Two Scots are hoping to build on the island’s golf courses to bring more players to the island
EVERY day golfers all over the world toil to take their time, move the weight across, keep their elbows in, keep their heads down and keep their eye on the ball. With the serenity of a Zen monk, they work tirelessly to eclipse their previous handicap (and it is an unusual physical activity that holds out hope of improvement over the age of fifty).
Catering to a growing band interested in the island’s golf courses, Dave Rendall and Colin Hardie recently moved from Edinburgh to Paphos to set up Cyprus Golf Tours. The company offers dedicated quality golfing packages through three local courses. “I feel that we can achieve a better level of service if we concentrate on Tsada, Happy Valley and Aphrodite Hills and not dilute our core package by moving off the island in order to offer alternative venues; that’s just too labour intensive plus its not really what most golfers want,” Rendall said, “they prefer to have a well-structured package which allows them to settle and play as much golf as they desire.
“We prefer to stick to what we know best and that’s Cyprus and golfing.” He then explained the rationale behind setting up Cyprus Golf Tours. “We took our time to do a good deal of research into the who, why, what, when and where of the operation. We had to make absolutely sure we could satisfy golfers’ specific demands and desires when it came to a offering a golf-orientated holiday.”
There are around two million active golfers in the UK alone and at least 10 per cent of these take a golfing holiday abroad at least once a year. “That’s the market we want to capture for Cyprus and this influx of both winter and summer tourists will give an enormous boost to the local economy, especially during the slower winter months.”
While the weather in the UK practically restricts golf to an April to December season, “here you don’t need to carry a golf umbrella in September!”
Rendall now plays off a 6 handicap, having lost his 4 handicap due to concentrating on the business. So, does he expect to get back to a 4 any time soon? “That’s the sheer beauty of this game, you can have a run when everything is going great, you are playing like a dream, one morning you produce a shot of miraculous straightness and sink that putt with precision, then the next day the game basically ‘bites you back in the bum’, and you lose it again.” That’s a maybe the.
A Tartan International Golf tournament is currently being planed by the company, which will hopefully generate a good number of those ten per cent of golfers to come over and enjoy golf in Cyprus. The other good news is that more and more Cypriots are picking up a four iron and getting into the golf game, with a few more deals being negotiated out of the rough, rather than in the boardroom.
l Cyprus Golf Tours, Tombs of the Kings Road. Tel 99 983218. www.cyprusgolftours.com
