EGD was widely praised for producing the Celtic Manor Resort’s Twenty Ten Course, which enabled the 2010 Ryder Cup to be completed despite extraordinary rainfall, is now assessing masterplans for the golf course as well as the logistics and facilities required to make the venue a global sporting arena.

Ross McMurray, Designer of the Twenty Ten Course, said: “There are many aspects to the course that golfers, professional and amateur, really enjoy, so we don’t wish to alter its popular appeal and the overall experience. However, there are a number of bunkers that will need to be moved for strategic reasons, because they are no longer in play for the longer hitters, while others will be upgraded.

“Some tees may also be placed in more interesting positions, and the Ryder Cup will demand a greater variety of flag positions than the existing greens currently offer.”

As the course is in regular use on the European Tour, the main challenge facing the designers relates more to the scale of the event and the consequential increase in footfall rather than re-modelling what is already a world-class course.

Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of European Golf Design said: “Le Golf National is a very different project compared with Celtic Manor, but the experience that we gained inWaleswill be crucial as we embark on delivering another Ryder Cup venue.

“Planning a course for a Ryder Cup is quite unlike typical tour competitions as the vast crowds only have a limited amount of golf to follow.

“Put simply, it’s a case of forecasting what might occur and finding the best solution. For example, the Alstom Open de France is played in summer when it’s less likely to rain. However, given that the Ryder Cup will be held in September, we need to ensure that the drainage system is up to coping with more substantial rainfall – something we were insistent on at The Celtic Manor Resort.”

The Alstom Open de France has been hosted at Le Golf National on 18 occasions since 1991 and is a popular event in The European Tour schedule, boasting many former Ryder Cup stalwarts as past champions including, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and 2012 European Ryder Cup Team captain, José María Olazábal.

EGD, which is the golf course design company of The European Tour and IMG, is now aiming to make it an iconic course and an historic Ryder Cup venue.

Pascal GRIZOT, President of the FFGolf Ryder Cup 2018 Committee said: “Hosting the Ryder Cup is a tremendous honor and an enormous responsibility.  It seems that the venues get better and better with every passing event and European Golf Design will be invaluable in preparing Le Golf National for the world’s media, the vast crowds and of course, the best players from America and Europe.”

“The Albatros Course, built in 1990, was the brain child of Hubert Chesneau. From the early days Hubert and the French Golf Federation have pursued the ambition for the Golf National to become a Ryder Cup venue. It is now a reality, however a great deal of work remains, if we want this to become a dream come true.”

Established in 1887 Coventry Golf Club, UK,  celebrated its 125th anniversary this year and also the centenary of the re-location of the course to Finham. To make this year even more special they have been awarded the international ecolabel GEO Certified™ in recognition of outstanding sustainability efforts across their parkland course, clubhouse, and reaching out into the surrounding community.

Many of England’s nearly 2000 golf courses are community based clubs like Coventry making this an important example of how sustainability can be embraced with positive results for the environment, the economic performance of the golf business, and the messages that are then multiplied outward.

Phil Weaver (right), Coventry’s Head PGA Professional & Course Manager and Chairman of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, was part of the driving force behind Coventry Golf Club’s journey through the GEO OnCourse™ programme that led to the GEO Certified™ ecolabel.

Speaking at a presentation that took place at Wentworth during the BMW PGA Championship last week, Weaver said:

“I am delighted that Coventry earned this accolade.  We are a typical club that has been proudly serving our community for 125 years, always striving to be a benefit to local people and the local environment”.

“We recognise the pressures on the environment at large and understand that golf clubs have an important responsibility to take their stewardship of the land seriously.  In the last few years we have become much more aware and active, making sustainability a consideration in every decision we make”.

 “The GEO OnCourse™ programme was easy to follow and made sure we thought about a wide range of practical areas and there were suggestions for improvements as we went along.  The on-site verification with Matt Johns was extremely constructive and left us with new ideas and motivation for the future.  We will fly the GEO Certified™ flag with a great deal of pride.”

Weaver worked in close conjunction with colleagues Club Captain Keith Lindsay, Club member Professor Ian Foster, and past Captain and President Robin Bussell to drive the project forward and become the first Golf Club in England to achieve this prestigious award.

Matt Johns, of the environmental consultancy Johns Associates and a GEO Sustainability Associate (GEOSA) visited the club as an accredited verifier.  Reflecting on the visit:

“What was particularly impressive was the range of environmental aspects covered by the Club’s activities. From use of treated effluent for irrigation, to working with the local river’s geomorphology, to renewables, waste management. A great deal of passion, focus, and pride was evident and they have demonstrated commitment, innovation and real-world results.”

Jonathan Smith, GEO Chief Executive added:

“Community and volunteer involvement is an important aspect of sustainability in golf, and can also help multiply a club’s efforts outward.   Coventry is a great example of golf as a social and environmental asset, now confidently and credibly connecting sustainability with younger and older generations alike.”

Paul Keeling, Club Services Manager at England Golf added his support:

“Building on their England Golf Environmental Award, the GEO Certified ecolabel brings well-deserved national and international recognition. We are pleased to promote the commitment and achievements of Coventry Golf Club to all our member clubs, plus the various government and sporting partners, and as part of our work on the new British Association for Sustainability in Sport.  We look forward to working more closely with GEO to encourage other clubs to follow this lead”.

Sandy Jones, PGA GB&I Chief Executive also commended the results:

“I am absolutely delighted to congratulate Coventry Golf Club on this recognition from the GEO. I know Phil Weaver, our PGA chairman, is passionate about the subject of the environment and has been very much involved at the forefront of the Coventry project team who achieved this recognition. I would hope that perhaps this becomes an inspiration for many of our golf clubs and also our club professionals who could be at the heart of such an activity.”

Golfbreaks.com, official supplier to the PGA and the official golf travel company of the Confederation of Professional Golf, has released details of its popular Pro-Ams for 2013.

The two prestigious events will take place in Spain in February and March next year and are open to PGA Pros from any country who enter along with a team of three amateurs. Entry for the Pro is FREE, with amateur prices from around £660/€792 for the four-day, three-round event that includes golf, accommodation, prizes, functions and a goody bag.

Each event has a prize fund of £10,000/€12,000 with the leading Pro taking home £1,250/€1500 for winning the individual strokeplay event. There are also overall team prizes (two best Stableford scores on each hole, ¾ handicap) plus individual nearest-the-pin and long drive holes for all competitors with prizes supplied by Golfbidder and Bollé. Each event will be overseen by a Tournament Director from the PGA.

In addition to significant prize incentives for Pros and amateurs alike, the opportunity to play such prestigious venues will be sure to attract international competitors, as it did in 2012 when teams from nine different countries took part.

The first event on February 7-10, 2013 will take in the spectacular trio of the Sotogrande region; La Reserva, Almenara and the legendary Ryder Cup and European Tour venue Valderrama. The second event – exactly a month later on March 7-10, 2013 – will be hosted at the highly acclaimed PGA Catalunya, which was recently named the No.1 course in Spain in an influential course-ranking.

Each Pro-Am tournament starts with a welcome dinner on the Thursday evening before closing with a prize-giving lunch after the third and final competition round on the Sunday afternoon. Additional nights and rounds of golf can also be booked by competitors wishing to extend their stay.

With Golfbreaks.com’s Director of Golf Pro Relations, Jim Long, having organised more than 150 Pro-Am tournaments in Portugal, Spain, Arizona, Dubai, South Africa, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Mexico & Thailand during his 30-year career, Pros can be sure that everything will be taken care of, leaving them to enjoy time away with their members in a relaxed yet competitive environment.

For full details call the Golfbreaks.com Golf Pro team on 01753 754 355 or email golfpro@golfbreaks.com

The data showed that 129 of the 156 players in the field had Golf Pride grips on the majority of clubs in the bag, with 87 players – more than half the field – using the Golf Pride Tour Velvet® model.

Additionally, 23 players – more than were using any single competitor brand – played with high-performance and colorful Golf Pride New Decade™ MultiCompound grip models.

“The U.S. Open is one of the most prestigious and exciting golf tournaments in the world,” said Jim Ulrich, global tour promotions manager for Eaton’s Golf Grip Division. “The fact that so many elite players consistently trust our grips under these intense conditions speaks to the quality and performance of Golf Pride grips.”

Eaton’s Golf Grip Division is the world’s largest manufacturer of golf grips, with manufacturing, sales and distribution facilities on five continents.  The division’s Golf Pride brand is recognised globally as the No.1 choice in grips among tour and recreational players, competitive amateur golfers, club manufacturers and club repairmen.

For more information:  www.golfpride.com or visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GolfPride.

The Confederation of Professional Golf’s partnership with GOLF EUROPE that began in Munich in 1993 is to continue in Germany at the long-established No.1 Trade Fair’s attractive new venue of Augsburg to be staged on September 16-18, 2012.

The news is a great boost for the golf industry across Europe and beyond as exhibitors and potential buyers welcome back the opportunity to plan their merchandising and servicing operation for the year ahead while networking with PGA professionals, high street retailers and the media.

As always the genuinely international show for golf and golfers will feature equip­ment, cloth­ing and ac­ces­sories, product innovations, shop fit­tings, a golf dri­ving range, an in­door putting green, golf-re­lated tourism, golf lit­er­a­ture as well as golf news­pa­pers and pub­lish­ers.

And as a bonus for the domestic and international parade of PGA professionals in attendance there will be the usual wide-ranging GOLF EUROPE educational programme of seminars and workshops presented by specialists in their particular field coordinated jointly by the Confederation of Professional Golf and PGA of Germany.

Like Munich before it, Augsburg offers travel convenience in terms of a shuttle-bus service either from Munich airport, Allgäu Airport Memmingen or the Augsburg mainline station. Augsburg is an attractive, historic city, which visitors will enjoy and find good value in accommodation and restaurants.

Ger­hard Re­iter, head of Messe Augs­burg, was pleased to announce that the Confederation of Professional Golf and the PGA of Germany, with their collective pro­fes­sional ex­pe­ri­ence and ex­per­tise in pro­viding strate­gic organisational as­sis­tance, had joined forces as Partners.  “We are very pleased that GOLF EU­ROPE has found a new home in Augs­burg and that it has found  sound part­ners to take the suc­cess­ful concept for­ward into the fu­ture,” he said.

“At the Messe Augsburg exhibition grounds, we believe we have put the word “show” back into Golf Europe. There will be a stage for speakers and a catwalk, both of which will give manufacturers, buyers and pros additional promotional opportunities. The demonstration area with nets at the end of Hall 3 will create the opportunity to try out the latest equipment and supplement the demo day at the start of the event. Furthermore, we plan on holding “Get into Golf” events across the city basically ensuring that golf takes over Augsburg for this weekend in September” he added.

Confederation of Professional Golf chief executive Ian Randell who has visited the Augsburg site to assess its location and surrounding infrastructure is well satisfied the Augsburg will be a worthy successor to Munich for a golf show that has been endorsed by the association since its inauguration.

“While it was unfortunate that the situation at that time did not allow for GOLF EUROPE to continue in Munich in 2011 we are so pleased that Messe Augsburg has taken on the baton and we firmly believe that the sport and the industry benefits greatly from a trade fair of this nature in mainland, central Europe,” he said.

“We welcome with enthusiasm the opportunity to continue to play our part in GOLF EUROPE and are excited by the additions to increase the “show” and “fun” elements of Golf Europe as well as the prospect of using it to expose and develop the game around the city of Augsburg.”

Stefan Quirm­bach, Pres­i­dent of PGA in Ger­many, commented: “We are sure that Golf Europe will con­tinue to take shape to meet current and fu­ture re­quire­ments of the PGA of Germany and our members. We are very pleased to be in­volved as a part­ner in GOLF EU­ROPE and we shall be con­tribut­ing our ex­per­tise at the new venue.”

GOLF EU­ROPE was last staged in Sep­tem­ber 2010 when just under 4,000 in­ter­na­tional trade vis­i­tors from 45 countries were in attendance and now, after its one year break, optimism is running high as it restarts with a renewed lease of life in its desirable new surroundings.

10 reasons to sign up:

• Meet your continental customers in one place, saving travel and time over months
• Find new customers. An international show for new export opportunities
• Great venue
• Historic city, Germany’s third oldest
• Great Hospitality!
• Hotel and food prices lower than Munich
• A revamped show, new format, building on Munich’s appeal
• Brand new sector for Golf Tourism
• Demo Day for trade exhibitors
• The Unexpected. With visitors expected from Russia and Eastern Europe, new customers could be at the next table
• Hosted buyer scheme to bring key players together with exhibitors

Junior golfers in Hungary, where structured and co-ordinated efforts are in progress to grow a golfing culture from grass roots, alongside other Eastern European countries, are benefiting from the use of  30 sets of SNAG equipment,  funded by The  Ryder Cup European  Development Trust (RCEDT).

Equipped with the cleverly-designed and produced SNAG starter sets, members of the Hungarian Golf Federation’s (HGF) junior programme are progressing their early development in the sport backed by coaching from PGA professionals.

The SNAG equipment is also supporting widespread planning to take golf into more and more schools with the long-term objective of becoming part of a national sporting curriculum.

Along with The Ryder Cup support, Hungary’s impressive development programme has also been significantly helped by the embracing of golf into the Olympics for Brazil 2016, a status that prompts a level of state aid not previously available to the sport.

As part of the HGF’s comprehensive plans to promote golf as a popular national sport and to develop the elite players, they have PGA professional and Hungarian golfing pioneer and administrator, Damian MacPherson, as national coach.

“The support of Ryder Cup means a lot to us,” said the President of the Hungarian Golf Federation, András Sugár. “We have had the intention to launch and develop a nationwide School Golf Program for a long time and a lot of effort is invested into this project.

“We are confident that with the help of the 30 SNAG sets and in cooperation with the enthusiastic clubs many young children will have the opportunity to play golf and the most talented players may be our future hopes for the Olympic Games one day.”

Hundreds of Bulgarian children are being introduced to golf in the Pravets Junior Development Programme as a direct outcome of the annual staging of the PGA Professional Championship of Europe, at the fabulous facility not far from the country’s capital, Sofia.

As an important benefit of the collaboration between the Pravets Golf and Spa Resort and the Confederation of Professional Golf, development funding has been provided to enable junior golf coaching to be embraced into the country’s school curriculum and as an activity for children during the summer holidays.

Launched and underway already for 2012, and with planned growth for 2013, demand for the junior  golf coaching has substantially exceeded expectations – and judging by reaction to it in the vicinity of the capital – is expected to spread throughout Bulgaria as boys and girls are bitten by the golf bug.

Described by Pravets as ‘designed to grow golf from grass roots level and provide opportunities for children in areas where golf would not normally be accessible’ the programme is being presented in two phases, namely the Schools Programme and a Summer Development Programme.

‘This possibility has become a reality through generous funding by the Confederation of Professional Golf,” Pravets add.

During April and May, in the schools programme, 180 children took part in the eighteen, one-hour introductory sessions for ten children each while the summer activities  are open to all-comers up to the age of 18 and are proving a big attraction.

Having been been widely publicised, inviting children to take part in golf coaching and activities at Pravets  and with an additional incentive of fully-paid, one-year junior memberships and a set of golf clubs each, for the two most promising participants, children and parents have responded eagerly.

Much of this enthusiasm for golf in Bulgaria was inspired by the staging of inaugural PGA Professional Championship of Europe (the Confederation of Professional Golf’s 72 hole stroke-play championship), at Pravets last year, an event that prompted tremendous national interest there at many levels. The second annual staging is on September 17-20 next.

“This is further evidence that tournament activity can act as a fantastic catalyst for the development of golf in showcasing the sport in emerging territories to politicians, media and the public at large” said Ian Randell, the Confederation of Professional Golf chief executive.

“Our collaboration with Pravets, and the way in which it is developing, matches exactly so many of the core principles of our operation and acts as a great template for other venues and regions to follow”.

Putter Line Tracer (PLT) and Putter Line Gate (PLG), two ingenious but simple and thoroughly modern aids to putting improvement for all categories of golfer have been accepted, individually, in the category of ‘Approved Products of the Confederation of Professional Golf.’

Produced and marketed by ro&chi golf  of Italy, the products are designed to provide the necessary information, (in a self-help situation or via a coach or academy), on what is actually happening during a player’s putting stroke (PLT) and/or to assist in the process of assessing slopes on the green (PLG).

The collective information provided regarding the line and tempo of the putter face, and the severity or otherwise of undulations, enables the player to make adjustments to his or her technique accordingly, in the never-ending quest towards putting perfection.

Invented by Roberto Chiono they are described by ro&chi golf  as ‘firsts’ in their field… PLT to ‘track and make visible the line created by the back and down-swing of the putter’ and PLG to ‘assess and correct both the ball’s parting trajectory from the putter face, and also the player’s ability to ‘read a slope’ on the green.

Beginning as original concepts they were then developed in collaboration with golf professional Matteo Delpodio, of the Italian National Team.”

• The PTL apparatus makes it possible to identify the line of a player’s stroke, direction and speed along with any undulating defects, by means of a magnetic sensitive (MS) strip, which interacts with the small magnet attached underneath the head of the putter.
• The PLG’s strong point lies in how it combines a high level of versatility by utilising the magnetic properties of  specially chosen materials to be used  either on the green or on the carpet at home.

“The Confederation of Professional Golf Education Committee were very happy to approve both the PLT & PLG as they provide extremely useful tools and data to assist PGA Professionals with their putting tuition and improve putting strokes,” said Ian Randell, Confederation of Professional Golf chief executive.

Inventor Roberto Chiono commented: “Approval and exposure by the Confederation of Professional Golf, with all its member countries and their individual PGA professionals will provide a target audience for the putting aids and will confirm my belief that they will give players a deeper and more precise understanding of the art of putting.”

For more information please visit the website: www.roechigolf.it

The new deal will see Braemar Golf mange the soft opening and post opening of the golf club, having over seen the construction management of the course and the pre opening of the facility over the past 2 years.

Commenting on the appointment, Operations Director Michael Braidwood, who is responsible for the project on behalf of Braemar Golf said “We are delighted to continue our relationship with the Golf Club Zavidovo PGA National Russia following our successful construction management and pre opening services. We have in place two very experienced operators; David Hartshorne our Director of Golf and Paul Avison our Superintendent and we now look forward to opening the excellent golf course and comprehensive club house”.

Golf Club Zavidovo PGA National Russia Club President, Alexander Yarunin, said on the appointment “We are pleased to extend our relationship with Braemar Golf, they have provided us with excellent service and advice to date and we now look to them to open the club and make Golf Club Zavidovo PGA National Russia the number one club in the country”.

Golf Club Zavidovo PGA National Russia is due to open 9 holes on a “soft opening” basis in mid June and will be officially opened on September 7th 2012. The 7,400 yard course was designed by European Golf Design and looks set to be the highest ranked course in the country. To complement the course, an extensive club house has been developed that features 10 bedroom suites, a stunning Presidential suite, 3 bars, 2 restaurants and a banquet suite.

Keith Haslam. Managing Director of Braemar Golf was in Zavidovo last week to finalise the ongoing relationship with Constantin Zabrodine, the Project Director for Zavidovo Development. Keith added “we are very proud of the relationship with Zavidovo Development and the fact this fantastic property carries the PGA brand, a unique relationship in Russia. The golf course and clubhouse are world class and complement the quality infrastructure that is being built at Zavidovo. We thank Constantin and his team in extending what we believe has been a positive relationship to date”.

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Aegean Airlines Pro-Am (Aphrodite Hills, Cyprus)

Zeke Martinez, one of the greatest supporters of Confederation of Professional Golf tournaments over the last 12 years, had a satisfying feeling of ‘at last’ in his celebrations as he came in with a superbly-timed late run to win the Aegean Airlines Pro-Am and take home a winner’s cheque in the series for the first time.

To do so, last year’s Aegean runner-up to Nicolo Gaggero (Italy) had to battle back not once but twice….first from a disappointing second round four-over – following a first-round 70 – then to his triumphant final 68 climaxed by birdies at 17 and 18 when earlier he leaked four shots in three holes.

The Californian-born former tour pro, pictured above receiving his €7,000 winners cheque from chairman of Aegean Airlines, Mr Theodore Vassilakis, has, for many years, been attached to the Lamborghini club in Italy, had six birdies in what proved to be his winning charge and thus collected his well-deserved reward for the persistency of regular appearances on Confederation of Professional Golf leader boards.

Martinez’s victory march, boasting the only red figures of the final round, was substantially aided by those around him among the possible victors going backwards, especially the overnight favourite, Liam Bond (right), who surrendered his two-shot lead dramatically on six over par.

This closing 76 took him to 214 but since, like him on the day, none of the others could conquer the demands of the excellent but difficult golf course, he was able to claim runner-up prize ahead of the trio of Paul Archbold (Germany), Jonathan Fransson (Sweden) and Gaggero.

Archbold’s 70 was the second best round of the day boosted by a final-hole birdie in an unblemished back-nine but in contrast there were hard-luck stories galore, not the least from early front runners Gaggero with a 77 and Martin Dewhurst (Austria) and former winner Henrik Engdahl, the Crete-based Swede, who both shot 80.

Bond was more successful in the overall Pro-Am event leading his team to first place and earning a winners cheque for €1,500. The winning team of Liam Bond, Hans Otto Nagel, Konstantinos Petrogiannis and Nikos Gerostathopoulos can be seen left collecting their prizes.