Portugal Golf – 2023 Absolute National Championship of Portugal

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Absolute National Championship of Portuguese golf. The Absolute National Championship of Portuguese golf has reached an end

The Portuguese Absolute National Championship crowned some of the best Portuguese golfers

Sofia Sá (+3) and Ricardo Santos (-12), on July 22, won 18,200 euros from the Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG) for winning the KIA Absolute National Championship at the Quinta do Peru Golf & Country Club in Sesimbra, near Lisbon.

Sara Melo (+33) and Tiago Mendes (+29) have both won their respective 2nd Category national championships, while Pedro Cruz Silva (-8) has won the amateur national title.

The KIA Absolute National Championship, established in 2020, brings together professionals and amateurs, female and male, simultaneously awarding the main national amateur and professional titles.

In 2020 there were still two National Championships, the FPG and the PGA Portugal, but in 2021 the FPG took over all the events and created a perfect symbiosis of two events that until then had existed separately: the Absolute National Championship (for amateurs) of the FPG, and the PGA National Championship of Portugal.

Sofia Sá is now a double absolute national champion. She is the only player to have done this since the event started including amateurs and professionals.

Ricardo Santos is a different story. For the first time since the event started bringing together professionals and amateurs, the player from Vilamoura won the title of absolute national champion.

As for Pedro Silva, he won his second title in a row as the amateur national winner.

Book your golf holidays in the Lisbon region with Tee Times Golf Agency and play on some of the best golf courses in Portugal.

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Portugal Golf – Castro Marim golf course irrigated with recycled water

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Castro Marim Golf Course. Castro Marim golf course will be irrigated with recycled water

Castro Marim golf course is making an effort to be more sustainable

The Castro Marim Golfe & Country Club will start to use recycled water to irrigate its golf course. The project will make it possible to restore the surface water that is used every year with water from a WWTP that can be used again.

The contract between “Águas do Algarve” and Castro Marim Golfe & Country Club was signed on the morning of July 3rd.

For David Martins, managing director of Algarvelux, which manages Castro Marim Golfe, this project is a joy for the hotel unit.

“It’s a promise to the future because we all know that there isn’t enough water. Signing a contract that lets us use water from a different source than surface water or rainwater is a guarantee for the future”, David Martins told reporters.

Of the average consumption, «half, in the worst case scenario», will be done with this recycled water.

With this investment, the price of water will go up, but the director of Castro Marim Golfe stressed that water is a scarce resource and it is better to pay a little more.

According to Águas do Algarve, about the production of water for reuse in the region, an investment of 23 million euros is foreseen until 2025. An increase is estimated from 1.4 to 8 million cubic meters/year, 71% of which will be used by golf courses.

Book your golf holidays in the Algarve with Tee Times Golf Agency and play on some of the best golf courses in Portugal.

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Spain Golf – The impact of golf in Spain’s economy

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Valderrama Golf. Golf in Spain has a big impact on the country's economy

Huge economic impact of golf in Spain

Spain is the most popular place golf holiday destination for European golfers. This is because golf brings in more than 1.2 million visitors from other countries every year. Golf in Spain brings in almost 13 billion euros and supports more than 12.000 direct and indirect jobs.

Both the average daily spending and the average length of stay are higher than normal for this segment.

Of the slightly more than four million registered players in Europe, more than a quarter come to play golf in Spain. The country is also a leader in the organization of international professional tournaments in continental Europe.

The main markets for golf in Spain are the British, Swedish, German and Irish. Costa del Sol, Madrid, and Costa Dorada reap the greatest economic benefits by being Spain’s main golf holiday destinations.

Luis Nigorra, president of the Spanish Association of Golf Courses, indicates that 2018 and 2019 were the best years for golf in Spain. The 1.2 million tourists who came to Spain to play golf in 2018 generated almost 10 million green fees.

“In 2022, although there is still no complete data, the volumes of foreign players prior to the pandemic recovered, and so far in 2023 the trend continues, which has allowed the billing figures to improve”, says Nigorra.

Golf impacts the Spanish economy by more than 5,400,000,000 euros annually. If the indirect and induced effects are factored in, the number jumps to about 13 billion.

In terms of jobs, the direct, indirect, and induced effects add up to more than 14,000 full-time jobs, 95% of which are permanent. However, more than 121,000 jobs are created due to the money that players spend on their golf holidays. In total, there are more than 121.000 jobs.

“The busiest times are in March-April and October-November, outside of the high season of July-August, which contributes to seasonally adjust the profile of tourism”, says Nigorra.

Book your golf holidays in Spain with Tee Times Golf Agency and play on some of the best golf courses in Europe.

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