I’m not a golfer and have never had any interest but Dave wanted to go to the Players this year. Some friends of ours went last year and said what a great experience it was so we booked our Florida holiday to coincide with the tournament. We booked our tickets online and a hotel in Jacksonville for 2 nights.
It took about 3 hours to get there from our villa including a breakfast stop. It was easy to find, we collected our tickets from Will Call which was clearly signposted and then into the car park which was organised with Disney like efficiency. We had bought foldaway chairs from Walgreens for $7 each but as this day was practice day we were planning to walk the course so left them behind.
I had my large bag with me packed with sunscreen, camera, cover up tops, purse, binoculars etc, we knew we couldn’t take food or drinks in. I was told the bag was too big, I didn’t have a smaller one with me so we had to take whatever we could fit in our pockets! We were absolutely stunned by how beautiful the place was, as you would expect in the US I suppose. You are allowed to take your camera on practice day so we were able to take lots of photos. I managed to get a shot of Ian Poulter on the practice green and Ricky Fowler giving out autographs. We walked round most of the course, watching the golfers practice. The clubhouse was a magnificent imposing building decked out in the stars and stripes because it was military appreciation day.
At about 4pm everyone started to gather at the front of the clubhouse for the concert, there were hundreds of people there and at this point we wished we had taken the chairs. There was a ceremony where the armed services marched in to much applause and a fly past by the US airforce. After the tribute to the services there was a concert by country singer Darius Rucker. By this time we had been out in the sun for long enough and still needed to find our hotel so we left.
It was a great day, the atmosphere was brilliant, there were plenty of concession stands and water points. I would recommend it even if you’re not a fan of the game.
It took about 3 hours to get there from our villa including a breakfast stop. It was easy to find, we collected our tickets from Will Call which was clearly signposted and then into the car park which was organised with Disney like efficiency. We had bought foldaway chairs from Walgreens for $7 each but as this day was practice day we were planning to walk the course so left them behind.
I had my large bag with me packed with sunscreen, camera, cover up tops, purse, binoculars etc, we knew we couldn’t take food or drinks in. I was told the bag was too big, I didn’t have a smaller one with me so we had to take whatever we could fit in our pockets! We were absolutely stunned by how beautiful the place was, as you would expect in the US I suppose. You are allowed to take your camera on practice day so we were able to take lots of photos. I managed to get a shot of Ian Poulter on the practice green and Ricky Fowler giving out autographs. We walked round most of the course, watching the golfers practice. The clubhouse was a magnificent imposing building decked out in the stars and stripes because it was military appreciation day.
At about 4pm everyone started to gather at the front of the clubhouse for the concert, there were hundreds of people there and at this point we wished we had taken the chairs. There was a ceremony where the armed services marched in to much applause and a fly past by the US airforce. After the tribute to the services there was a concert by country singer Darius Rucker. By this time we had been out in the sun for long enough and still needed to find our hotel so we left.
It was a great day, the atmosphere was brilliant, there were plenty of concession stands and water points. I would recommend it even if you’re not a fan of the game.