Golf in Brazil

www.sambagolf.com

You know they play football (soccer) there. You might have watched the Olympics and realized they're doing well in volleyball. And who hasn't heard of carnival in Rio de Janeiro - and the samba? But golf in Brazil? Never heard of it? Well it's time you do! This country, the worlds fifth largest and even bigger than Australia, has beautiful golf courses. Prices can be very reasonable, and during weekdays you're almost alone when you play your round. The problem is lack of information, but now there's a website aiming to change that.

I was going to Brazil and had put one thing on my list of things to do – play golf. Through my girlfriend I had tried to contact a few of the clubs, but only a couple responded. Luckily the friendliest response came from the closest club, Clube de Golfe Brasilia. So I ended up playing the only golf course in the capital Brasilia, a city of about 2.4 million people.

But finding Brazil golf information isn't easy. Searching for any information in English didn't give us much. Only a few hotels and a few sites that listed less than five courses. This could not be all?! So my girlfriend did a search in Portuguese and found the Brazilian Golf Federation website. They had a list of about 70 golf courses, but all information is only in Portuguese.

We started to look through the list and quickly realized many of the clubs didn't have a web page of their own. And some didn't even have a mailing address listed. Of those that had a web page, many had not been updated in several years. But we managed to find enough information to get in touch with a couple clubs.

During my round in Brasilia I met the Social Director of the club, Guillermo Piernes. He told me that golf is a sport that's growing very fast in Brazil and many new courses are under planning or being built. But at the moment there're probably as few as 25 to 30,000 players in Brazil. It's a little hard to determine the exact number, but this at least is a qualified guess. Still, this is very little for a country that has something like 165 million people. Poverty of course is the main reason, with most of the population making barely enough for food. But there are a lot of people that can afford to play and only a fraction of them do. So the growth potential is huge.

For an English speaking tourist it can be a challenge to play golf in Brazil. The main obstacle is finding information. However, since I can now get the information I need, I decided to help others who are in the same situation I was and make a Brazil Golf Website. The site is now up and running at http://www.sambagolf.com/. Although a little thin on articles, the golf guide provides good information in English. Currently I'm working on verifying and updating all the information and already, after only the first week, we found errors. One club had been out of business for a long time, while others were not in the official list. So I actually think the list at sambagolf.com is the most updated list on the Internet!

The clubs will get their own log-in so they can update the information and add pictures. The forum is also available and we have a professional club maker who can answer questions in that area. Guillermo Piernes, who writes for Gazeta Mercantil and Brazilian Forbes, has been kind enough to let us publish his articles in English. And there'll soon be some pro-tips appearing.

Sambagolf.com is also hosting the support forums for a free statistics program for golf that's a must for anyone trying to set their practice in perspective. It will calculate your handicap and keep track of your progression.

I welcome you to take a look at the site, register and become part of the growing golf community in Brazil!

Written by, Svein Wisnaes for www.sambagolf.com