder Cup,this time as a spectator. Imagine if we had lost and had the K club Weather.
Stayed at the hotel on Sunday and watched on TV.
Endured a horrendous train Journey to Charles De Gaul.
Glad to be back in Ireland, before my inside the ropes trip to St Andrews and Walton Heath. Life on Tour and still living the Dream.
Great Piece of Writing Maureen. Hope Super Stroke working well.
Regards
Brian. SilverFox McConnell
A brilliant spectacle on TV here in Oz. I didn’t hear a single comment from any of the commentators during the three days I watched. Sorry you had such a tough journey. Italy undoubtedly will be a challenge too.
We stayed on the South side of the city. Easy to get around and visited the Fan Zone on the Friday to watch some of the golf. Think, you left out the lack of toilets. The queues were horrendous!
All said, we really enjoyed the Saturday we were there but it was good to be watching the singles back home on the Sunday.
Lots of lessons to be learned by the organisers.
We were there too Friday and Sunday….it was a bit mental on Friday but Sunday much better….too much detail in that description….golf was gr8…have to suck a lot up and get on with it..
You have to be a bit cuter…like very little queues at hospitality stands around course which helped hugely and away from main hospitality area and exactly the same stuff but on smaller scale but you d only realise this if you were there for two days….
Maureen, myself and a friend went on Sunday. We set off the same time as you and missed the start of the first 4 matches. We were so worried about getting our respective, prebooked trains home (Eurostar / Bordeaux for my friend) that we left before the last 4 matches had finished. I made my 8:45 Eurostar with about 15 minutes to spare. I hate to think if I’d have left half an hour later. We paid $200 euro for each ticket which didn’t include travel. As you say catering was very expensive.
It was certainly a challenge but wasn’t the atmosphere wonderful?
You’re right, Issy, you have to be cute. It was a great atmosphere and great golf but the organisers do have a responsibility to the paying public.
I think you got the right balance, Alison – two days there and one at home in front of the TV.
Brian – lovely to hear from you. Wonder if you and I will make an 11th Ryder Cup?!
I am SO pleased you loved your Ryder Cup experience, Helena. That’s how I want it to be for everyone. It certainly seems that the Eastern shuttle bus site worked better than the West. So, are you signed up for Whistling Straits?!!
I agree, Colin. One thing I’d do – I’d limit each player to having a maximum of two family members inside the ropes. I fail to see why vice Captains have family inside the ropes.
Oh Mo that sounds absolutely dreadful – well done for sticking it out. I spent 3 days on the couch and enjoyed every minute but was envious of you being there and enjoying the atmosphere ……. mmm!! Typically French and doesn’t bode well for Italy. I’m sure you’ll have a much better experience in Ireland – no queues, superb food, great company, birthday celebrations and of course wonderful golf – enjoy. Love to all
Thanks Susan. Was going to ring you this past week but have had no voice due to a bout of laryngitis! Hope all’s well.
Yes people inside the ropes should be limited it was like waiting for the Lord Mayors show to pass before you could cross. Still a fabulous golf experience and I’m ready for Rome! Wonder how many gladiator outfits we’ll see
Complain, complain, complain! For nearly every complaint I offer an alternative viewpoint. We totally enjoyed our Ryder Cup experience, with our only complaint being the overflowing rubbish bins on Friday (not much of an issue over the weekend, I noticed). The official buses from downtown Paris hotels were a breeze and we only passed through security & ticket checks once a day. The official buses took us directly to the front gates, thereby bypassing the lengthy queues the people who decided to travel independently took. I gather you likely did not notice the toilets tucked away from the merchandise and food areas, which had zero queues every time we went on three days of play? Did you notice the paths up and down the hill which bypassed the queues at the stairs? Signs to the course from the entrances were clearly available if you looked upward. Also, we found the food prices were much less expensive than many stadium events we attend, although we also brought some water and food in our bag. Understanding the course layout and hole lengths as well as some planning was key to enjoying front-rope positioning to see the players at 3 locations each day; we could even sit on our blanket and not worry about other fans blocking our view. We brought our lipstick-sized cell phone battery packs to enjoy the free live radio and match updates in the app each day without exhausting our phone batteries. Attending this event while pragmatically looking for solutions to any challenges apparently made our experience significantly less stressful and much more enjoyable than you. Cheers to a better outing next time!
Congrats – sounds like you had everything very well sorted and a great experience.
Totally agree, you forgot the lack of toilets and that they constantly ran out of paper and paper towels. They were also in a very poor state for most of the time.
I was a volunteer there and stayed in the same area. I walked to the station at Issy sue la Seine (the buses didn’t start until 6am) so that I could catch the first train at 5.23 each day. I was then able to get one of the first shuttle buses, but I still experienced the same queues. We did have a separate line on the second day for us. Just not good enough!
Good for you for volunteering but it’s hard work when you have to go through all that.