Grange Golf Club’s head professional Warren Mercer shares his thoughts about the biggest golf event Down Under this year.
LIV Golf Adelaide will be unlike any golf tournament ever staged in Australia: 54 holes of strokeplay, shotgun starts, blaring music, a bevy of Major champions and record ticket sales.
Grange Golf Club’s Composite layout – taken from the East and West courses – will accommodate as many as 25,000 people on each of the three days. The vast property has ample room to showcase LIV Golf’s 48-man field – which is about one-third the size of a traditional strokeplay tournament.
LIV Golf has allocated 15,000 ground passes and 5,000 hospitality tickets per day as well as entry for the club’s 2,000 members. Add volunteers, course maintenance and catering staff as well as LIV players with their entourages and it vindicates the choice of the 37-hole complex to host LIV’s first event in Australia.
Gates will open at 9am with a shotgun start anticipated for 11.30am. It begs the question as to how to watch the golf and maximise the viewing experience, especially for interstate visitors unfamiliar with The Grange.
Head professional Warren Mercer has an intimate knowledge of course. Mercer indicates spectating will be a delicate balance between watching the golf, enjoying the hospitality, autograph-hunting and buying LIV Golf merchandise.
Mercer’s advice is to arrive early enough to get a position near the practice range or short-game/putting areas. The 60-metre wide practice fairway is a prime location to see how professionals prepare for a round.
Players are likely to start arriving 60-90 minutes prior to their tee-times. They’re also likely to practise together with their teams. Mercer suggests there could be an opportunity to grab an autograph before players hit the range.
“I’d be planning on getting to the practice fairway an hour, or three-quarters of an hour before [tee-off],” Mercer says. “You might get some people hitting some putts and chip shots.”
“Being a shotgun start, they can follow groups, but they’re probably better off just staying in one position.”
As for the best on-course vantage points, Mercer recommends the clubhouse precinct where viewing options include the first tee, second green, third tee, ninth green, 10th tee and 18th green. This area will have food/beverage stalls and a merchandise tent.
Another suggestion is the back-nine hub around the 13th green, par-3 14th hole, 15th tee, 16th green and 17th tee – all within 150 metres of each other – to see a variety of holes rather than standing behind a single green. South Australia’s famous food and wine will be on show there inside the ‘Kangaroo Island’ (13th green) and ‘Barossa’ experiences (14th green).
The Grange has four par 3s from which to view the action: holes three, six, 12 and 14. A party atmosphere will be at the 12th – dubbed ‘The Watering Hole’ – where fans can enjoy the Shark Shack, The Garden, The Beach Club and The Cellar Door hospitalities.
Mercer cautions: “Anybody that doesn’t have something like a hospitality package might struggle to get a real good view on the 12th hole.”
So for those with a ground-day pass, the green at the par-3 third is a better spectator option as it also offers views of the first green and fourth tee. So, too, the par-3 14th in the aforementioned back-nine hub.
And the sixth, a stunning downhill par 3 of about 130 metres, should provide theatrics with a heavily bunkered narrow green that stretches 48 metres from front to back. “That’s a real neat little hole if they wanted to see these guys hit wedges into a par 3.”
Mercer’s personal favourite hole at The Grange is the Composite’s 16th (16 West), a long par 4 that meanders to the left and always plays back into the sea breeze off Gulf St Vincent.
As for travelling to The Grange, the South Australian government has designated free public transport for LIV Golf ticket holders. It’s a 10-minute walk from Seaton Park railway station. Being school holidays, the tournament promoter (Performance54) has secured car parking at Seaton High School. Westfield West Lakes and playing grounds near West Lakes inlet are also options.
For tourists, it’s probably too late to arrange a round at one of Adelaide’s marquee clubs during the days either side of LIV Golf. Royal Adelaide, Kooyonga and Glenelg are all booked solid. Mercer knows of one tour group staying in Hahndorf, 45 minutes east of Adelaide, as an alternative hub where they can discover regional hidden gems like Aston Hills, Mount Lofty, Mount Osmond and Strathalbyn.
• Warren Mercer is one of more than 100 PGA members aligned with Performance Golf. Its ‘Your Golf Pro’ website (ygponline.net) is committed to providing excellence in golf tuition, club-fitting and savings to consumers on golf equipment.
“It’s a no-brainer for any of us to be part of it,” Mercer says. “It’s generating lessons, member engagement, social media, new products, specials, what’s going on around the golf club. All of those sort of things is what it helps with. And then, of course, there’s the special buyer prices… that helps us be competitive against off-course stores.”
“Performance Golf is a buying group that gives us the opportunity to buy/sell product and market ourselves better than what we would normally be able to afford.”
