I just paid my yearly residents ticket for my goff in St Andrews and am reeling a bit and picking myself off the floor somewhat. It’s gone up by 41.666666… per cent. In fact let me take the liberty of rounding that up, 41.67 per cent. That’s a lot.
The girl behind the counter at the Links Trust office tried to give me the tenuous explanation that it was because of covid. I hope she has not been told to say that as the party-line by the way. Because that’s about as convincing as hearing Boris say that he didn’t appreciate that he was at a party. It’s utter nonsense.
As far as I heard, the Links Trust got furlough money. And quite a lot of it I expect. Outwith salaries the Links Trust does not have seriously onerous overheads.
Now let me be straight here. Golf in St Andrews as a resident is still a very good deal indeed. But the Links Trust is supposed to be a charity. However it’s a charity with an effective license to print money and that takes care of the boys. These guys (I think they are all guys?) who sit on the Board are getting monstrously big salaries. Far too much in my opinion. I will have to look again but well well over a 100k per person as far as I recall. For running golf in St Andrews! I mean let me not beat about the bush here, even I could do that. But imagine all the freebies they’re getting too. It’s a gravy train and a gravy train that I’m not on I’m afraid.
So I don’t appreciate being effectively lied to when they say that they’ve had to put the resident ticket up by 41.67 per cent in a year, giving the line that it is a matter of survival. Which it manifestly is not. For some poorish students who have come here for the golf this is a lot of money guys. Not everyone is on a cushy number earning ridiculous amounts of lucre for organising a piss-up in a brewery.
Now on a different note, the Masters is over by all accounts. I will be honest. I never saw one shot. But what I’m hearing on the street is that the Sky coverage was woeful and largely focused upon Tiger Woods for some reason.
Why? That’s like focusing on some colourful bod at Wimbledon on Court 14 when all the real tennis is getting played and missed out on Centre Court. Tiger is not that big a deal anymore. Show the real bloody golf. That’s what people want and indeed mostly paid to see.
Now, I have never liked the look of Sir Nick Faldo (I better not forget the ‘Sir’ just in case he reads this. By all accounts he doesn’t even like being addressed as ‘Nick’. It’s got to be ‘Sir Nick’. Ok Nick) and I’ve heard from a most reliable first-hand report that he is an arrogant toad. Anyway it kind of amused me that he made that complete faux pas while commentating at the climax of the Masters, as Rory made his charge and holed that incredible bunker shot (ok I have now watched one shot from this years Masters!). Anyhow, the CBS cameras were seemingly focused on Cameron Smith putting on the 13th while elsewhere Rory sank from the sand. Sir Nick Faldo, who was watching Rory on another screen, took the whole drama out of the situation by exclaiming that ‘something amazing has just happened’. They then cut to a short clip of Rory (not even showing any build-up in the set-up for the shot) then holing from the sand. Thus the huge moment was spoiled for CBS viewers. They all kind of knew where that ball was heading.
But something else amazing happened Sir Nick. Someone gave you a knighthood and a commentating job at CBS.