By Ken Brown BBC Sport golf commentator

Royal St George's hosts the 2003 Open

Top golf commentator Ken Brown describes a typical day working at the Open Championship.

I like to get to the club early to look around the major pin positions and roll a few balls on the green, especially the tricky ones.

Generally, I'll look at the back nine because that's what you'll see more of on television.

I also like to go to the range and speak to some players - find out if they've got any new clubs, or how the course is playing or get any other little snippets of information.

There's always a caddie or someone often willing to reveal some of the more interesting bits of information.

I make a few notes on certain players or the course but once you're on air you don't have time to check through a big pile of papers.

Often before we go live, I might work on some hole graphics with a designer.

This is an area that has loads of potential - golf is like snooker, there's a lot of strategy which we can represent graphically, so when the situation arises we can just press the button and up it comes.

Peter Alliss commentates with Ken Brown

Open coverage typically begins about 0930 BST so I may start with BBC presenter Steve Rider somewhere out on the course to set the atmosphere.

But the Open is a hard week because I'll be doing commentary in the box and out on course, as well as other bits and pieces such as features and interviews.

We often divide the day into two halves - maybe the morning walking the course with a particular big-name group, and the afternoon commentating in the box.

There's no script at all, you could just get out of the car and go straight on air, but it's nice to have an idea of what's going on before you get in there.

The producer actually dictates what is shown on television so you commentate to the pictures.

You work in pairs so when there's a wipe (move to another match) the other commentator takes over the talking but there's always interaction between you.

We do roughly 45-minute spells at the microphone and then alternate, which gives the viewer a change of voice and helps you stay fresh.

Banter

I've never really dried up because if the caption says "Ernie Els, second to the 14th" then you know where you are and can go from there.

The difficulty is in knowing when to stop. Often less is more.

I've had a few embarrassing moments on air but my worst gaffe was when Nick Faldo and his caddy Fanny Sunesson were lining up a putt together.

I blurted out: "Some weeks Nick likes using Fanny and some weeks he likes to do things by himself."

Working at the Open always involves long days and we often don't get home until after 8pm.

Usually four of us share a house and, despite the fact we've been talking all day on air, there is always plenty of banter while one of us cooks a meal.

All in all, it's a wonderful week - there's a real atmosphere at the Open and, you know from the players' point of view, it's the one most of them want to win.