Thinking about going to watch the womens open in blackpool. Bit never been to watch golf live what should i expect what days are best??

I dont mind going on the practise days if they have them when the players are more relaxed and more likly to sign autographs.

Practice Days are good Matt, having been to the last two British Opens. Players are much more fan friendly, happy to sign autographs as they come off every green and come off the practice range and practice greens, where as during the tournament days they aren't as pleasing.

Also on Practice Days they tend to hit a couple of balls into the greens, maybe even a drive or two just to work out where they want the ball and what clubs to use to approach the green. Then when at the green they obviously spend time putting to different points on the greens to get a feel for the pace in different directions, slope and obviously look for breaks around where they suspect pins will be located. Then they'll do some chipping to again see how the ball reacts to the surface. The Caddie will then make notes on this.

I also like to spend time down at the practice range watching them warm up, and practice. Watching the Pros swings you begin to notice things they do and share in common and then also see the little individual elements. You can use this then when you get home as inspiration for your own practice, trying to work on the common elements.

Obviously during the competition days trying to get an idea who you want to see and planning where to catch them is important as crowd depths plus the way the courses are roped off prevents you moving around easily. I like to employ the old method of picking a spot and letting them come to me. Also look at a tee time sheet and see what the groups are like. Picking a spot can mean you see a lot of the stars come through and then you can move to another point and again watch them come through. Also try to find a vantage point on the course that gives you views across a couple of holes. Then you can see more of the action.

I would assume at the Women's Events crowds won't be as huge so you should be able to see and move around more.

Will there be crowds there for the practice days to?
So its not a good idear to say try to follow one player around all day in the compertition days.
Do you get to see alot when you go?

There are always people there on the practice days Matt, but obviously for the tournament days and especially the weekend there will be many thousands more there which makes viewing harder.

Trying to follow one group of players is hard, as the way holes are roped off and the majority of greens are surrounded by stands, means that you have to walk more distance round the course, find crossing points etc to get to the next tee, fairway, green etc. Of course the players are just walking in a straight line from tee to green without any thing stopping them. Plus again the crowds mean sometimes you just can't get to where you want to be quickly enough. Thats why its better to scout a good spot on the practice days where you can view several places of action and set up camp there for an hour or so before moving on.

I've seen lots of stuff Matt at the Opens I've been to. I'm a bit disapointed about not going this year but Turnberry is a poor venue for accomodation and transport. So I'm going to watch on TV instead.

Went to Birkdale on a practice day last year. Saw loads of players as described above for first half of day then followed Jim Furyk and his group for 18 holes. Some serious practicing went on and alot of messing about, having a laugh with the spectators etc. Enjoyed that practice day more than the actual event day because you could almost pick your own spot anywhere on the course within reason and give them abuse if they messed up (and they do, believe it or not) just like you would with your mates. All in good fun. Just amazed me how much practice they actually manage to fit in during the course of the day. Watched Rocco Mediate practicing in a bunker and he put 20 out of 20 on exactly the same spot every time. Well worth going in my opinion.

I had a laugh on the Tuesday practice day at Birkdale when on the 6th Green Jay Williamson was signing autographs and this one guy getting a flag signed said, "I've put a lot of money on you this week." and I standing nearby turned to my friend and said "Surely you should put your money on the guy who's going to win." Of course Jay heard this and just looked at me for a few seconds before walking off to the next tee.

I also enjoyed it on the Monday afternoon watching Poulter wearing holes in the putting green with his feet as he kept trying different putters and different techniques on the same 15 foot putt which had a nasty double break to it with an error zone of about 5mm. If he was a bit too high it'd break to the left and miss, if he was a bit too low it'd break to the right and miss. He must have spent 4 hours on this one putt and left two burnt out marks in the green afterwards where his feet had been and what ever he had sprayed on his shoes to make them so shiney had killed the grass.