147th Open at Carnoustie

AS anticipation grows for The 147th Open at #Carnoustie, a new website has been unveiled by Carnoustie Country as an online hub for the region’s 34 outstanding golf courses and accommodation providers. With preparations underway for the world’s oldest Major, Carnoustie Country has also unveiled a new legendary marketing campaign intended to underpin its reputation as a world-class #golfing destination boasting a golfing legacy stretching back over 450 years.

Providing insider knowledge about playing golf and staying in the east of #Scotland as well as detailing the very latest offers, the new Carnoustie Country website has been written and designed with the visiting golfer in mind. Featuring a chronological history of The Open at Carnoustie along with dedicated sections on links and inland courses – many of which were designed by legendary architects such as Old Tom Morris, Willie Park Jr and James Braid – the new website is brimming with information about golf in Angus, Perthshire and Fife.

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Singles golf week

THAILAND'S famed holiday playground of #Pattaya will host a week of #golf, fun and entertainment for singles from 16 to 22 September 2018. Open to all singles, you don’t have to be off single figures, you just have to be single!

Australian based Go Golfing started hosting golfing get-togethers for singles more than 10 years ago. Founder, Peter McCarthy, arranged the events as an alternative to online dating or trying your luck in clubs and bars. The events were fun, social and classy and typically the majority of the singles were aged 30 to 55.

Now singles can bring their sense of fun and adventure and passion for golf to Pattaya, just 90 minutes’ drive from Bangkok. Pattaya is known worldwide as a holiday destination of amazing beauty, with sandy beaches, water sports, world-class golf, tantalising Thai cuisine, rooftop bars and exotic nightlife.

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Golf boom planned for Vietnam

A HANOI-BASED has announced a plan to build 20 #golf courses in #Vietnam in the next five years. 

The FLC Group – a major developer of apartments, shopping centres, industrial parks, and resorts – already has four golf resort developments under way or completed on the country’s 2,000-mile coastline. The links-style courses are in ocean-front settings, creating new golf tourism destinations for local and foreign golfers.

Its first integrated resort, at Sam Son, south-east of Hanoi, opened earlier this year, and a 500-room hotel is about to open at its Quy Nhon site, which will feature several hundred villas.

A third project near Halong Bay east of Hanoi has just commenced, and a fourth in Quang Binh province on the north central coast will comprise 10 courses, villas, town houses, a hotel, and a convention centre in Quang Binh province on the north central coast.

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Accolade for golf resort

PGA CATALUNYA RESORT has been named Europe’s Best #Golf Development at the International Property Awards. 

Industry experts cited it as the best example of a golf and real estate development in Europe due to its exceptional facilities, design, continued investment in infrastructure, and location.

In 2013/2014, the resort was voted Spain’s best golf course at the world golf awards and, for the fourth consecutive year, by Top100GolfCourses.co.uk.

The #CostaBrava resort – 50 minutes from Barcelona – has two world-class courses and a range of villas and apartments.

www.pgacatalunya.com

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Brittany Ferries tees off with golf breaks in France & Spain

BRITTANY FERRIES has published its 2016 #golf breaks programme, providing access to 84 courses in Western #France and nine in Northern #Spain. The ferry service enables golfers to carry all of their kit their cars, without having to pay excess baggage charges. 

In France, travellers on a golf tour can take advantage of the food, wine, and cultural experiences on offer, while Northern Spain can still feel largely undiscovered, boasting the Picos de Europa mountains and vineyards.

Graham Ruth, Brittany Ferries’ director of Golf, says: ‘Many of our customers come back again and again, and I think this is because once you have discovered how easy and delightful golfing in France and Northern Spain is, you are hooked. And whether you are a couple or a group, the Brittany Ferries golf desk, staffed by keen golfers with a wealth of local knowledge, can advise not only on the courses, but also on restaurants and the sights you shouldn’t miss.’

Brittany Ferries runs overnight sailings, and a high-speed, three-hour service to France in just three hours.

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Is Cyprus on course for more golf?

AN analysis of #golf tourism in #Cyprus has found that of the country’s 2.5 million visitors last year, only 25,000 played on its five courses. 

The report, by Politis newspaper, said, the Cyprus Tourism Organization was satisfied with this performance, since the trend to visit Cyprus for golfing had been increasing over the past three years. However, it believed the country could do better, especially in the winter season, and that another six to eight courses were needed. Stakeholders believe that golf courses are a solution to the seasonality of tourism in Cyprus, as many Europe’s golf courses are closed from October to March.

Most of the golfers who visit Cyprus are from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France.

But Politis questioned the cost-benefit of investment in the sector compared to the returns, given the water shortage plus the fact that major building developments accompany the creation of golf courses in Cyprus, and the environmental impact that this had. The newspaper suggested that planning relaxations given for the creation of golf courses were a cover in some cases for giving incentives to build hotels and villas.

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VisitScotland out in force at golf trade event

VISITSCOTLAND has led a mission to #Tenerife with the aim of boosting the reputation of #Scotland as a major #golftourism destination. It took 19 Scottish golf businesses to the International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), the world’s premier trade event for the sport. 

The VisitScotland stand at the market displayed the Claret Jug, the trophy to be awarded to the winner of The Open Championship, which will be held at Royal Troon in 2016 and Carnoustie in 2018.

More than 600 golf tourism suppliers and approximately 350 buyers from more than 60 countries attended the IGTM.

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Golf boom on the Algarve

#THEALGARVE has revealed record #golf participation levels for the first and second quarters of 2015, with more than half-a-million rounds played along its coastline. The destination's allure was particularly illustrated in the second quarter, which accounted for 70 percent of the total increase in rounds played in the first half of the year.   

Almost 35,000 more rounds were played than in the same period in 2014 – equivalent to an additional 190 rounds per day – with visiting golfers benefiting from the mild climate, strong European flight connections, and value for money, particularly with sterling against the euro.

The region looks forward to hosting Europe's disabled golf elite in the second European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) Algarve Open 2015 in November.

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Tee off in Kent

THE historic estate of Hever Castle in Kent is the latest property to link up with #Golf in Kent to promote the county as an all-round #golfing destination in England. 

Golf in Kent, run in association with Visit Kent, promotes the county a golfer’s paradise in the Garden of England, thanks to its many coastal links and inland courses, a wide range of accommodation, and its off-course cultural and historical attractions.

#Hever Castle has a 7,002-yard, par 72 championship parkland course, comprising the Kings and Queens 9-hole courses, plus the nine-hole Princes Course and a Tudor-style clubhouse.

The Kent Open and Kent PGA Championships have been staged at Hever.

www.golfinkent.co.uk

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Ireland in golf tourism drive

MILLIONS of golfers across the United States – and potential holidaymakers for the island of Ireland – will soon be reading or hearing about Irish #golf courses, following a visit by some of the leading golf journalists in the US. 

The journalists – whose radio stations and publications have a combined audience of millions of US golfers – were guests of #TourismIreland, Tourism NI and Fáilte Ireland. They played rounds at Portstewart’s championship course, and at other courses north and south of the border.

Alison Metcalfe at Tourism Ireland said: ‘Tourism Ireland has an extensive programme of promotions under way this year to highlight our world-class golf and encourage more Americans to consider a golfing vacation on the island of #Ireland.

‘Golf is the world’s largest sports-related travel market and we are working hard to drive home the message that a golfing holiday in Ireland is about much more than a round of 18 holes – the combination of our world-class golf and our unique brand of hospitality plays a key role in attracting golfers.’

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Golf on the coast

SCOTLAND'S inaugural #Golf Coast Festival this year (October 18-24) includes three professional events: the first Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open Pre-Qualifier at North Berwick; Gullane Golf Club hosts the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open; and the Scottish Senior Open will be at Archerfield Links.

Scotland's golf coast has a diverse offering of accommodation for festival competitors, including five-star hotels, family-run B&Bs, and self-catering cottages and apartments.

www.golfeastlothian.com/festival.asp
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Accolade for Algarve golf course

ONE of the Algarve's most popular golfing venues, Quinta do Lago's #Laranjal, has been hailed by Germany’s Golf magazine, as its favourite course in southern Portugal.

The par-72 layout – which was opened in 2008 – was rated the best of a selection of first-class venues played by the magazine’s reviewing panel.

Built on an old orange grove, the course features fast, giant-sized greens, water features, and Augusta-style bunkers.

In its review, Golf says: ‘Laranjal is one of the most beautiful and best places – the place is a secret in the autumn waiting to be discovered … The accurately-cut fairways meander around the former orange tree plantation, the greens are mega-fast while the bunkers dazzle with their powder-fine white sand. It is in sensational overall condition; wide fairways and little rough guarantee pure fun.’ 

Quinta do Lago's North Course, which was opened last autumn, also won glowing praise from #Golf. ‘The condition of the course is sensational even at this early stage. The fairways are like carpets and it has strategically-placed bunkers and fast greens with several plateaus. Everything is spic and span. This place provides the standard for all other projects and underlines, once more, the supremacy of the #Algarve as a top golf destination in Europe.’

www.quintadolago.com

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