Is one of these sentences wrong, or are they all correct, and why? Which is easiest to parse?
The man signaled with a tilt of his head in the opposite direction of the club.
The man signaled with a tilt of his head in the direction opposite of the club.
The man signaled with a tilt of his head in the direction opposite the club.
The first two read wrong, because they imply that the club has a direction. But clubs are just places, they don't have a direction. However, you can have a direction to the club.
So replacing "of" with "to" in the first two examples would make more sense. "opposite the club" is a common contraction of "opposite to the club", so the third makes sense.
"Opposite to" seems like an oxymoron, in my opinion. I agree with everything Simon B said, except I would say "opposite from" the club. I don't know if it really makes a difference, though.
