Located on the Algarve in Portugal, close to the historic town of Castro Marim the course runs through undulating hills dotted with pines and occasional views across the River Guadiana to neighbouring Spain. This course calls for careful play with strategically placed water hazards and fairway terrain that can place you in trouble. This is not mention the well placed bunkers waiting for an erring ball. The par-3 on the seventeenth is a hole that calls for special club selection with bunkers in front of the green and a lake behind, whilst at the same time subject to the prevailing winds off the sea.

This course is one of the most physically demanding I played so far in my young golfers life. The rental of a cart is definitely recommended also for players in their mid thirties like me. Although I didn’t play too well when we were there, I liked the challenges the course offered me.

Castro Marim Golfe & Country Club
Apartado 70
8950-909 Castro Marim
Portugal
http://www.castromarimgolfe.com/

We just opened up our Golfer’s Delight Fashion Shop (powered by Spreadhsirt). For a start we are offering the following shirts:

Mens ‘Fore’-Shirt with logo print on front and back:

Also available as Girls Shirt (back print only):

This is just for a start, we are busy working on other apparel, so make sure to stop by.

Just read an interesting article about the development of golf in china (sorry, german only!).

Apparently, the VP of the China Golf Association doesn’t even know how to play the game. I mean, I don’t speak a word chinese, but maybe that still qualifies me for the job? Where can I apply?

I did my first golf swings here in Berlin on the Driving Range. But that was just the kickoff. The first time I put my feet on a golf course was in Portugal at the Parque da Floresta Golf Resort in Budens on the Algarve.

During our holidays my wife and I decided to take some golf lessons, so we went to see Gary Warner, the Pro at Parque da Floresta.

As you can see, Gary surely had a preference for portuguese food and bright-coloured shirts. Apart from that he had some old-school perceptions about teaching golf. I couldn’t tell then but can now. My pro here in Germany first had to loosen up my posture and my swing in order to get some dynamic into my swing.

The Golf Resort just got finished back then, we never played the 18 hole course, but it has a beautiful layout using the natural hills around. Clear sky provided you could see the ocean from most parts of the course.

The Resort has good practising facilities, chipping and pitching green and a well assorted pro shop.

Apart from that the resort offers a spa, bars and restaurants and sells property. Enough cash provided, you can buy yourself a nice little villa amidst the golf course. Go check their website for details.

It’s always fun to watch people, especially men, practising on the driving range. Just note for yourself how many men practise with their driver more than with any other club. Personally, I never used my driver on the course as of yet, my 3 or 5 wood usually do the 200m job (if I hit it right, but that’s another story). But I still don’t get it why people practise with a club they only use 2-4 times out on the course.

It’s gotta be male testosterone, just like the old days when we were hunting mammoths. Anyway, here is some club house trivia for you: How long was the biggest drive in a competition? Find the answer here.

Patience is one of the biggest things in golf. Especially when you start playing your first tournaments and teeing off at the first hole makes your pulse rise to 200 and above. I played my first tournament in October 2003 and I sucked. Too nervous, no tactics in my game.

Don’t put pressure on yourself during your first tournaments, take it easy, observe your game and observe your flight partners. See how they approach the game and how they deal with difficulties. That sure helped me a lot. I played seven tournaments so far, the first time I played my handicap was in my fifth tournament in October 2004, one year after my first tournament. What happened since then? See for yourself:

I dropped to HCP 47 at my last tournament in 2004 and to 34,0 in my first tournament this year. Sure, I made progress in my technical game, but what helped me more than that was that I learned to deal with difficult situations on the course without losing my nerves. The ability to recover and to pace myself was also an important lesson. So now I enter phase 2 of my golfers life, according to this entertaining article at sueddeutsche.de.

Let’s see how this year progresses. I’ll keep you posted.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews has taken an historic step in allowing women to play at The Open Championship.

This has raised vivid discussions whether or not this is appropriate. In my opinion, anyone who matches the qualifying criterias should be allowed to play, male or female.

In the past, female players like Annika Sorenstam or Michelle Wie have played in the mens events, but by invitation. Michelle Wie surely has the length off the tee to be able to make her mark also in mens golf. I’ll surely have an eye on the John Deere Classic in Illinois, where Michelle is trying to qualify for The Open.

Besides playing golf, together with my pro we designed a little aid to visualize your golf swing called the Pocket Pro. It is designed like a small flipbook, so you can carry it around in your golfbag and use it – unlike other teaching material – on the golf course. You can also use it with your pro in your golf lessons, he can write down comments in the flipbook and you can remember what to practice.

The Pocket Pro looks like this (please reload this page in case the animation doesn’t play):

Besides being an aide for the golfer, it also can be used as a promotional give-away for your business. For example, we produced the first series for the car rental company AVIS who used it for their sponsorship of the PGA of Germany.

The sleeve design of the Pocket Pro can be altered according to your wishes and your companies design. Feel free to contact me to discuss the usage possibilities of the Pocket Pro for your business.

In and around Berlin you can find many golf clubs and opportunities to play. You can find a listing of all clubs here, as of yet, i didn’t play all of them, but I will introduce to you on after another on this blog.

For those of you who’d rather read these in german, we have a forum over at FirstGolfBC. If you aren’t a member yet, please follow the link “Join FirstGolfBC!” on the right side of this blog. This is an invitational link that will enable you to register for free.

As you all know Tiger Woods won the US Masters some two weeks ago. Higlight of his game surely was the chip on th 16th, which found his way into the hole in an incredible manner.

Tiger Sponsor Nike reacted fast to this shot of the century and put up a viral website. Go to HowDidItGoIn.com and you will find 15 entertaining movie clips that deal with different human and superhuman theories on how the golf ball made it into the hole.