Letter from the Editor - Issue 41

Dear Friends,

A decade of effort to promote golf in Greece. The assessment?

This, the 41st issue of our magazine, marks the end of a decade of
publication. And like every anniversary, it behooves us to review the
events of the past ten years and assess the results of our labors, because
this was also an ongoing struggle for the financial survival of the first
magazine in Greece on the subject of golf.
Of course, our basic mission, beyond all else, was to promulgate the
sport and awaken the powers-that-be to the fact that encouraging
investment in golf tourism and golfing facilities would be instrumental
in attracting quality tourism, which would also extend into the winter
months.

We leave it to our readers to judge whether or not we approached our
goal of awakening the authorities, if only from a distance, or if we
were overly ambitious!
Fortunately, we have succeeded in rousing the interests of some Greeks
to become involved in the sport. Our number of golfers has doubled!
(We won’t mention the numbers because they are still rather sad.)
Outside Greece, however, we did much better. With the (regrettably)
only 4,800 copies that we send to select destinations and individuals,
we brought the message to the international golfing community that
Greece does have golf courses. Thus the number of foreign golfers on
Greek courses has increased and we have become known to golfing
organizations and media.
Indeed, some years ago a foreign golf magazine honored me with a
feature on my efforts. The article began with the sentence: "There is
an old lady in Greece crazy enough to publish a golf magazine in a
country with only 500 golfers and 5 courses."
At any rate, this decade has come to an end with a major success
for the future of Greek golf, which of course involves our children. After
persistent efforts, negotiations are finally underway to include Greece
in the Faldo Series Champioship. This international tournament for
youngsters, organized by the Nick Faldo Trust, is played thus far in
twenty-five countries on three continents (details on another page). The
historical Glyfada Golf Course of Athens has decided to undertake the
realization of this venture, and I hope that the entire Greek golfing family
will contribute in every way to making this ambitious tournament a reality.
If I have achieved nothing else during all these years, I feel that with this
event alone I can now exclaim that the struggle has now been vindicated!!

Ellie Abravanel Valsammides