Argentina has long been a vacation refuge for U.S. golf stars such as Craig Stadler and Tom Watson. Today however, record numbers of lesser golf enthusiasts from around the world come to play on Argentinas 240 courses. The quality and variety of the courses is high and very affordable. Buenos Aires Golf Club has been described by many as one of the most exquisite courses in the world. The Buenos Aires Golf Club was the venue for Tiger Woods and David Duval’s EMC World Cup Team Championship win in 2000. Golf has become very good value since the economic crisis caused the peso to plummet in 2002. The green fee at Arelauquen Golf & Country Club’s flagship course, set amid the blue lakes and snow-capped mountains of Patagonia, is US$43, compared with 285 pounds (US$550) at the Wentworth West course near London. Jack Nicklaus, is currently building five golf courses in Argentina to add to one he has completed at the Chapelco Golf & Resort, 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) southwest of Buenos Aires. “The numbers are tripling each year,” says Susan Marples de Achaval, golf adviser to Argentina’s Tourism Secretariat. Golf was established in Argentina more than 100 years ago by the English investors living there.
Argentina has experienced a boom in overall tourism since 2002, when the peso lost two-thirds of its value against the dollar. In 2006, 2.06 million foreign tourists visited Argentina, compared with 931,000 in 2001, government figures show. By international standards, golf lessons are also cheap in a country that produced stars such as Roberto de Vicenzo, 83, the 1967 British Open winner, and Angel Cabrera, 37, who, according to U.S. PGA statistics, drives the ball further on average than Woods. Visitors frequently combine rounds of golf with trips to Mendoza’s vineyards, the Perito Moreno glacier 2,800 kilometres south of Buenos Aires, or tango shows in the capital. The
Americans and the English love Mendoza with the combination of playing golf under the Andes, which are taller here than anywhere else, and then visiting the local vineyards has become immensely popular.
December 30, 2007 at 8:16 pm |
I play golf most weekends with some Argentine friends who are much better players than me. We play at all sorts of interesting courses such as Cabeza de Caballo ( Horses Head ) and ten or 11 other courses around Buenos Aires. This course like many was built by the English Railroad companies 100 years or so ago. The cost of playing is modest at a little under USD$13 for visitors and the facilities are excellent.
July 27, 2008 at 11:24 pm |
I agree with the title “Argentina Golf Heaven”. Now you have the chance to play in the same course Tom Watson, Stadler, Woods and/or Furyk played. Book your tee-times through us:
http://www.bagolfoutings.com
See you soon.
Justo