We Love Buggies!!

In the UK and many other European countries, there is not the buggy culture that we take for granted here on the Costa del Golf. Consequently, many visitors from those countries view buggy hire as a novel and enjoyable part of holiday golf. As I write, a buggy is an essential accessory to a round of golf in temperatures reaching 30 degrees  centigrade, especially on hilly courses. Between June and August, many of our golf courses include a shared buggy in their green fee, some of the offers being as low as 45 euros. The result is that these courses enjoy a reasonable number of green fees during a period which is definitely low season as far as golf tourism is concerned. So why not carry this recipe for success into the winter high season? While running the Golf Leisure Breaks Stableford competitions, I get to meet thousands of regular visitors during the course of a year. I am lucky enough to receive a lot of feedback from them, much of which is objective criticism, both for and against golf on the Costa del Golf. On the bright side, many of our clients are full of praise for those clubs which have seen the light and reduced their green fees to acceptable levels. They remain loyal to the coast because of the unrivalled choice of good golf courses, the winter climate and the easy access from the rest of Europe. The re-cession, having brought with it cheap air travel and less expensive golf, has proved to be not such an ill wind.
But what causes more bitterness than any other single facet of holiday golf is the cost of hiring buggies, which during the winter season, can range between 35 – 40 euros. Fortunately for the Costa del Sol, Portugal’s Algarve courses are now charging up to 50 euros for their buggies, for 18 holes. Our visitors are not fools. Many of them hire a car for their golf trip, paying an average of 100 euros for a week’s hire of a small car during the winter months. The cost of a new buggy is probably less than half the cost of a  new small car, so the understandable perception by our disgruntled visitors is that they are being ripped off. If our golf clubs can address this enigma quickly, we may be able to look forward to a much needed increase in numbers during the coming winter season.

Tags: Algarve, buggy, Costa del Golf, Costa del Sol