The joy of doing some sightseeing on the way to work

I recall arriving at golf venues by some unusual means in the past but this week's preferred mode of transport for the Barclays sponsored first FedEx Cup event is probably the most uncharacteristic and interesting of all.

It is a long standing tradition on the US Tour that players get the use of a new car for the week, all they have to do is put a few drops of petrol into it, switch on the sat nav, cruise from the hotel to the course and simply leave it back at the closest private airfield for someone to collect after they have finished with it.

In Europe the players are frequently chauffeured by over-educated drivers in smart suits instead of the hands on policy of driving oneself in the US. Either way the modern top golf pro is accustomed to ease of passage with ground transport around a tournament.

So when we end up at a venue keenly overlooked by probably the most eye-catching metropolis in the world, inhabited by over eight million people and occupying a space usually designated to a fraction of that, it shouldn’t come as such a surprise that we ended up with an equally exotic mode of transport to get us to the course on time – a water taxi.

There are some elderly people left on the north side of Dublin who will remember the days of catching a boat from Malahide across the estuary and onto the peninsula of the Island golf club. It was a unique feature to the Island which was based on practicality and necessity. Finally a road was built around the coast and the boat was no longer required.

Catch a boat
There is a hole on a course outside Bangkok in Thailand where we played the Royal Trophy a few years back that required us to catch a boat to a floating green and back again to the next tee. In Japan we have all used different types of hoists and pulleys to get us from one hole to the next on courses that are carved out of mountains and totally unsuitable for golf without creative engineering and an abundance of on course elevators.

This weeks venue on the post industrial Jersey shoreline is undoubtedly the most exciting venue that even us more mature global toters have been to. The Liberty National is similar to the French National golf course in that it has been built on a landfill. We are all aware of the money involved in garbage and the recycling of it but the Liberty National brings this theory to a new level.

Major reconstruction
It cost $250 million to build and since the first Barclay's FedEx play-off tournament was held there four years ago, already there has been major reconstruction. This came about because of the criticism that some key players gave the costly development's putting surfaces. The final hole has also been changed dramatically. I assume that has taken the investment to a new level.

The original cost of membership of the closest water accessible course to Manhattan was half a million dollars. That was back in the days when corporate people didn’t have to justify excess. Today the fees are more modest, to a millionaire that is.

It should be obvious then that the membership should consist of a considerable amount of people who work on Wall Street. How better to get to your golf club after a hard days trading than in a ferry a few blocks down the street which drops you straight to your exclusive clubhouse across the mouth of the Hudson river?

So many players and caddies have broken from using the habitual mode of course access this week – the obligatory car. It is the first time that I have not rented a car in America in over a decade. Normally it is impossible to get around on the US tour without a vehicle. There were some nervous plans made in advance, most of us a little wary of relinquishing our allegiance to the traditional mode of transport.

Much like the golf loving inhabitants of Manhattan were presented with a new way of getting to play their beloved pasttime without the hassle of using log-jammed roads, players and caddies have been presented with the welcome diversion of staying in the awe-inspiring Manhattan with the comfort of a seamless trip to the course by water taxi service.

Sense of adventure
It has brought back the sense of adventure in what is mostly a monotonous process week by week of getting to work. As we bounce through the chop where the Hudson meets New York Harbour with extensive panoramic views of the lower Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn and Staten Island it is easy to forget that we are actually clocking in for yet another golf tournament.

Passing by boat-loads of tourists queuing up to climb the Statue of Liberty you can see by the numbers of people that a major international golf event gets swallowed up in such a vast city. With a close view of Governors Island and Ellis Island along the way there is a definite sense of sightseeing on the way to work.

Some of you may have the impression that every week on tour is a bit like a holiday. Well you may have a point, but this week at the Barclays in Liberty National doesn’t seem too far from that theory.