They say that one of the keys to success is location, location, location. Golf Girona enjoys a privileged location being only 4 km from the city of Girona, about an hour's drive from Barcelona to the south and the Pyrenees and France to the north.
standing water anywhere on the fairways and greens. Once I was in the swing of keeping my clubs and I dry, the round was as pleasant as playing in the rain can be. A tip of the hat to Hawtree's design and the outstanding maintenance work of the Girona Golf crew.
After a day of golf, my golfing buddies and I pulled into the parking lot of what looked like a private apartment complex. After getting our room keys, we parked our car in a secure underground parking space. Using the elevator, it was easy to get the gear up to our rooms.
Ciutat de Palol. You can get a relaxing massage or loosen up in the sauna and steam bath. You can work off that great buffet in the gym or in the sparkling swimming pools, while the kids have a large and fully equipped play ground to call their own. When I walked to have breakfast, I saw a Tai Chi class serenely enjoying the peace and quiet in the morning sun.
We haven't forgotten about the wonderful beaches in Costa Brava. Staying at the Aparthotel Ciutat de Palol puts the swimming and sun bathing at the beach only 200 meters away from your front door. You should make plans to drive along the coast of Costa Brava. There are so many beaches with large sandy streches or hidden coves. Whatever kind of beach is your pleasure, you'll find it in Costa Brava.
Mas Mauri is the vision of Ramon Raventos, a lifelong resident of the area. When Ramon retired from his business, mas Mauri became his family home. When the children grew and went their ways, Ramon, who is a true raconteur and avid golfer, came up with the idea of combining those two characteristics, and offer golf groups all the comforts of home. In this case, a 1600s Catalonian country house.
with built-in BBQ where, on this night, Ramon whipped up his famous paella for us. There is a large, clean and sparkling pool (12 m x 6 m) with a teak solarium and, perfect for Nordic guests, a sauna that can be used upon request. There is also covered parking for up to seven cars.
If you are very lucky, as we were this night, you’ll be able to sit around the dinner table, enjoying your favorite nightcap, and listen to Ramon regale you with his stories of the house, his family, fishing, golfing, well...you get the point. Ramon is a storyteller of the first degree and that the tales are of his life makes them all the better. As we sat there, mesmerized, I looked over to his grown daughter, Lillia. She has heard all these stories many, many times, yet the slight smile and the twinkle in her eye told of her love and admiration for her “Papi.” It was proven to me on this special night why staying in mas Mauri is so marvelous. There is no better place to take strangers and make them feel like family. In this case, a member of the extended Raventos family.
Thanks Peter!
Can`t help thinking it`s a hoax, if so it`s a very good hoax though.
I`m not an archeollogist but I DIG it.
BR Anders Braf
This Buried Lie Could Change Golf History
Written by Gene Oberto
The editor of the entertaining website, Der Exilgolfer, that talks in German about golfing in Sweden, called me up the other day to say he had something interesting to show me. He sent me one of the videos that a video production company was shooting for the City of Sigtuna, Sweden. It came to him from a source close to the production.
Sigtuna, is north of Stockholm just a few kilometers west of Arlanda International Airport. Sigtuna is Sweden's first city with a history that dates back more than 1000 years ago. It is probably also one of the most studied areas in Sweden as far as artifacts are concerned. This is important to remember to give context to the rest of the story.
The video, which is being postied today, is a short soft news piece on a discovery made last fall at a dig around the Sigtuna area. According to the visuals and the conversation with the museum curator, that rusty piece of iron you see in the video is a golf club, made a few centuries before the Scots supposedly began playing golf on the links.
For about 600 years, St. Andrews, Scotland has been designated the home of golf. According to history, the Scots of St. Andrews began playing this infernal game around the early 1400s. There are other games using a club and a ball in Chinese and Dutch gaming history. There is even a theory that the Hoards brought the Chinese game with them as they swept across Europe.
While St. Andrews has acknowledged these games and countless other stick and ball games, all those games are missing that vital ingredient that is unique to golf — the hole. Whatever the argument, there can be no dispute that Scotland gave birth to the game we know today as golf with hole layouts and rules of play. Indeed, the standard for 18 holes was due to other courses copying the 18 holes at St. Andrews.
What made me sit up and take notice of this, seemingly, innocent video was the museum curator, Anders Wikström, answering the question what he thought this hunk of iron was. He said it was a golf club.
Wikström, who doesn't play golf, became interested on the golf aspect because the site where the iron piece was found had been was so meticulously cleaned of the debris usually found at archeological digs. Linking the cleaned surface, the remnants of a hole in the center, and clearly showing on the piece of iron where a shaft had been attached, Wikström, though not positive, now has a hypothesis that the site might have been the remnants of a Viking golf course. He said further study needs to be made, especially with other museums and excavations around Sweden.
What this find may mean, is the Vikings were playing a game with a ball, a club and a hole about two centuries before the Scots called the game golf.
One could argue that during the less than friendly sea voyages that the Vikings made up and down the eastern shores of the British Isles, some Vikings might have left their game behind? Historically, Scandinavian Scotland refers to the period from the 8th to the 15th centuries during which Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colonized parts of what is now modern Scotland. Could part of that colonization included a game with a hole?
If, and that's a big if, the Vikings were playing the game long before Scotland, it could put golf history and St. Andrews' raison d'être on its ear.
Imagine, if you will, that in reality, the home of Annika Sorenstam, Robert Karlsson and the rest of Sweden's golfers is actually the home of golf. Now that would be something.
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