
We’re counting down the weeks to the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool and as the excitement builds for the From the Clubhouse team of Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll, they’ve bagged a special guest for this week’s episode.
They’re joined by Hoylake’s Links Manager, James Bledge, to look ahead to the year’s final major and talk about his stellar career in greenkeeping.

You will not want to miss the story of what happened on James’ first day as a greenkeeper, and he’s got plenty of anecdotes and stories from a life spent at some of golf’s most glorious courses.
And while he can’t quite give you an inside track on the Open course set-up – we can’t let the competitors know what’s coming! – he does give us some insight into just how huge the event has become, what it takes to get a course ready to hold it, the new 17th hole that everyone is hoping will provide a thrilling climax to Sunday’s final round, and the sheer scale of the team he will have on site throughout the week.
If this doesn’t get you up for 151st Open, nothing will. So let’s dive straight in!
From the Clubhouse is a National Club Golfer podcast in association with TaylorMade Golf.
What do you think of the new hole at Hoylake? Have you played it and are you looking forward to The Open this year? Let us know with a tweet.
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