Why Callaway Has Let Children Design Its 2022 Open Championship Tour Bags

Callaway has traditionally created limited edition Tour bags for each of golf's Major championships on both the men's and women's Tours. However, in the run up to the 150th Open at St. Andrews, the brand wanted to celebrate the occasion by doing something a bit different. The brand, along with the town of St Andrews, did this by creating a project which would provide a platform to showcase the talent of young people in the town and engage with the community in a way like never before. 

While keeping to the traditions of creating a bespoke Tour Bag for this year’s tournament, Callaway recognised an opportunity to undertake something completely different and very special with support from the town of St Andrews. The Big Bag Trail - as the initiative is called - has commissioned budding artists from two schools in the local area to at St Andrews inspired golf bag that would be used by Callaway Staff Professional competing at the tournament. From 65 submissions, 10 finalists were subsequently selected (five from each school) by an esteemed panel of judges that included Callaway Staff Professionals with special links to St Andrews, and senior executives from both Callaway headquarters in California and St Andrews Links. The winning bag will be revealed at the start of Open week on July 11. 

Organised by St Andrews Links and Callaway, with the support of Fife Council and the University of St Andrews, The Big Bag Trail, will open from June 1. Larger than life sculptures of each bag, celebrating the creative excellence of pupils from each school, will be positioned in various locations around St Andrews, forming a route from which locals and visitors can explore the town. Each sculpture, accompanied with a descriptive plaque, has been created by Wild in Art, a company who are experts in helping millions of people experience art outside of traditional settings.

A free-to-download app, for Apple and Android devices, has been created to guide those wishing to explore The Big Bag Trail. Use it to guide yourself through the historic streets of St Andrews, taking in all the sights and points of interest that make this Scottish town the focal point for golfers around the world. The app includes detailed information about each sculpture, and directly links to each plaque found at the 10 points of interest

Bringing the community together for a final time, this very special initiative will close on Tuesday 19 July, following the conclusion of The Open, when the 10 larger-than-life sculptures from The Big Bag Trail, will be auctioned at a special evening event at the Tom Morris Bar & Grill in the St Andrews Links Clubhouse. All proceeds from the auction will go to CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) and Scottish Sports Futures (Changing Lives Through Sport).