Could you kindly let me know how I can get tickets for theBritish Open 2002 please?

Editor: You should apply to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews for tickets to next year's Open Championship which is being held at Muirfield. If you access their website either at: http://www.randa.org or http://www.opengolf.com you will in due course find details of cost and when to apply. Normally tickets go on sale towards the end of this year or the early part of next and are obtainable from the R&A at St Andrews. Currently there is no restriction on numbers attending the Open so you can always purchase tickets for the day on the gate, but if you want to apply for a season ticket, composite tickets or even daily tickets there is a discount if you purchase the tickets in advance up until usually the end of March in the year of the tournament. I doubt there is anything on the sites at the moment regarding next year's ticket arrangements. We always publish details of advance ticket sales etc so it is a question of "watch this space".

I am seeking information on the Dunhill Cup - to be held in Scotland. I require the exact dates and venues and details on where Ican buy tickets in advance.

Editor: If you look at http://www.golftoday.co.uk/tours/2001/european.html you will see that the tournament has been re-named the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. I don't think you need to buy tickets in advance. You can get them on the day at the gate. Presumably further information could be obtained either direct from St Andrews or from the PGA European Tour (contact details can be found at: http://www.golf-industry.com/directory/england/european.html

I am currently residing in Barcelona and would like to get in a game. Wherever I go the clubs say that I need a federated number and official handicap. If I do not have these, how can I get them. I know my handicap, but am certainly not federated. Is there a test I can take to prove that I am "worthy?" thank you, Malcolm Nordstrom

Editor: On mainland Europe every member of a golf club is registered with their National Federation and supplied with an ID card which authenticates their membership and handicap details. As we don't operate this in the UK I have found that provided you have a handicap certificate from your own club signed by the handicap secretary that will suffice

I am trying to arrange a golf weekend for eight people and wish to travel from Chester on a friday play 2 rounds of golf one on the friday and one on the saturday and travel back on the sunday. I would like to know where there are two good challenging courses within close proximity and cheap accomadation and good pubs to keep us amused of an evening. Paul Stocker

Editor: Well you've a huge choice! ranging from clubs like Carden Park near Chester to those around Manchester like Wilmslow, Prestbury, Alderley Edge, to Liverpool such as Formby, Hillside, Royal Birkdale, Southport, Wallasey,or even into North Wales. Closer to hand would be Shrigley Hall,Delamere,Mere. There are many many more but I'm sure any of the above would be excellent provided they let you play at the weekend.

I sincerely hope you can assist us with information. We have made a booking for Vilamoura 1 (old course) for the 17th May 2001 @ 13:24. We've done the bookking through a person by the name of "John Safe" of "go-golf-pay-less". We then had to send him a draft from South Africa for the amount due which was 59360 esc for 4 people playing. We've sended the draft to him, but have one huge problem. We can not get hold of him to hear what happened to our vouchers. We must receive the vouchers before leaving South Africa. What do you suggest we do? I have phoned about 100 times already with no reply to his number we got on the internet. Marian Blom

Editor: If anyone can shed any light on this, please let us know and we can forward on your emails.

I fancy going to Le Touquet. However I cannot find anything about it on the internet and indeed Le Touquet did not even feature on a list of French courses that I found on the net. I was wondering if you know of any organisation that arranges deals for such trips or where Le Touquet would be on the Net if it is there at all.

Editor: Le Touquet, and in particular the Manoir Hotel and the sea and forest courses there and the course at Hardelot which is under the same ownership do rather hide their light under a bushel. You can find details by going to www.opengolfclub.com There are two courses in Le Touquet, the sea and the forest course, both of which are attached to the Manoir Hotel which is under the ownership of Open Golf. It's a very nice hotel and the courses are within two minutes walk from the hotel itself. They've also recently purchased Hardelot golf club which again has two courses, the pines and the dunes. I can never remember which is which but if you go the Hardelot, play the old course which I think is called the pines and unless you are very keen on blind dog legs up steep inclines, don't bother to play the new course. I am pretty certain that the Manoir does very good golf packages during the winter which virtually give you free golf, but at any rate, golf at very reduced green fees. The only disadvantage is that the hotel is slightly out of the town and is too far to walk. The town itself has excellent restaurants and there is another very nice hotel in the town called the Westminster but they obviously don't have the same pull with the golf which is your main reason for going. The sea courses are a really excellent test of golf. The French Open has been played there several times, and I thoroughly recommend it. The forest course is not as good as the old course at Hardelot but is still very pleasant to play.

Goodmorning this is Pantoura Reizen from Amsterdam, This Saturday we have an arrival of a party of 6. Please send us exact route-description from airport Malaga to the Almenara hotel Hope to receive soon so I can fax this to clients! Thanks very much in advance, Best regards, PANTOURA REIZEN / ILSE DUIJN

Editor: From the airport follow the signs for the motorway signed Cadiz - There is now a toll autostrada which bypasses all the coast towns until just after Estepona when it rejoins the old main road still signed Cadiz. Just past the port of Sotogrande on your left there are signs to Valderrama and Almenara turn off here and go under the road which is then dual carriageway and follow the signs. Go past the entrance to Valderrama on your right and keep on up the hill until you can go no further and you're now at Almenara.

I am trying to book the Almenara Hotel from Nov 7th to Nov 14th so my wife & I may visit the Amex Golf Tournament at Valderrama Nov 9th/12th. I saw in the web page an offer from Longshot Golf Holidays which included R/T flight from London, B&B at the hotel and car rental. I noted their offer was ukp 609.00 each can this be bettered? I cannot find an email address for Longshot if I book through them. Can you help? Am also interested in the cost of junior suite supplement and an upgrade in the car rental. I hope you can offer/help me.
Roy Newall

Editor: Dear Roy I can't help you on whether the price of Longshot Golf Holidays can be bettered. I stayed at Almenara last year just after it was opened and I know that Barwell Travel were also doing trips to Almenara. You may find that at the time of the Amex Golf Tournament at Valderama which adjoins Almenara that the hotel may already be fully booked. If it's any help, the number of the hotel is 00 34 956 582 000 and its fax 00 34 956 582 001. Almenara is part of the Sotogrande complex. There is accommodation in the port itself which is part of the complex. Alternatively, there are hotels along the main road running from Marbella to Valderama so I hope you can find something. A new road has been opened up from Malaga Airport which makes travelling a lot easier. Unfortunately the last 12-15 kms is on the old road but the new motorway certainly helps.