The Postage Stamp: Elevating the spectator experience

When GL events first delivered grandstand seating for The Open Championship at Royal Troon back in 2016, the famous 8th Tee, or “The Postage Stamp” as it is fondly referred to, offered a somewhat different spectator experience to that which we saw at the 152nd Open in 2024.

The par-3 Postage Stamp, arguably Troon’s most famous hole, was equipped at the time with two small grandstands – a consequence of the challenging topography which gives it its name.

Fast forward to 2024, and The Postage Stamp has become a destination in itself – a true spectator experience, thanks to the vision of The R&A, recognising that such an iconic hole deserved something a little more special, and the technical expertise of the GL events UK Seating & Stadia team, who have been The R&A’s grandstand seating provider for the last 11 years.

Director and General Manager, Chris Mansell, who heads up the Seating & Stadia team at GL events UK told us how this year’s 8th hole grandstand came about and what is involved in creating such a technically difficult structure.

In recent years, the way spectators watch the game has evolved. Rather than stay in one place and wait for individual players to go by, viewers now want to follow the action – and their favourite players - around the course, watching the game unfold at each hole. As a result, the type of spectator infrastructure (and the amount of it) has also had to evolve. 

Increased televising of the games has also meant the need for more changes, with new infrastructure needed to facilitate this.

Chris explained why the changes were needed. “The evolution of The Open’s grandstand infrastructure over time is rooted in The R&A’s love of golf, and their vision to create a better atmosphere and an enhanced spectator experience. They set us the challenge, and we enjoy coming up with the solution.”

In recognition of the fact that it’s one of most challenging and therefore interesting holes in the world, The R&A wanted to create the “Postage Stamp Experience”, providing a spectator village area with additional seating and food vendors. This meant an increase from the previous capacity seats to almost 1,500 around the tee with imposing views of the green. There’s also been a notable increase in the quantity of standing platforms on the course.

As well as grandstand spectator seating and platforms, we also provided camera towers to support a Wire Cam system, where the camera is on a wire travelling between two towers at a height of roughly 18 metres. This improves the experience for television spectators, giving greater perspective as the play moves across the hole.

The innovation of any grandstand is limited only by the topography of the course, the technical ability of the GL events team and - our primary consideration – the safety of our infrastructure. 

Each course is different, with its own unique layout, so, to begin with our Seating and Stadia team carry out a topographical survey of the course. They then turn the topography into a digital mesh within Auto-CAD. From here, our in-house design team start laying out the cross sections and elevations.

As Chris says “It’s a complex and lengthy process but it's where the real magic happens and seeing the design turn into a physical grandstand on site is incredibly fulfilling”. 

Next step is to use the CAD drawings to create an engineer’s model, make all relevant calculations and then eventually build the structure, which includes a site visit before any work begins to mark out the position of the stand on the ground with the client. 

Work is planned to avoid any time wastage – while one stand is being built, the components are delivered to the location of the next one. Before overall sign off, structural stability is checked and any anomalies resolved. The project is then signed off by our in-house engineer and the local council’s building control team. Full sign off is usually completed just before the event, but there are constant checks throughout the build, both by our engineers and from the local authority. 

Safety is the highest priority on site. Chris points out: “We will never recommend constructing something that we don’t know will be 100% safe for spectators.

“For the Open Championship, the installation process takes from April until the 3rd week of July.  Safety is always 100% paramount but even more so in the case of a design like The Postage Stamp grandstand where we are really pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible.”

The Postage Stamp grandstand represents one of the three most challenging designs we have created and implemented in our history with The R&A, alongside the 2015 St Andrews project where we built a grandstand over the St Andrews Links Trust Shop and the 14m structure we built over the Barry Burn at Carnoustie in 2018.  

The challenges faced in constructing the Postage Stamp grandstand underscore its complexity.

There is a topographical difference from top to bottom of the grandstands of almost seven metres, and a bank angle of 20 degrees. The grandstand was positioned at the top of mound, behind which is a bowl, created for the new spectator village. 

“When you look at the Postage Stamp grandstand, clad and event ready, it probably belies the complexity of the construction – the 157 tons of equipment, and the 14,000 components which make it up.  Looking at it without its cladding, the scale of the project is more apparent.” 

As the Open Championship courses tend to be on the coast, weather is almost always a challenge. Chris continues: “As is often the case on a Links course, the build can be impacted by poor weather conditions. This year we lost several days as a result of either waterlogged course or high winds.

“But that’s where the skill of the scheduling team comes into play – enabling the loading team to stay a couple of steps ahead of the installation team and also have the contingency to drop onto building standing platforms and “rainy day stands” when the bad weather hits.”

GL events UK have worked with the R&A for 11 years, delivering seating for the Open Championship each year. 

“Our first bespoke challenge came near the start of our contract with The R&A back in 2015, when the 144th Open took place at The Old Course, St Andrews” says Chris.

“The request was to construct a grandstand around and over the top of the St Andrews Links Trust Shop, creating a single grandstand where previously there had been two separate grandstands with the shop in the middle. This had been an aspiration for The R&A for a while – we were the first people to actually try and achieve it, and succeed. In fact, we’ve now built it twice, repeating the structure more recently when the 150th Open returned to St Andrews in 2022.”

Collaboration is key when it comes to a build like The Open. It’s an involved and lengthy process so needs to be interactive and client driven. The mutual trust and teamwork between both parties has been instrumental in realising the ambition of the seating projects, particularly during the design and sign off processes, elevating the spectator experience year after year. 

Chris continues: “We are tremendously grateful that The R&A put a lot of faith in us and trust us to come up with a solution which is both safe and achieves their objectives for an enhanced experience.

“Despite the delays caused by poor weather this year, and the technical challenges of The Postage Stamp experience, we hit deadline and seeing the new stand in action during the live event was a real moment for me and the whole team.“

Rhodri Price, Director of Championship Operations at the R&A said "The R&A have been delighted with the success of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Record crowds and an exciting spectacle of golf played by the world’s elite provided 8 days of great entertainment. The spectator experience continues to evolve and be enhanced by the infrastructure provided by GL Events UK whose highly skilled team this year created the “best seats in the house” at iconic locations such as the 1st tee, Postage Stamp and 18th arena. We very much value our partnership with GL and look forward to continuing this for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush and beyond”.

As well as delivering the grandstand seating at the Postage Stamp, we enhanced the seating at the 1st tee, creating a horseshoe wrap grandstand where previously there was a single grandstand, to improve spectator experience. Again, it was essential to work collaboratively with The R&A on these designs, so they could facilitate site works to allow this improved design. 

The stand included a dramatic entrance and players walkout, which made full use of the stunning views across the bay to the Isle of Arran. Paying attention to these smaller details adds up to an overall enhanced experience for everyone involved in the Championship.

The planning and the partnership with The R&A doesn’t stop here. As Chris points out “We’ve been working on the designs for the 153rd Open since early this year and can’t wait to do it all again in Royal Portrush in 2025.”