Posted 12th May 2012:

St Sofia Golf & Spa Opening

I have just returned from the official opening of my re-design of St. Sofia Golf Club & Spa in Bulgaria. We started this project 2 years ago and really I am very happy with the final product. Of course there are still areas to grow in and they have a good green keeping team, but already the greens are excellent and rolling nicely, will be fast in the summer months!

Friday 4th May
Let me share with you the activities from the weekend. On arrival from there on it was a busy schedule starting with a tour of the course on the Friday afternoon (just managed to see the front 9 before the thunder and lighting hit!). There were a few nervous people around me as the opening party was all set with outside stage and expected guests of around 600, but it cleared and I held a clinic for the members early evening. There was number of juniors in attendances and I invited them to hit balls. I was amazed at the quality of their ball striking considering there is no history of golf in Bulgaria there is some good talent being developed.

Friday evening
I opened the party with the owner and President of the Bulgarian Golf Association to an audience of well over 400 people. I met so many friendly people during the event and they all showed an interest in golf and how it can grow as a sport in the country. Saturday 5th May Saturday was the official opening and I had the privilege to attend the ceremony with the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. After the official cutting of the ribbon I give him a putting lesson and after a few attempts expected that would be the end of it. To everyone’s surprise he really enjoyed it and continued as he wanted to make a 15 ft putt! I was told he is an excellent tennis and football player so the competitive spirit was showing through. The amount of media coverage was incredible and after the PM held his press conference on golf as a tourist attraction for the country and the opportunity for the people of Sofia to start learning, I spent an hour doing various TV interviews. The club held a sponsored tournament with the winners of the 2 divisions + the best junior player playing 9 holes with me on Sunday morning. The weather was perfect for good scoring and the winning results came in at 41 Stableford points. We presented the prizes with the sponsor and they hosted a great BBQ for all the players. Sunday 6th May We played the back 9 with the winners and had a following crowd of around 50 people. The young junior really impressed me at the age of 12 and the other 2 played well, one of them being an ex-football player for CSKA. I was very pleased with how the back nine played and shot -4! I have enjoyed my visits to Bulgaria, it’s a beautiful country and the people are very warm and friendly. I am very proud of the re-design and look forward to following its development over the next few years. Of course we will be very much involved for the next year in the standard of green-keeping and presentation.

Till next time
Paul McGinley