10/2/2018 3:10 AM
No Captain, I didn't go to the Ryder Cup, even though it was only 30 minutes away. I didn't buy tickets early, figuring I'd get comped somehow, which never happened. Then by the time I admitted to myself no free tickets were forthcoming, it was over $400 for general admission on just the Friday, and prices went up from there, prices which I couldn't justify to my family or myself.
It turns out that this was likely the biggest crowd ever at a Ryder Cup, maybe any golf competition, Did you see the mass of people on TV? It was almost as big as Trump"s inauguration!
I attended a Ryder Cup at Valderrama in Spain in 1997, and found it's not the best viewing spectacle. With only a few matches going at a time, the crowds are impenetrable and you can see more action with a better view on TV. All you miss are the Americans yelling, "Go Tiger" or, "Let's go Justin". Golf National has the spectator mounding that Valderrama doesn't, but even so it's hard to get close and besides, I avoid large crowds as much as I can.
I know the course at Golf National well, and I like to think that the super Alejandro Reyes is a friend of mine. I was the first local GCS to reach out to him when he came up from Spain to congratulate him and lend what assistance I could with local knowledge of suppliers and such.
Getting that job when he did was like winning a lottery, but Alejandro did a great job with it. About two years before the RC they did a multi-million dollar renovation, complete new irrigation system, drainage system, added tees, cart paths, capillary concrete in all the bunkers, rebuilt 2 greens, and capped all the fairways with about 6" of sand.
People often talk about, "taking the golf course to the next level" and expecting the GCS to do it by force of will. Golf National is a text book example of how that's actually done, with professional management and the application of resources.
That said, I never liked playing the course, too much water for my liking, but apparently the pros hold it in high regard.