A gaze at the galleries: spectators at championship golf events in Kent 1892–1938

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies on spectatorship, are acknowledged to be difficult and consequently more scholarship on the subject generally, and on golf galleries specifically, is required. This article examines aspects of spectatorship in golf tourism and the visitor experience at The Open Championships and other major golfing events held in Kent during the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries. Explicitly, it aims to discover who attended these events, charting the scale, composition, experiences, behaviours and instances of patriotic pride and passion displayed by the crowds. Finally, it will reveal how some elements in the Scottish press initially interpreted this in relation to Scotland’s historic ownership of golf in general and The Open in particular. The paper recognises how events attracted significant if contested, numbers of passive golf tourists. It confirms that the galleries fully engaged with the players, enthusiastically cheering on their local favourites and international superstars alike. Furthermore, the conduct of the Kent crowd was deemed, by the press, to be superior to those attending the other Open venues. A further theme was the defensive national and regional pride or snobbery that was associated with hosting The Open Championship, particularly before World War One.