Brazil - A Golf Paradise In The Making

By Author: Razvan Jr
Total Articles: 273
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We all know that the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will host the 2016 Olympics which is a great upcoming event for football players that like this sport. Ronaldo and Pele are idols to many Brazilians but who knows, Tiger Woods might become one of their heroes too. Although not many people know this, golf is in fact one of the fastest growing sports in a country where people talk mainly about football/soccer. The tendency in golf is that people of all ages now start practicing this, in comparison to a few decades ago when golf was considered to be played only by the elite of the country.

The president of the Brazilian Golf Confederation, Alvaro Almeida, recently stated that this sport in Brazil is developing at a very fast rate and the situation is just amazing. He also said that this situation is a direct consequence to the many efforts the confederation made in order to bring golf not only to those who have a lot of money but to all people belonging to various social classes that are looking for an affordable way to relax (except football/soccer of course).

This growth of popularity golf has been benefiting from ...
... started 5 years ago, but in comparison to Europe or United States of America, there is still a lot of catching up to do. Back in 2000, only 6,000 people played golf on a regular basis and in 2010, this number has grown tremendously to 25,000. Brazil has now 30% more golf courses, 40% more driving ranges and three times the number of golf stores in comparison to the situation found five years ago. Even more, about 40 projects for new golf courses are under development across the entire country, one of them is financed by Donald Trump himself, and designed by the famous Jack Nickalus.

The media eyes have turned their attention to this brand new hobby that Brazilians have, and the Golf Digest is now published in Brazil's language which is of course, Portuguese. Even more than that, some of the newspapers in the country have added golf columns. Also, for the very first time in Brazil, a local cable channel is broadcasting the world-wide known PGA Tour. Some of the officials estimate that the golf business is worth about $150 million dollars.

Homero Setti, a golf store owner in a Sao Paolo shopping mall stated that Brazilians are beginning to show their interest in this sport, more want to know about it and how it is played. Even famous people like Kaka, Ronaldo, Rubens Barrichello (Formula One driver) and the three times French Open winner, Gustavo Kuerten. Almeida stated that this ever increasing popularity of golf is also influenced by the fact that many important people, like the ones listed above, started practicing this hobby and when people see that their idols are practicing golf; they easily start to get interested in golf.

All things considered, Brazil has a lot to offer to golf enthusiasts with lots of golf courses, shops and the entire base needed for this relaxing sport that keeps getting popular and popular in this country where soccer is still considered number one.

About Author: Visit www.playgolfinbrazil.com in order to obtain information regarding how to play golf in Brazil as well as other golf packages for tourists.