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US Open - The Worst Fan Experience?

Simply because people can run (arguably) a good golf tournament doesn't mean they, or the 3rd party vendors they choose, can run a good fan experience.
i understand the desire to NOT to have a bunch of drunks wandering around the course (who knows, i could be one of them) but the dearth of water/food is not cool
 
MWard said:
Now the merchandise tent, that was a bit of a disaster. But, it also got really freakin cold and everyone was like welp, this place is warm.
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I had no problem. It was crowded sure but got through the check out reasonably and went straight to shipping and didn't have a problem. Didn't even notice the temperature. The one thing that I did notice was we landed in the grandstands behind 16 green which gives a good view of the T on 17 and finish on 18. We found out real quick that if you leave you must get back in line for a seat, you just can't come back in and sit down. That was the first experience for that.
 
Nappy said:
I completely understand not wanting to have drunk fans everywhere. But it's the food/water thing that I can't fathom. You're at a sporting event - make those things accessible at least.
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problem with that is that most of the items being ordered was beers and they had a brilliant idea to let you order as much as you want but when being delivered to your table, they were only allowed to leave up to two beers per person. I agree with the temp yesterday, they should have found a way to make water purchases available without delay
 
Alez367 said:
problem with that is that most of the items being ordered was beers and they had a brilliant idea to let you order as much as you want but when being delivered to your table, they were only allowed to leave up to two beers per person. I agree with the temp yesterday, they should have found a way to make water purchases available without delay
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Question on the beers. Were they draft or canned? Draft beer always kills the speed of service.
 
Alez367 said:
oh well let me give some first hand experience about this.

I put two orders in today while there. Since it was order via the app only or use the QR on your table to order via the website everything had to be done electronically. First order was in at 10:24am. A hot dog for me and a burrito for my boss. The service company said "no alcohol" before 10:30am but if you wanted sparkling wine and orange juice, it was acceptable. So i put my second order at 10:31am - 2 stellas and an orange gatorade. Nothing major even for their limited options. 10:35am order comes to the table but the burrito is missing. 5 minutes later the burrito shows up.
10:41am a server comes by with a tray asking "table 63?".
I replied "no, we're table 68 but that's our order, thanks."
She replied "oh no, this isn't your order, this says table 63. Yours will be coming soon".

Before i could say anything else, she walks away looking for table 63 and when she finds the table she asks them if it's their order and one guy says yes and one shakes his head no. She dropped them off and walked away. Keep in mind the orders are prepaid so yeah why turn down a free beer i guess?

35 minutes later after tracking down 3 servers and escalating my argument twice, they eventually ask me what my order is and just hand me two stellas and an orange gatorade. now that was at 11:20am, during that time the line to order started stretching around the pavilion. There were 3 pavilions on the grounds to order food and it was cluster at each location and by 1pm, the wait for food or even a tin of water was over 90 minutes. It just escalated from there over the afternoon. I know some people that actually went to people in front of the line and offered to purchase their order if they included their food/drinks in their order because of how long the lines were. And that was day one. It's only going to get worse as days go on and more people come to torrey on the weekend. The staffing for capacity cap way past the 10K they were saying it was going to be in just hilarious.
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That sounds horrible. Makes you really appreciate Augusta. No wait (or nearly no wait) for food, beer, or merchandise.
 
DataDude said:
My thoughts on the US Open are that they barely know how to put on a tournament. None of the majors are run by the Tour and I have no idea how The Open Championship works, but I have been to 3 PGA Championships run by the PGA of America who also puts on The Ryder Cup and they do a phenomenal job. I have heard nothing but absolute praise about the job Augusta National does. Meanwhile the USGA seems to screw up something every single year.
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I am going to disagree with you on the USGA not knowing how to put on a tournament. The only tournament you ever here a complaint about is the Men's US Open. That's because the male pro's are pampered by the PGA Tour and fans and media now feel it is sport to bang on the USGA. The Women's US Open gets huge praise from the Ladies. Ask anyone that has played in a USGA armature event and almost universally they say it is an amazing experience. Even the pro's that bang on the USGA when asked about their experience playing in the Walker Cup. Talk about it being on the top 2 or 3 golfing memories in their life. The USGA runs 15 events a year and you only hear complaints about one event. Maybe the issue isn't the USGA but the people complaining.
 
I worked a USGA senior open with over 2,000 volunteers and it was pretty much clockwork. I would wager part of the problem is the number of volunteers is down. With the USGA you pay for the privilege of working and get a couple of shirts. Frankly it is the cheapest way to get in, volunteer and then don't show up and just enjoy the tournament. That is why they need so many.
 
The Milk Man said:
I am going to disagree with you on the USGA not knowing how to put on a tournament. The only tournament you ever here a complaint about is the Men's US Open. That's because the male pro's are pampered by the PGA Tour and fans and media now feel it is sport to bang on the USGA. The Women's US Open gets huge praise from the Ladies. Ask anyone that has played in a USGA armature event and almost universally they say it is an amazing experience. Even the pro's that bang on the USGA when asked about their experience playing in the Walker Cup. Talk about it being on the top 2 or 3 golfing memories in their life. The USGA runs 15 events a year and you only hear complaints about one event. Maybe the issue isn't the USGA but the people complaining.
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Ok so they don't know how to put on a men's professional golf event.
 
I guess they'll have a year to unass themselves... Hopefully
 
DataDude said:
Ok so they don't know how to put on a men's professional golf event.
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I’ll go back and LOL in a second at your comment my Internet friend.

I think they do. There is nothing patently unfair so far. Hit the (edited to) darn FW or die. What one expects from a US Open is exactly that.

Greens have been tough but fair so far. I think -5 has a good chance to win with anyone under par to have a top 10 at minimum. Prefect set up in my opinion.
 
I went to the US Open at Pebble in 2019 and thought it was as good an experience as any other I’ve had. The USGA did a great experience for the fans that year and I was thoroughly impressed.
 
Give 'em a break. They've only had one year to plan all this out. :golf:
 
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