21st Sep 2016

What’s the plan for the Olympic Golf Course?

Golf made its return to the Olympic Games after a 112-year absence and it came back in style - especially as GB won gold.

In fact, golf was such a hit that now the course that was used for the Olympics in Rio is very much the course to be playing at. The course is currently closed after the Games so renovation work can commence. This includes taking down grandstands and all the necessary items that were needed to make it a ‘viewing’ golf course and to take away all the equipment required for the setup of the television cameras.

Moving forward

The championship condition course will be opening up to the public from the 1st of October, with a website soon to be available in mid September for you to place your reservation to play. The tour operator Kalos Golf has already included the course in its golfing tour holiday packages for October.

The course is the only one that is open to the public in Rio De Janeiro and plays an important part in the legacy of the Rio 2016 games, helping to get more people active and participating in golf.

The legacy will also enhance the prospect of a golfing academy being built on site, to help people start their journey with this lovely sport, as well as encouraging and developing the future Brazilian stars of golf with hopes of gold medals in future Olympics. The academy will also help take children off the streets and encourage them into a better future where they can experience more opportunities in a positive way.

Supporting the local economy

The course will be in partnership with local businesses and local universities, helping to keep the golf course open and help young people to learn about agronomy and maintenance practices. Of course being in partnership will help with the local economy too and help generate income for the surrounding area.

The course will also now be used to host major tournaments too; for example, the Brazilian Open is being played there this month and next year the web.com tournament is highly anticipated to choose this course to host its championship. The course is also hoping to attract a yearly European tour event too.

It would appear this course has big dreams ahead of it and dreams that are likely to come true. The Olympics were a great success and a great way to kickstart this successful course into action. We have only seen the beginning of what is going to be a famous and successful destination for playing this wonderful sport in Brazil.