The reasons that drive people to join a golf club can be diverse, from becoming a successful golfer in a competitive environment, to just having fun, meeting new friends or taking a break from a busy life.

However, sometimes golfers have personal circumstances that make it difficult to join a traditional golf club.

AGMC has created new strategies to offer an alternative for those who are looking for an environment where they feel fulfilled and integrated and, at the same time, can compete and improve their performance.

“For happy members and a good life”

The new golf club AGMC - Alvor Golf & Mini Golf Club, hosted at Golfland, aims to create a holistic practise of golf; including wellness, fitness, food and drink; while integrating all male, female and junior golfers in an affordable, relaxed and fun way.

According to Stacey Thomas, the president of AGMC - Alvor Golf & Mini Golf Club: “Many people who live in or visit the Algarve do so for weeks or months at a time and do not consider joining a golf club on an annual basis a reasonable option. At AGMC, we have negotiated competitive green fee rates with our Partnership Golf Courses and this allows our members the freedom to play at multiple golf courses at affordable rates. No longer do golfers need to feel tied to their club golf course.”

Alvor Golf & Mini Golf Club is also a social meeting point. AGMC want to create a social ambience and will arrange a variety of events utilising the unique environment and stunning setting of Golfland as their clubhouse. Events will include golf competitions on a regular basis, Pro-Ams during the periods when most of our members are likely to be in The Algarve, away trips to clubs and courses across Portugal and members will have a permanent reservation for the weekly music and golf events held at Golfland.

Benefits for more experienced golfers

With the wealth of experience that our resident coaches have and using the Trackman facilities, experienced golfers will benefit from seeing improvements in their game that they can then take to the many competitions/roll up events that GolfLand run.

Benefits for beginners

Paying a large amount of money to become a Golf Club member when you are just starting out and don’t even know if you will enjoy it in the future, is not something beginners would consider a worthy investment. For this reason, AGMC offers affordable prices and lots of discounts once you become a member, especially for juniors who pay only 10 percent of the regular adult annual fee.

“An annual membership fee costs only 299 € and allows our members to play twice a month in the Trackman golf simulators at Golfland”, where you have the chance to train on world-famous courses. The simulator has a perfect precision, which allows you to get a lot of information about your swing and your golf shot and getting help in improving your performance, members normally pay an annual membership fee, but in AGMC no-one is required to pay for a year if they don’t want to. There are options for those who prefer to take less time and guarantee the same benefits.

Furthermore, Stacey explained that members get discounts at the Golfland Restaurant, Bar & Mini golf, on classes and additional simulator playing hours. In addition, members can come and play weekly roll-ups on one of our Partnership Courses or our members can book individual tee times on one of our 13 partnership courses”.

AGMC envisions golf becoming more family-centric. Often women and juniors, especially beginners, do not feel comfortable going to a traditional golf course and starting to play. So when we created AGMC, we decided that we want to have a perfect place here to do that. Along with other beginners,

Nobody needs to feel intimidated as we were all once beginners.

The message the new golf club wants to share is that golf is for everyone.

Coaching

AGMC prides itself on having the best coaches, such as Ian Stallard, Mickael Carvalho, and Leonor Bessa, who is the Portuguese Womens’ Champion. “This young Portuguese woman with great potential is our protege and people here can benefit from her experience”, she said.

“Ian Stallard is our resident professional at AGMC, he is originally from the UK and has been coaching in the Algarve since 2012.

Mickael Carvalho is a native-speaker of Portuguese and French that coaches Portuguese and French golfers, and we are planning to bring in a Scandinavian coach as well. People always feel more comfortable when taught by a person who speaks their native language”, she told The Portugal News.

“We want to train our golfers right from the beginning. To achieve a golf green card, we recommend 10 hours training with a good coach, and we have this on offer here. Having a golf green card is not compulsory because you can still play golf without it, but with a golf green card you get a diploma which is valid worldwide. It’s a professional way to do it”, Mikael explained.

All this looks like the perfect incentive for all those who always wanted to try and were curious about golf, but didn’t feel comfortable enough in a traditional club. “However, we have several new members that are already members of a traditional club and still joined AGMC to be part of our society and to enjoy the benefits”, says Stacey Thomas.

AGMC will bring more people into the game, which means that everyone working with golf in the Algarve will benefit.

For further information, please visit AGMC’s website at https://www.agmcgolfclub.com/

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins