Europe’s Best Again: Tee Times Collects Two World Golf Awards in Egypt

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Two trophies, our focus title kept, and a heavier bag for the flight home.

The World Golf Awards went to Africa for the first time this year, and Tee Times went with them. At Madinaty Golf Club, on the eastern edge of New Cairo, on the evening of 7 November 2026, Tee Times Golf Holidays was named Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator for the second year running, and Portugal’s Best Outbound Golf Tour Operator for good measure. The hand luggage was heavier on the way home. (World Golf Awards)

Two Trophies and a Title Defended

Director Carlos Ferreira went up to collect both awards in front of a room full of hoteliers, course owners, tourism boards and fellow operators from every corner of the golfing world. Tee Times went to Egypt with four nominations, including a first-ever tilt at World’s Best Golf Tour Operator.

The winners are decided by votes from golf industry professionals, the media and the travelling public, which is why this one means so much to the team. It extends a run that began in Vilamoura in 1993 and has so far brought Portugal’s Best Inbound Golf Tour Operator in 2020 and 2021, Portugal’s Best Outbound Golf Tour Operator in 2022 and Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2025. To everyone who voted a very heartfelt: Thank You. (Golf Business News; World Golf Awards)

Tee Times director Carlos Ferreira receiving a World Golf Awards 2026 trophy on stage at Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt

Carlos Ferreira on stage at the World Golf Awards Gala Ceremony, Madinaty Golf Club.
Golf Before Gala

The weekend began with arrivals on Thursday 5 November at The St. Regis New Capital, the official hotel, followed on Friday by the networking golf day on Madinaty’s Championship Course. Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed it, Troon manages it, and in 2022 it hosted the Asian Tour’s first visit to Egypt. A ten o’clock shotgun start sent the whole field out at once, which is rather the point. (World Golf Awards)

Networking golf is a curious discipline. Business is discussed between shots, cards are swapped on the tee, and nobody admits to their real handicap. Carlos made good use of the day, sharing fairways with the people who run the courses and hotels our clients play and stay at. That evening the welcome reception and barbecue back at The St. Regis carried the conversation on, smart casual and in no hurry.

Carlos Ferreira of Tee Times talking with two guests during the World Golf Awards networking golf day at Madinaty Golf Club

Talking shop at the networking golf day.

Saturday morning brought the World Golf Awards Classic, again on the Championship Course, before coaches carried guests back to Madinaty in the evening for cocktails at seven and the gala dinner and ceremony at eight. The dress code asked for suits, jackets and cocktail dresses. Shorts, as predicted, did not make the cut. (World Golf Awards)

Chris Frost, Managing Director of World Golf Awards, called the first African edition “a landmark moment for us”. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Robert Trent Jones Jr., whose designs span more than 300 courses in over 50 countries, including the one the guests had been playing all weekend. There are worse ways to honour an architect than handing him a trophy on his own course. (Golf Business News; Breaking Travel News)

Group photograph of the World Golf Awards 2026 winners at the Gala Ceremony, Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt

The class of 2026.
A Big Night for Portugal

Portugal was named World’s Best Golf Destination again, and Portuguese names kept appearing on the big screen all evening. The Silver Coast took World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination, Terras da Comporta won World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility and Quinta do Lago was named World’s Best Golf Academy Venue. Madeira claimed two world titles of its own: Santo da Serra for the best par 3 hole and Palheiro for the best panoramic clubhouse. (World Golf Awards)

At European level, the Old Course Vilamoura was named Europe’s Best Golf Course, which pleases us more than most, since it sits on our doorstep. Palmares won Europe’s Best Golf Clubhouse, PGA Aroeira the eco-friendly title and Quinta do Lago Europe’s Best Golf Venue. At home, Monte Rei was named Portugal’s Best Golf Course and Praia D’El Rey Marriott Golf & Beach Resort Portugal’s Best Golf Hotel.

Play the Winners

Trophies look fine on a shelf, but they look better as a fixture list. An Algarve golf holiday can take in the Old Course, Quinta do Lago and Monte Rei in a single week, while the Silver Coast pairs Praia D’El Rey with Royal Óbidos and West Cliffs, about an hour north of Lisbon. On Madeira, Santo da Serra and Palheiro come with Funchal’s restaurants in between.

Our team has been booking these courses for more than three decades and knows which tee time suits which flight, which hotel suits which group, and where to eat on the night off. Tell us how you like to play, and we will put the winners together for you.

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Browse our Portugal golf holidays and let Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator — two years running — take care of the details.

Q school final stage infinitum 2026

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Six rounds, 156 players, fifteen tickets.

Golf has plenty of grand occasions, but few as brutal as the Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School, which got under way this morning at INFINITUM, a Costa Dorada resort better known to most of us as a stop on our Spain golf holidays than as a place where careers are decided. Over six days and 108 holes, 156 players will chase a place on the 2027 DP World Tour, and most of them will go home without one. Think of it as the monthly medal with a mortgage riding on it. (Golf Magic)

Dawn on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

How the Week Works

The field plays two rounds on each of the Lakes and Hills courses, then a cut after 72 holes trims it to the low 60 and ties. Whoever survives plays the last 36 holes on the Lakes. (AmateurGolf.com)

The top 15 and ties earn DP World Tour membership and full HotelPlanner Tour status for 2027, while places 16 to 40 settle for a lesser HotelPlanner Tour category. Last year there were 20 cards on offer. The arithmetic has not improved. (AmateurGolf.com; DP World Tour)

Familiar Faces in the Queue

This is no field of hopeful unknowns. Thomas Pieters, a six-time DP World Tour winner and former Ryder Cup player, is back at Q-School for the first time since 2013 after leaving LIV Golf. He is also the only Rolex Series winner in the field. (Golf Magic)

Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal, a nine-time winner, lost his full playing rights last month and is chasing a 20th season on Tour. Germany’s Marcel Siem has 594 Tour appearances to his name, and England’s Ross Fisher is here too. Experience, it turns out, is no exemption. (Golf Magic)

Four Amateurs With a Decision to Make

Four amateurs have made it this far. Argentina’s Mateo Pulcini and America’s Dean Greyserman came through Second Stage at Fontanals, near Girona, while Nathan Wang (USA) and Segundo Oliva Pinto (Argentina) arrived via the Global Amateur Pathway. (AmateurGolf.com)

Any of them who finishes high enough will have to turn professional to take up the prize. As dilemmas go, it is a nice one to have. (AmateurGolf.com)

The Courses Doing the Sorting

INFINITUM, which golfers of a certain vintage will remember as Lumine, has 45 holes, all opened in 2008. Greg Norman’s Lakes course, a par 71 of 6,317 metres from the back tees, threads its way around the Sèquia Major wetlands and had a €1.5 million renovation in 2024. (DP World Tour; GolfPass)

Tee and water on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

The Hills course is halfway through a redesign by European Golf Design: the back nine is finished, and work on the front nine starts once the professionals have gone home. There is also the nine-hole Ruins course, laid out among Roman remains. Few practice grounds come with their own archaeology. (DP World Tour)

Hills course at INFINITUM with the sea in the backgroundFairway on the Ruins course at INFINITUM
Playing It Yourself

The resort sits about 11 kilometres from Reus airport and roughly 100 kilometres from Barcelona. Tarragona, a UNESCO World Heritage city with its own Roman amphitheatre, is only minutes away. (European Tour Destinations)

Stay at the Blaumar in Salou or the Gran Palas Hotel in Tarragona, take on the Lakes and the Hills, then finish with something in romesco, the sauce Tarragona proudly claims as its own. Nobody will be checking your scorecard for a tour card.

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Browse our Costa Dorada golf holidays and play the Lakes with nothing but pride at stake.

Two Tournaments, One Fortnight: La Cala’s Busy End to the Season

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The Ladies European Tour’s season finale, a sold-out amateur week and one very busy river.

If a late-autumn golf holiday in Spain is on the cards, La Cala Resort in the hills above Mijas has the liveliest fortnight of the season to offer. First the Ladies European Tour arrives to settle its season on the Europa course.

Fairway on the Europa course at La Cala Resort, Mijas, with the Sierra de Mijas behind

Then, almost before the grandstands come down, a field of amateurs takes over all three courses for the XXI La Cala Golf World Open. The professionals play for a €700,000 prize fund. The amateurs play for handicap prizes, a nearest-the-pin and the right to mention it at every dinner party until next November.

The Season Ends on the Europa Course

The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España presented by Oysho runs from 26 to 29 November 2026. It closes the LET schedule with a 75-player field, with both the title and the Order of Merit still to be decided. (Ladies European Tour)

It is La Cala’s first time as host. The championship moves around the Costa del Sol and spent the past two years at Real Guadalhorce, where Nastasia Nadaud of France won last year aged 21 — her first European title, and the youngest win in the event’s history. (Andalucía Golf)

Three Amateurs Among the Professionals

The organisers have invited three amateurs into the field: Paula Balanzategui, the reigning Spanish Women’s Amateur champion, Balma Dávalos from Castellón and Anna Cañadó, who plays college golf at Duke University. (Official Press)

Nobody should treat them as passengers. In 2022 the amateur Cayetana Fernández finished fifth in this championship, and plenty of seasoned professionals spent the weekend looking at her back. (Andalucía.com)

What the Field Will Face

Cabell B. Robinson designed all three of La Cala’s courses. On paper the Europa is the most forgiving of them — generous fairways, flatter ground, around 6,014 metres and par 71. The catch is the River Ojén, which crosses eight holes, with water guarding the 3rd and 14th greens for good measure.

The 10th Hole at La Cala Europa golf course

The layout rewards precise approach play over raw length, and the greens are undulating enough to demand a careful read. Forgiving is a relative term when a river keeps turning up. (Andalucía Golf)

Then the Amateurs Take Over

The World Open runs from 30 November to 5 December: 54 holes of individual handicap Stableford across the America, Asia and Europa courses, with 09:30 shotgun starts. A Texas Scramble opens the week, and a gala dinner, prize-giving and closing party finish it. Men and women of any age with a handicap can enter, though prizes go only to men up to 26.4 and women up to 36.4.

La Cala Asia Golf CourseLa Cala America golf course

The 2026 edition is fully booked. This is the twenty-first year, which suggests the people who go tend to come back. Anyone who fancies a place should aim for 2027 and register their interest early.

A Resort Spruced Up for the Occasion

La Cala Golf & Spa Resort has just finished a €5 million upgrade: a 50-metre tunnel linking the America and Europa courses, a new bypass road with two roundabouts, new buggy paths on the Asia and car parking almost doubled, from 173 to 333 spaces. (Andalucía Golf)

La Cala Golf & Spa Resort hotel above the courses in Mijas, Costa del Sol

The 107-room hotel was named was named Spain’s Best Golf Hotel at the World Golf Awards. Málaga Airport is about 30 minutes away, Marbella 20. (IAGTO)

Watch One Day, Play the Next

Tickets for the championship are on sale through openfemenino.com, and the dates make for a very civilised short break. Follow the leaders round the Europa on Saturday, then take on the Asia — the course professionals rate most highly of the three — on Sunday. You will at least know where the river is.

And if the World Open’s sell-out has left a gap in the diary, La Cala runs its own competitions through the year, from a St Patrick’s Day tournament in March to the Cudeca charity cup in May.

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Browse our Costa del Sol golf holidays and watch Europe’s best on the Europa before playing it yourself.