FootJoy Return For Another Open Camping Village Spectacle

FootJoy have taken the camping experience at Royal Liverpool to new levels this year

Open Camping Village
Open Camping Village
(Image credit: Acushnet)

FootJoy have taken the Open Camping Village experience to a new level this year with some exciting new ventures. This will be the second year that the No. 1 shoe and glove brand will be the lead sponsor of The Open Camping Village and they have already added to the success of a memorable week at St Andrews last year.

The location of the village, a small pop-up city situated just minutes from the 1st tee at Royal Liverpool, is enough of an incentive to spend your Open week here but FootJoy will also host a number of activities and special guests to add plenty to your stay.

This year FootJoy will introduce a new fitting experience, FJ FitLab, where attendees will have exclusive access to the FJ Zone from Monday to Saturday to receive free expert shoe-fitting advice from the FJ team.

On the Tuesday evening the FJ Campout Party will again take place in the village 'Clubhouse', following on from the success of last year, and which is available to all campers. This time around there will be live on-stage interviews with FJ Tour players and activations with brand partner and the leading podcast in the game, No Laying Up, along with some very special guests.

And throughout the week there will be guest appearances from FootJoy players where you can expect to rub shoulders with Major champions and Ryder Cup stars – last year the likes of Adam Scott, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young dropped by – as well the brand ambassadors Peter Finch, Dan Hendriksen, Sophie Walker and Iona Stephen, who will all be taking part in the various activities and challenges throughout the week.

"I didn't really know what the camping village was and then I drove into St Andrews on the Monday and saw all of the tents and I couldn’t believe how close it was to the Old Course. What was really good was that it felt like a campsite, there were kids playing football and the food was fantastic. I actually ended up going there a couple of times during the week for their wood-burning pizzas," explains the former LET player and now broadcaster Walker.

"It was all so relaxed and fun. It’s a Major week and you’ve got these star players just chatting to genuine golf fans. Some of the fans didn't have a ticket for the golf for the whole week but they stayed on to enjoy being around St Andrews and being able to savour the atmosphere around the town. It was a really cool addition to The Open and everything was very natural and authentic."

Open Camping Village

(Image credit: Acushnet)

This year will be the sixth year of the Open Camping Village and FootJoy are now taking the experience to new levels.

“We are delighted to continue our sponsorship of The Open Camping Village after The 150th Open exceeded all expectations. The proximity to the action and our plans for the week mean that Royal Liverpool promises to provide campsite attendees with an unforgettable experience" adds FJ marketing manger Paul O'Hagan.

"The launch of FJ FItLab will give golfers a fitting experience like no other and our Tuesday evening Campout party will be filled with fantastic guests, including Tour stars and the always brilliant No Laying Up crew. We can’t wait to get to Hoylake and bring the Camping Village to life.”

Mark Townsend
Contributing editor

Mark has worked in golf for over 20 years having started off his journalistic life at the Press Association and BBC Sport before moving to Sky Sports where he became their golf editor on skysports.com. He then worked at National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer where he was the deputy editor and he has interviewed many of the leading names in the game, both male and female, ghosted columns for the likes of Robert Rock, Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies, as well as playing the vast majority of our Top 100 GB&I courses. He loves links golf with a particular love of Royal Dornoch and Kingsbarns. He is now a freelance, also working for the PGA and Robert Rock. Loves tour golf, both men and women and he remains the long-standing owner of an horrific short game. He plays at Moortown with a handicap of 6.