In the Rough

You may have noticed the last couple weeks have been very quiet on www.intherough.co.uk, however I am back and I am going to be bringing you all the latest news stories from the world of golf again from new golf courses, golf players and tournament results.

The last 10 days I have been enjoying a holiday in Bulgaria, which yes i did fit a few games of golf in. This was my first visit to Bulgaria and I must admit it is a place that I will be visiting again. The country is certainly under development but is growing in popularity and I feel will become a very popular place for Britain’s moving abroad very soon as well as holidaymakers like myself.

I stayed in Varna, which is on the Black Sea coast for the majority of my stay in Bulgaria. I did though make an overnight trip to Sofia where I managed to fit in two rounds of golf at the St Sofia Golf Club and Spa.

The course itself was in very good condition and to my surprise was quite busy, for future reference booking in advance is recommended. The course itself is your standard 18 hole course where proof of handicap is required to play. The facilities include a Pro Shop, Clubhouse, Putting Green and Driving Range. The course itself is a par 72.

After completing my round I started to talk to a gentleman called Ravno, his English was brilliant and his local knowledge was fantastic, I also decided he was a very good golfer after it emerged he played off 6. Ravno was explaining Bulgaria to me and recommending areas to visit and places of interest.

During our conversation Ravno detailed to me that now was the perfect time to purchase property in Bulgaria and recommended to me plenty of Property For Sale in Bulgaria. Ravno stated that for investment terms I should look at property in Varna and Burgas (these are both resorts of the Black Sea Coast). Personally I would recommend Varna to anybody but maybe you would be best visiting in 12 Month’s time when most of the building work is completed.

A South Korean golfer known only as Jung has been fined by the South Korean Supreme High Court £911 for a shot, which left his caddy in hospital for over seven weeks.

The identity of the player is still unknown and the name issued by the Supreme High Court as a cover-up. What we do know though is what happened in this freak golf accident.

Two years ago at the Gunsan Province a Professional golfer (Jung) was playing a shot on the third hole and during his back swing lost his footing, which ended up with him hitting the ball the opposite way and hitting his caddie eight metres behind him in the stomach.

The Injury to the caddie left him with 7 weeks hospital treatment needed.

The Supreme High Court fined Jung £911 as they feel it was a violation of his duty of due care to prevent injury to others while playing sport.

The European Tour has unveiled today the 53 Events for the 2009 European Golf Tour. The Tour dubbed “the road to Dubai” because the final event is a very lucrative Dubai World Championship with a prize fund of £11.3 million / $20 million. The Dubai World Championship is to be held at the Jumeirah in November 2009.

The 2009 European tour starts in November in Shanghai with the HSBC Championship and UBS Hong Kong Open. Both of these events will also be played again at the end of the 2009 season.

The European Tour has also announced that from 2009 players will have to take part in 12 events not the current 10 to maintain their tours cards.

The new tour certainly gives a more global feel to it with a total of 26 events ranging from Wales/Scotland to Shanghai/Dubai and Hong Kong. The more lucrative events, which are now on The European Tour calendar are aimed at getting big name American players playing more events and moving away from the highly paid USPGA Tour.

South African Ernie Els has come out in support for the having golf an Olympic sport in 2016.

For the 2012 Olympics in London golf unfortunately missed out and will not feature. However for the 2016 Olympics Golf is competing against baseball, roller sports, karate, softball, squash and rugby sevens for two places.

Golf previously was at the Olympics in 1904 where only 2 Canadians and over 70 Americans competed for the Olympic Golf Gold Medal.

By October in 2009 Golf will know whether it has gained Olympic status as the International Olympic Commitee meet in Denamark in October 2009.

With Golf fast becoming one of the biggest sports in the World it is time to have a place for the golf world to post there thoughts.

The success of the recent golf in the U.S has further emphasised Golf as a massive sport.

Personally I am a 22 handicapper golfer so nothing spectacular but once you pick up a club you have the golf bug. My best round playing golf was a 88 and worst I simply can’t remember but I know it was high.

Look forward to hearing your golfing stories, favourite players, recommendations on clubs, courses, holidays and anything golf related.